‘And the he-goat magnified himself exceedingly, and when he was strong the great horn was broken, and instead of it there came up conspicuously four towards the four winds of heaven.'
Following the death of Alexander his empire eventually divided into four. But the reason for his death is emphasised. He magnified himself exceedingly, taking godlike status. Thus at the height of his strength he was smitten down, resulting finally in the four empires.
‘Towards the four winds of heaven.' The four winds of heaven always indicate the activity of God. For He is the king of heaven and acts from heaven (Daniel 7:2; Daniel 4:37 compare Daniel 4:13; Daniel 4:26; Daniel 4:31). For these ‘four winds of heaven' compare Jeremiah 49:36, where they represent God's fierce activity against Elam resulting in their scattering to all parts of the earth. They are winds with ‘worldwide' effects, although we must remember that it means the known world of that day. Israel too had been spread in all directions around the known world by the four winds of heaven (Zechariah 2:6). Thus the idea of the four winds of heaven is of the activity of God stirring up ‘the world' with mighty effects (compare Daniel 7:2 and contrast Ezekiel 37:9 where the four winds are life giving for the people of God). The idea here is that, just as Alexander had magnified himself, so they also defied God to His face.
Some see it simply as meaning in all four directions, but that is the four winds, not the four winds of heaven.
On the death of Alexander the Great his empire was in fact split between his four generals, two of whom were prominent in the Mediterranean world north and south of Palestine. Most who hold this view think that they were Lysimachus (who ruled over Thrace and Bithynia), Cassander (Macedonia and Greece), Seleucus (Syria, Babylonia, and the eastern territories), and Ptolemy (Egypt, Palestine, and Arabia Petrea). However, the exact identification of the rulers is debatable because it took about 20 years for the kingdom to be successfully divided. But there is no question about the fact that Greece split into four major parts.
Antiochus Epiphanes - The Persecutor of the Jews and Despoiler of the Temple.