Daniel chap. 2 v. 31-46 discusses the dream of Nebuchadnezzar and its interpretation by Daniel. The dream is a bright image with a head of fine gold, chest and arms of silver, a stomach and thighs of copper, and legs of both iron and earthenware. Daniel then interprets the dream as an allegory of kingdoms that are to come. Nebuchadnezzar, the leader of Babel, is the head of gold. Then a second, weaker (as shown by the distinction between silver and gold), nation will rule the world after the demise of the Babylonian empire. The third country, represented by the copper will rule the whole earth as well, to be followed by the fourth, which is as partially strong as iron, and will be divided, with the other half weak like earthenware. After these four empires will cease to rule the earth, God will establish His kingdom, which will rule forever.

While Daniel explicitly identifies the first empire as Babel, but there is some discussion as to who the other kingdoms are. Due to the course of history, which saw Persia and Media succeed the Babylonian kingdom, the second, weaker, empire is considered Persia and Media. The third empire, which

On the other hand, Saadia, who lived in Fayyum and Baghdad in Egypt, lived in the Dar- al- Islam. He could therefore include the Islamic Empire as one of the kingdoms, under the name of Ishmael. Also, he was not aware of a sizeable, Christian, empire in Europe, and was forced to say that Ishmael was one of the empires, because Rome, the fourth empire, had been defeated. He therefore put Rome and Ishmael together as the fourth kingdom.

R’ Saadia Gaon feels that the fourth, split, kingdom consists of both the strong Aram and the weak Ishmael (as quoted by Abraham ibn Ezra). It can be assumed that by “Aram” he is referring to Rome, which was the next world power after Greece. Aram, where Abraham originally came from, is usually described as Arabia, so one possibility is that Saadia is postulating that the Romans are called Aram, which could be because the words Aram and Rome are similar, implying either that one represents the other or that he genuinely believes that they descended from one another. The other possibility is that “Aram” was a printer’s error, and that Saadia is in truth referring to Edom, who is identified in Amoraic writings as Rome. The difference between the words Aram and Edom is the change from a ‘Reish’ to a ‘Dalet,’ which look very similar.

Rashi explains that the four empires are Babel, Persia and Media, the Greeks, and the Romans. Rashi refrains from splitting the fourth empire, and omits Ishmael entirely. This is a departure from the explanations of other commentators, ibn Ezra and Saadia Gaon. Rashi interprets that the kingdom is split on account of the fact that it will intermarry with the other nations, and will be different from all other countries of the world.

(The identification of Rome with Edom itself is somewhat questionable, as Edom, the descendants of Esau, originally settle

Some topics in this essay:
Dream Daniel, Ibn Ezra, Roman Empire, Gaon Rashi, Aram Rome, Saadia Gaon, Persia Media, Islamic Empire, Galut Edom, Rome Ishmael, ibn ezra, rome ishmael, persia media, ishmael empires, fourth kingdom, fourth empire, roman empire, ibn ezra saadia, moslem empire, words aram, rashi lived, esau originally settled, kingdom ibn ezra,