Daniel 8:3

And I lifted up my eyes in the vision: cf. Daniel 10:5; Genesis 31:10; Zechariah 1:18; Zechariah 2:1; Zechariah 5:1; Zechariah 5:9; Zechariah 6:1.

a ram standing before the stream, and it had two horns; and the two hornswere high, &c. The ram is an emblem of power and dominion: cf. Ezekiel 39:18. The symbolism of the figure is explained in Daniel 8:20: the ram, as a whole, represents the combined power of the Medes and Persians; but the strength of the animal lying in its horns, these are taken as representing more particularly the two powers separately, that of Persia, as being the stronger, and arising after that of Media, being represented by the higher horn, which came up last. On the distinction between the two empires, see the notes on Daniel 2:39 and Daniel 5:31.