Dan 8:20-21 | TNotes | STEP | 8:20 The smaller horn represents Media , which began as an independent kingdom in 670 BC . The larger horn represents Persia , which dominated Media during Cyrus’s reign (see 7:5 ).

‏ Daniel 8:20-21

8:20 ^a The smaller horn represents Media, which began as an independent kingdom in 670 BC. The larger horn represents Persia, which dominated Media during Cyrus’s reign (see 7:5 ^b).
8:21 ^c The large horn represents Alexander the Great, the mighty first king who forged the Greek Empire. Two centuries after Daniel, Alexander would swiftly conquer the world (8:5 ^d); he overcame Persia in 331 BC. Alexander died in 323 BC at the age of thirty-three, but not before he arrogantly allowed himself to be called a god.

• Josephus records that some Jewish priests showed the book of Daniel to Alexander, but Alexander treated Homer’s Iliad as his Bible and relied on it for guidance.