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I was reading Daniel 8:15-27, where it says:

.... the ram you saw that had two horns represents the kingdoms of Media and Persia. The goat represents the kingdom of Greece, and the prominent horn between his eyes is the first king....
—Daniel 8:20-21 (GNT)

Can anybody explain what is meant by "kingdom of Greece"? Which countries/region/area does it point to now or back in the day?

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migrated from christianity.stackexchange.com May 10 '12 at 18:18


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up vote 12 down vote accepted

The original word here is closest to yawan, aka Javan son of Japheth—who is credited in the Bible with being the start of the tree of descendants that populated the Greek region. So the translation isn't unreasonable, but it may be talking more about the people rather than a traditional "kingdom".

For more information, see this page.

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'Yavan' (יון or יוון) is still the name for Greece today in modern Hebrew. –  Muke Tever May 11 '12 at 15:40

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