Daniel’s vision of the primary rulers of the Middle East is limited in scope and the student of Bible prophecy needs to consider this when interpreting those of the ancient past and future. Distinct changes of the elements in the scope of the vision represent changes in human rule of the Middle East except for the 6th and the 7th where the iron element is contained in both. These are the major rulers of the Middle East from ancient times to the present:

Post Flood (not included in the vision of the image)
1. Land of Magog ad his brothers
2. Akkadian/Assyrian

Ancient Image Elements
3. Neo-Babylonian – One head of gold

(Medo/Persian) – Two arms of silver
4. Persian – One chest of silver

5. Greek – One belly of Bronze
(Greek North/South) – Two thighs of bronze

Non-Image Elements (not included in the vision of the image)
These are all subsequent major rulers of the Middle East with distinctive changes, but they do not appear in the scope of visionary prophecy and all exist between the end of the 69th week decreed for national Israel and the beginning of the future 70th week.

Roman
Arabian
Seljuk
Kurd
Mongol
Mamluk
Turk
British
10 primary Islamic nation states and Israel (current)

Future Image Elements
6. Unnamed (North (little horn)/South) – Two - legs of iron
7. Unnamed (10 divisions ruled by little horn/beast) – Feet and toes of iron and clay
8. The Lord’s millennial Kingdom – Stone

There is a break in the image elements presented between the 5th and the 6th. This period represents the last 2,000+ years of history (list of non-image elements) and is still running. It corresponds with the lapse time of the 70 weeks of years (490 years) decreed for national Israel which began in 445 B.C. under Persian rule. 483 years of this time lapse transpired at approximately 33 A.D and the balance of 7 years is still pending. This future period will include the future image elements of the 6th and 7th which are unnamed and unknown, and then the Lord’s millennial Kingdom which will replace all human rule, will be centered in Israel and the Middle East, and will include the entire world.

Daniel’s other corresponding vision of the 4 “beast” dominions of the Middle East includes the rule of Neo-Babylon, Persia, and Alexander’s Asian dominion (his kingdom was broken and the two bronze thighs represent the kingdoms of the northern and southern Greeks who ruled the Middle East, one north of Jerusalem and one south). The 4th dominion is a combination of the 6th and 7th elements of the unnamed and unknown rulers of the Middle East at the future time of the end. The 6th will be the northern iron leg (northern sector of the Middle East) of the little horn/beast who will conquer the southern iron leg, the rest of the Middle East, and Israel. He will rule over the Middle East for 42 months with 10 other kings, will cause horrific destruction and upheaval for the rest of the world, and then his kingdom will be destroyed and replaced by the Lord’s millennial Kingdom.

Revelation has this same identical line up and limited scope of image elements and they are described as the 7 heads (dominions) of Satan’s angelic beast who rules over the Middle East. The first two elements not included in Daniel’s vision are added to the next 5 in the scope bringing the total to the 7 dominions of the Middle East. This is why the beast has 7 heads (dominions) in the scope of the visions of which 5 have fallen (are historical) and two will exist in the future in succession. The 6th will be the one that “is” (at the beginning of the 70th week) and the 7th will follow. The beast’s 6th rule will be a small (little horn) northern kingdom located in the Middle East, and he will expand it into the 7th divided kingdom of iron and clay. The chapters for study are Daniel 2, 7, and 8; Revelation 17.