What does Daniel 7:6 mean?
The third beast of Daniel's dream (Daniel 7:1–3) also represents a powerful nation and king of the Mediterranean region (Daniel 7:17). The first, a winged lion, symbolized the graceful and elegant Babylon (Daniel 7:4). The second, a powerful but clumsier bear, depicted Medo-Persia (Daniel 7:5).The kingdom symbolized here is that of Macedonian-ruled Greece under Alexander the Great. The beast is a leopard with four wings and four heads. Scripture makes note of leopards for their speed (Habakkuk 1:8); Alexander was noted for how quickly he conquered territory from Egypt to India, from a relatively young age. When he died, his conquered territories were initially split into four nations ruled by his generals: Cassander, Lysimachus, Seleucus, and Ptolemy. These immediately fell into infighting and would eventually be overcome by the Roman Empire.
Further references to this empire are made in Daniel (Daniel 8:8, 22; 11:3–4). Greece was depicted as the midsection of bronze in Nebuchadnezzar's dream (Daniel 2:32, 39).