Daniel 8:8

Therefore, &c. And the he goat did very greatly (Daniel 8:4) i.e. performed great exploits.

and when he was strong, the great hornthe - conspicuous horn" of Daniel 8:5 was broken Alexander was struck down by his fatal malady, just when he had risen to the summit of his power.

and instead of it came up four notable ones lit. a sight of four, which is explained to mean -four conspicuous ones" (cf. Daniel 8:5, though the expression there is not quite the same). But the explanation is forced: and from Daniel 8:22, end, it would seem also that these four horns were by no means so -conspicuous," or -notable," as the original horn; so that very probably LXX and Theod. are right in reading, with a slight change (אחרות for חזות), four other ones.

toward the four winds of heaven cf. Jeremiah 49:36; Ezekiel 42:20; 1 Chronicles 9:24; and esp. (in the same connexion) ch. Daniel 11:4. See also Daniel 7:2.

Alexander left no legitimate heir (though his widow, Roxana, gave birth to a son shortly after his death); and hence his empire became the prey of rivalries and disputes between his generals. A division of the provinces was agreed upon at a military council held the day after his death; but the only permanent elements in this were the allotment of Egypt to Ptolemy Lagi, and Thrace to Lysimachus. After the death of Perdikkas (who had acted as regent) in 321, a fresh distribution took place at a meeting of generals held at Triparadisus in Syria; and another one, after a four years" war, undertaken for the purpose of checking the ambitious designs of Alexander's veteran general Antigonus, in 311. The final settlement was brought about by the battle of Ipsus (in Phrygia), in 301, in which Antigonus was defeated and slain by Ptolemy, Seleucus, and Lysimachus, who had coalesced against him. The result of this victory was that Cassander obtained Macedonia and Greece, Lysimachus Thrace and Bithynia, Seleucus Syria, Babylonia, and other Eastern countries as far as the Indus, while Ptolemy remained in possession of Egypt. These are the four kingdoms (cf. Daniel 8:22) denoted here by the four -horns."