The Kingdoms of The Four Winds of Heaven

Daniel 11:4 ‘And when He[Alexander, The Great] shall stand up, His Kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward The Four Winds of Heaven; and not for His posterity, nor according to His Dominion which He ruled: for His Kingdom shall be plucked up, even for other beside Those.’

Alexander’s generals and admirals conquered the two hundred year-old Persian Empire (536 B.C.E. – 323 B.C.E.) under their mighty monarch. Some of them had been educated with Alexander in his youth. Others had been with him in his conquests or had been appointed as regents in his absence conquering The Persian Kingdom. It is no wonder that when Alexander died, these ambitious and able warriors began to manoeuvre themselves to attain lands and power and to forge their own dynasties. From 323 B.C.E. when Alexander died, until The Battle of Issus 301 B.C.E. , the several potential successors to Alexander The Great began to create four dominant kingdoms in The West, The North, the South, and eventually in the East:

• The rival Antipatrid & Antigonid dynasties named after Antipater and Antigonus fought for control in The West – Macedonia and Greece
• Seleucus founded The Seleucid Dynasty in The North – Asia Minor to the Bactrian Kingdom
• Ptolemy founded The Ptolemaic Dynasty in The South – Egypt
• Demetrius I, the son of Euthydemus is generally considered the Greco-Bactrian king who first launched the Greek expansion into India – The East. He is therefore the founder of the Indo-Greek realm.

The period after Alexander The Great – ‘The Period of The Four Kings of Heaven’ is known as The Hellenistic Era. It lasted over three hundred years 323 B.C.E. – 10 B.C.E and was characterized by:

• war and continuous rivalry and conflict
• the use of marriage as a means of alliance
• the founding of Hellenic cities
• the colonization of Greeks over Alexander’s empire
• the spread of Greek philosophy and culture
• the development of Koine Greek as the language of the Hellenistic world

As King Nebuchadnezzar had been prophesied by THE GOD OF HEAVEN, The Kingdom of Brass (The Macedonian Greek Hellenistic Kingdom) would be conquered by The Kingdom of Iron (The Roman Republic and The Roman Empire which was divided into The Western Provinces and The Eastern Provinces.

Apart from the farthest reaches of the East, The Roman Empire ultimately conquered Alexander’s Successors’ Kingdoms:

• The West ( The Roman Republic’s Defeat of The Kingdoms of Greece and Macedon at The Battle of Corinth, 164 B.C.E.)
• The North (The Roman General, Pompey, ‘s defeat of The last Seleucid Monarch in 64 B.C.E.)
• The South (Octavian’s Defeat of The Last Ptolemaic Ruler Cleopatra VII at the Battle of Actium – 31 B.C.E.)
• The East ( The defeat of the last Greco-Indian king by the Indo-Saka king Rajuvula 10 B.C.E.)

Alexander’s Successors were mighty warriors who led their troops from the front. Many of them died in battle tragically fighting their fellow Macedonians. Their histories are complex and fascinating. (Co-Co, the coconut-throwing chimpanzee, ‘s favourite successor is Lysimachus.)

How great was Alexander that he could unite these warriors under his rule!

• Antipater – the regent of Macedonia and Greece when Alexander was conquering The Persians
• Perdiccas – appointed by Alexander to be regent until Alexander’s son by Roxanne was grown
• Ptolemy I – who stole the body of Alexander as it was being transported back to Macedon
• Antigonus The One-Eyed and his devoted son, The Besieger, Demetrius
• Lysimachus, The Brilliant General who tragically killed his own son Agathocles
• Cassander – the son of Antipater
• Seleucus – one of the officers who killed Perdiccas
• Eumenes – Alexander’s private secretary who became a competent general defeating Craterus
• Craterus – the most popular general of Alexander amongst the troops mourned by Eumenes
• Polyperchon – appointed regent after Antipater’s death
• Pyrrhus – one of the greatest generals of antiquity who fought against Republican Rome gaining a ‘pyrrhic’ victory

Next Week: Daniel 11:5a ‘The King of The South’ – Ptolemy, one of Alexander’s greatest successors who became the satrap of Egypt and eventually its king.