In Daniel's second vision, recounted in chapter 8, he sees a couple of animals with very interesting horn patterns - each representing something specific in addition to the regular symbolism of horns to indicate power.
First there is a ram with two long horns. "Both horns were long, but one was longer than the other, and the longer one came up second" (vs. 3). The angel Gabriel later interprets this part of the vision for Daniel. "As for the ram that you saw with the two horns, these are the kings of Media and Persia" (vs. 20). The Medo-Persian empire would arise after Belshazzar's death.
The ram is not alone, however. It has an adversary - a goat. The goat charges at the ram from the west and breaks its two horns and tramples upon it. The goat is victorious, but its triumph is short-lived. This goat has one great horn which, at the height of its power, is broken. This great horn seems to indicate Alexander the Great, whom Gabriel calls "the first king of Greece" (vs. 21).
In place of the broken great horn, four little horns emerge. This fits with the Hellenistic period of 323 B.C. until the dominance of Rome. Following Alexander the Great's untimely death at a young age, his kingdom was divided into four pieces, each ruled by someone less powerful than the first king. Daniel also sees "a little horn" come out of one of them, and then become exceedingly powerful. Most biblical scholars equate this little horn with a man named Antiochus Epiphanes, who was a persecutor of the Jews and a desecrator of the Temple in the centuries leading up to the birth of Jesus. The festival of Hanukkah and the story of the Maccabees flow from this period.
Antiochus Epiphanes was loathed by the Jews of his day. In many ways, the "little horn" became the archetype of the antichrist, the kind of person who will blaspheme the Lord and look to be worshiped in God's place. He certainly fits the bill as someone opposed to God.
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