Unleashing the Beast

F UTURE H EADQUARTERS OF THE B EAST , I RAQ / 211

Babylon for 70 years, including Daniel the prophet. It was the Babylonian armies who destroyed Solomon's Temple, seizing the priceless vessels of gold and silver, storing them in the treasure houses of Babylonian gods (Jeremiah 52). Ancient Babylon (the area of Iraq today) was eventually seized by the armies of the Medes and Persians in about 546 B.C. Many years later, the Grecian empire under Alexander the Great conquered the Persians and took possession of Babylon. They extended their global dominion into more countries. Following the Grecians, the Roman Empire began to form and eventually became the fourth kingdom in Daniel's Prophecies (Daniel 2:40; 7:23). Hundreds of years later, in the seventh century A.D., the Arabs would possess the land of Shinar and set up the headquarters of various branches of Islam near the banks of the Euphrates river. In fact, in A.D. 637, the first Arab empire was established in Mesopotamia. The first Arab government was called the Abbasid Empire. T HE A RABIANS T AKE B ABYLON Throughout history the Babylonian area was occupied by the Sumerians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Persians and Greeks, but never by the Arabians. A prophecy in Isaiah implies that the Arabians would be there; but after Babylon's destruction, they would no longer live there: And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the