In an exciting story of religious defiance, self-sacrifice, and miraculous salvation, Daniel's three friends prefer death rather than bow to the great statue in Dura, set up by Nebbuchadnezzar. They prefer martyrdom than renouncing their religious identities. This story has become a foundation for many Jewish acts of sacrifice, from the times of the Hasmoneans, to the Ten Martyr Rabbis, to the Crusades, Inquisitions and the Holocaust.