Kingdom foundations · 01 of 21
Nebuchadnezzar’s image
King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was given a dream in which he saw a statue made of different metals. Daniel, a captive from Israel, who served in the king’s court as one of his wisest counsellors, interpreted the dream for him.
The head made of gold was King Nebuchadnezzar himself and the kingdom of Babylon that he represented. Gold was indeed a metal prolifically used by the Babylonians in their magnificent city. But it would not last forever.
Another kingdom, symbolized by silver, a metal inferior to gold, would conquer Babylon. This happened when Medo-Persia took over the then-known world in 539 BC. Following that, the kingdom of Grecia became the world ruler, and their metal of choice was brass.
Greece in turn was conquered by Rome, which ruled with a rod of iron. But in 476 AD, Rome became divided by barbarian tribes of the north and east. Eventually the Roman Empire split into ten divisions that made up the different countries and cultures of Europe. Of course today, there are even more as they have splintered even further. This division was shown on the statue as a mixture of iron and clay, which is not very cohesive, and Europe has never succeeded in uniting into one empire.