Daniel 8:9
And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land. And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.
The horn coming forth out of one of them is Rome, not Antiochus Epiphanes, with the specifications of the prophecy met in Rome's historical facts. Rome arose after the four divisions of Greece from a small beginning, and grew exceptionally great. Its direction of growth toward the south and toward the east points to its origin in Italy, in the northwest of the former Greek dominion. That exceeding greatness toward the south and east is marked by the conquest of Macedonia in 168 B.C., of Syria to the Tigris in 65 B.C., and of Egypt in 30 B.C.
The symbols of the vision, including the little horn, were already made plain in the explanation given by Gabriel in chapter 8. That explanation left unresolved the time period of the vision, which is explained in chapter 9. The prophetic periods of Daniel 8 to which this verse belongs are reckoned historically and chronologically from 457 B.C.
The verse belongs to the wonderful prophecies of Daniel 7-12 given to Daniel as God's ambassador as revelations of the mysteries of ages to come. It was not fully understood even by Daniel himself, but was shut up and sealed even to the time of the end. At the end of the days, in the closing period of this world's history, Daniel will rest and then stand in his lot and place. It belongs to a vision given especially for the last days, whose foretold events are now in process of fulfillment and will soon come to pass.