5 “Then the king of the South will grow strong, along with one of his princes who will gain ascendancy over him and rule; his domain will be a great realm indeed. 6 And after some years they will form an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the South will come to the king of the North to reach an agreement. But she will not keep her position of power, nor will he remain with his power, but she will be given up, along with those who brought her in and the one who fathered her as well as he who supported her in those times. 7 But one of the descendants of her line will arise in his place, and he will come against their army and enter the fortress of the king of the North, and he will deal with them and prevail. 8 And he will also take into captivity to Egypt their gods with their cast metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold, and he on his part will refrain from attacking the king of the North for some years. 9 Then the latter will enter the realm of the king of the South, but will return to his own land.

10 “And his sons will mobilize and assemble a multitude of great forces; and one of them will keep on coming and overflow and pass through, so that he may again wage war up to his fortress. 11 And the king of the South will be enraged and go out and fight with the king of the North. Then the latter will raise a great multitude, but that multitude will be handed over to the former. 12 When the multitude is carried away, his heart will be haughty, and he will cause tens of thousands to fall; yet he will not prevail. 13 For the king of the North will again raise a greater multitude than the former, and after an interval of some years he will press on with a great army and much equipment.

14 “Now in those times many will rise up against the king of the South; the violent ones among your people will also raise themselves up to fulfill the vision, but they will fall down. 15 Then the king of the North will come, pile up an assault ramp, and capture a well-fortified city; and the forces of the South will not stand their ground, not even their choicest troops, for there will be no strength to make a stand. 16 But he who comes against him will do as he pleases, and no one will be able to withstand him; he will also stay for a time in the Beautiful Land, with destruction in his hand.
Daniel 11:5-16 NASB

Introduction

In this episode we're focusing on the time between Alexander the Great and Rome.

The Diadochi

Coming Soon

Diadochi means "successors" and is the term used to reference the four generals who divided the kingdom of Alexandar the Great after he died. These generals were roughly:

1. Seleucus in Syria
2. Cassander/Philip Arrhidaeus in Macedonia
3. Lysimachus in Thrace/Antigonus
4. Ptolemy in Egypt

As illustrated in the map to the right, Israel sat in the hear of the formerly whole kingdom. The cardinal directions still make sense if you use Israel as the focal point (e.g., Egypt is both South of Israel and the southern most terrtitory after the split). Ptolemy is easily identified as the King of the South, with Seleucus being identified as the King of the North (after he defeats Lysimachus).

Different sources list a different set of generals as the four who took over from Alexander the great, but the in the scheme of prophecy that's actually ok. Daniel doesn't say that it is exactly four people, rather he identifies four kingdoms or territories. This remains true as many of the generals fought amongst themselves for the same region. In the end, the only two generals who really matter are Seleucus and Ptolemy.

The time period between Greece, ruled by Alexander the Great, and Rome is plagued by the Diadochi wars. The Diadochi wars are a series of battles that prevail between these generals and their descendants as they try to claim the territory once unified under Alexander the Great.

The Decree of Canopus

The Decree of Canopus is a text found by archealogists that not only enables scholars to translate heirogylphics but also gives us some key information about prophecy fulfillment.[3][4][5][6]

Some People In History to Research

In the episode, I give a rough history of the tension between the Ptolemaic empire in the South and the Seleucid empire in the North. Below is a list of the people I discussed and with links to encyclopedia articles for reference.

References & Footnotes

1. "Diadochoi". Encyclopedia Britannica; visited November 9, 2024
2. Vedran Bileta. "Who Are the Diadochi of Alexander the Great?". The Collector. February 14, 2023; visited November 9, 2024
3. "Decree of Canopus". Encyclopedia Britannica; visited November 9, 2024
4. Guillermo Carvajal. "The Canopus Decree, the Inscription that Attested to the Existence of Ancient Heracleion and Created the Leap Years". LBV. February 7, 2024; visited November 9, 2024
5. "Trilingual Stela of Canopus Decree in Honor of Ptolemy III. The Egyptian Museum; visited November 9, 2024
6. "Decree of Canopus". Wikipedia; visited November 9, 2024