Daniel 2:39 (ESV)

39 Another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you, and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.

The further construction of the image is such that the chest and arms are of silver. This portion represents the Medo-Persian kingdom, which follows the Babylonian kingdom. Some interpreters still distinguish here between the Median and the Persian empires, which would mean that the chest represents Media and the middle Persia. This explanation, however, is unlikely because the Medians do not really have a large, independent empire that succeeds the Babylonian one. Indeed, it is the Persian Cyrus who, with the help of the Medians, conquers Babylon in 539 BC.

After the Medo-Persian Empire, the Greek Alexander the Great appears. He forms the middle and the thighs of bronze. He crosses the sea from Greece with 30,000 soldiers and 5,000 horsemen and manages to defeat the Medo-Persian army of 600,000 men in 333 BC. The twenty three year old Alexander achieves victory through his strategic knowledge. This brilliant victory creates a large empire. The empire of Alexander the Great stretches from Greece to Egypt and into India. He himself rules over this empire for 13 years. He then dies and his empire divides into four sections.