Daniel 8:1-27
“The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia... Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation... And in the latter time of their kingdom... a king of fierce countenance... shall stand up.”
King James Version
The vision of the ram (Medo-Persia) and goat (Greece) and the little horn, widely identified with Antiochus IV — the clearest named-empire sequence in Daniel.
Fulfillment References
Daniel 8:20-21 Daniel 11:21-35 Daniel 7:6 🏛 1 Maccabees 1:10
How Traditions Read This Prophecy
Apostolic (Oneness) PentecostalEven the rise and fall of named empires is under the one God's sovereign hand, ordering history toward His redemptive purpose.
JewishThe vision names Persia and Greece explicitly; the little horn is read of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who desecrated the Temple — the Hanukkah backdrop.
CatholicAntiochus IV as the immediate little horn, often seen as a type foreshadowing a final Antichrist.
ProtestantRam = Medo-Persia, goat = Greece/Alexander, four horns = the Diadochi, little horn = Antiochus IV; many also see a typological end-time application.
OrthodoxThe historical sequence of empires and the persecuting horn within God's providential ordering of history.
DispensationalAntiochus IV is the historical little horn and a type of the future Antichrist; the '2,300 days' and desecration prefigure the end-time tribulation.
AcademicThe explicit naming of Persia and Greece and the detailed match to Antiochus IV (175-164 BC) is central to the critical case for a 2nd-century date and ex eventu prophecy; conservatives hold it as genuine 6th-century prediction.
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Bible Prophecy Explorer · based on J. Barton Payne’s Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy catalogue · an openly Apostolic (Oneness) Pentecostal study resource — all traditions presented fairly. Pastor: C. Myles Young, PhD · Bishop: Nathaniel J. Wilson, Ed.D.