Daniel 8 describes a vision that Daniel receives during the reign of King Belshazzar of Babylon. In the vision, Daniel finds himself in the citadel of Susa in the province of Elam. He sees a ram with two horns, one larger than the other, which represents the Medo-Persian Empire. The ram conquers several nations, but is eventually defeated by a male goat with a notable horn between its eyes, symbolizing Greece.
The goat becomes great and powerful, but its large horn is broken and replaced by four smaller horns. Out of one of these horns emerges a little horn, which grows exceedingly powerful and persecutes the people of God. This little horn is often associated with the actions of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, a Seleucid king who persecuted the Jews and desecrated the temple.
Daniel overhears a conversation between two angelic beings, and one explains that the vision refers to the distant future. The angel tells Daniel that the vision concerns the time of the end, when the little horn will be destroyed by divine intervention.