Page 58 - 02 The Great Image

DANIEL AND THE REVELATION-Uriah Smith

~The Response of History to the Voice of Prophecy~

Chapter 2-The Great Image
of the beasts of the desert; that their houses

should be full of doleful creatures; that the

wild beasts of the islands should cry in their

desolate dwellings, and dragons in their

pleasant palaces. Isaiah 13:19-22. It must first

be deserted. Cyrus removed the imperial seat

to Susa, a celebrated city in the province of

Elam, east from Babylon, on the banks of the

River Choaspes, a branch of the Tigris. This

was probably done, says Prideaux (i. 180), in

the first year of his sole reign. The pride of the

Babylonians being particularly provoked by

this act, in the fifth year of Darius Hystaspes,

B. C. 517, they rose in rebellion, which brought

upon themselves again the whole strength of

the Persian empire. The city was once more

taken by stratagem. Zopyrus, one of the chief

commanders of Darius, having cut off his own

nose and ears, and mangled his body all over