Charts and Timelines

The Four Kingdoms at a Glance

Kingdom	Statue (Ch. 2)	Beasts (Ch. 7)	Ram and Goat (Ch. 8)	Approx. Dates
Babylon	Head of gold	Lion with eagle’s wings	—	605–539 B.C.
Medo-Persia	Chest and arms of silver	Bear raised on one side	Ram with two horns	539–331 B.C.
Greece	Belly and thighs of bronze	Leopard with four wings and four heads	Goat with one notable horn, then four horns	331–63 B.C.
Rome	Legs of iron	Terrible beast with iron teeth	—	63 B.C.–A.D. 476
Final form	Feet of iron mixed with clay	Ten horns and the little horn	King of fierce countenance (type)	The end of the age
God’s kingdom	Stone cut without hands	Son of Man receives dominion	—	Everlasting

Date	Event	Daniel
605 B.C.	First deportation from Jerusalem; Nebuchadnezzar succeeds his father	Ch. 1
604 B.C.	Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the statue	Ch. 2
586 B.C.	Jerusalem and the temple destroyed	—
553 B.C.	First year of Belshazzar; vision of the four beasts	Ch. 7
551 B.C.	Third year of Belshazzar; vision of the ram and goat	Ch. 8
539 B.C.	Babylon falls to the Medes and Persians; feast and writing on the wall	Chs. 5, 9
538 B.C.	Cyrus decrees that the exiles may return	—
536 B.C.	Third year of Cyrus; Daniel’s final vision by the Tigris	Chs. 10–12
445 B.C.	Decree of Artaxerxes to rebuild Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2)	Ch. 9:25
331 B.C.	Alexander conquers Persia; empire later divided among four generals	Chs. 8, 11
167–164 B.C.	Antiochus IV desecrates the temple; Maccabean rededication	Chs. 8, 11
A.D. 70	Rome destroys Jerusalem and the temple	Ch. 9:26

Period	Length	Event (Daniel 9:24–27)
Seven weeks	49 years	Jerusalem rebuilt, with street and moat, in troublous times
Sixty-two weeks	434 years	Continues until Messiah the Prince (69 weeks = 483 years in all)
Interval	Unspecified	Messiah cut off; the people of the coming prince destroy the city and sanctuary
Seventieth week	7 years	A covenant with many; sacrifice ceases in the midst; the abomination; wrath poured out on the desolator