The two horns of the ram in Daniel's vision were the two kings of the Medo-Persian Empire: the father of Cyrus and Cyrus himself.
The Bible answers this in Daniel 8:20, where the angel says the ram with two horns 'are the kings of Media and Persia.' Les Feldick identifies those two kings as the father of Cyrus, who ruled earlier, and Cyrus, who came on the scene later. The horns are not literal animal parts but symbols of the emperors and kings of that empire.
Daniel 8:20 — This verse directly identifies the ram's two horns as the kings of Media and Persia.
Daniel 8:3 — This verse describes the ram with two horns, one higher than the other, which Daniel saw in the vision.
In Daniel 8:3, Daniel records, 'Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.' Later, the angel interprets the vision in Daniel 8:20: 'The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.' The Bible's own explanation, then, is that the two horns are kings — specifically the kings of Media and Persia, the two ruling parts of that empire.
Les Feldick teaches that the ram with two horns in Daniel 8 is not a strange literal creature; it is a symbolic picture of the Medes and Persians. He explains that the horns are simply the two individual kings of that empire. In Clip 1 he says, 'The father of Cyrus was ruling earlier, and then Cyrus came on the scene, and they're called horns. That's all. They're emperors. They're kings.' So one horn stands for the father of Cyrus and the other for Cyrus himself. Les also applies the same principle to later prophecy: when the beast in Revelation has horns, those horns represent leaders and heads of state. He connects the ram with the broader chain of empires Daniel saw — Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome — and notes that John's vision in Revelation looks back at those same empires in reverse order.
Daniel 8:3 shows the ram with two horns, noting that one was higher than the other and that the higher came up last. Daniel 8:20 removes any ambiguity: the ram with two horns 'are the kings of Media and Persia.' The two horns are therefore tied directly to two kings within the Medo-Persian Empire, not to a literal two-horned animal.
Les Feldick teaches that the horns in Daniel's vision are the individual kings of the Medes and Persians. He specifically says the father of Cyrus ruled earlier and then Cyrus came on the scene, and both are called horns. In his words, 'That's all. They're emperors. They're kings.' So one horn is the father of Cyrus and the other is Cyrus himself. He applies this same symbolic principle to other prophetic visions, where horns represent leaders and heads of state.
Les shows that the Medo-Persian Empire appears in more than one symbolic form. In Daniel 7, the same empire is pictured as a bear that raises itself up on one side and devours much flesh. In Daniel 8, it is the ram with two horns. Les also points out that when John sees the beast in Revelation, it has a body like a leopard, feet like a bear, and a mouth like a lion — the same succession of empires, Babylon, Media-Persia, and Greece, seen from John's later vantage point. This confirms that Daniel's visions are symbolic history of real Gentile empires.
Daniel's Vision of the Ram
Les sets the scene for Daniel 8, noting the vision took place in Shushan, the capital of the Medean-Persian empire, and warns listeners not to picture a strange literal animal.
The Two Horns as Two Kings
Les directly answers the question: the two horns of the ram are the two individual kings of the Medes and Persians — the father of Cyrus, who ruled earlier, and Cyrus, who came on the scene later.
John's Vision Looks Back at the Same Empires
Les explains that John's vision in Revelation shows the same empires in reverse order, with the Medo-Persian empire represented by the feet of a bear.
The Medes and Persians as a Bear
Les identifies the bear in Daniel 7 as the Medes and Persians, reinforcing that the same empire appears in multiple symbolic forms.
Daniel's Four Beasts and the Revived Roman Empire Explained
And then he had no more in seeing that come out of his dream, and he says, I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked. In other words, it was defeated, it fell. And it was lifted up from the earth and made stand upon the feet of the man, and a man's heart was given to it. And then, verse 5, as a result of that fall, what happened? Well, another empire. And another beast.
Revelation 18 & Daniel 2: The Fall of Babylon Explained
Now you got the picture? Here stands this huge likeness of a man, a head of gold, the chest of silver, the belly or the abdomen area of brass, the legs of iron, and then the feet with the ten toes iron mixed in clay. Now the whole image of course was a preview of the coming great Gentile empires, that is in the ancient times. Those empires that had a direct relationship with the nation of Israel.
Bear = Medo-Persian Empire
Les identifies the bear in Daniel 7 as the Medo-Persian empire, showing its place in Daniel's sequence of Gentile empires.
Horns as Heads of State
Les applies the same symbolic principle to Revelation, where horns on the beast represent leaders and heads of state in a consortium of nations.
Daniel 8:3: Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.
This verse introduces the ram with two horns, the image the question asks about.
Daniel 8:20: The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.
This is the angelic interpretation that directly identifies the two horns as kings.
The two horns were the two kings of the Medo-Persian Empire — the father of Cyrus and Cyrus himself. Daniel 8:20 says the ram with two horns are the kings of Media and Persia, and Les Feldick shows the horns are the individual kings of that empire.
No. Les Feldick explains that the vision is symbolic. He tells listeners not to picture a strange horrible-looking creature. The ram pictures the Medo-Persian Empire, and the horns represent the two kings of that empire — the father of Cyrus and Cyrus himself.
Daniel 8:20 plainly says the ram with two horns 'are the kings of Media and Persia.' This is the biblical key to understanding the vision.
Watch the Teaching: What the Bible Really Says About the Antichrist — Daniel 8 & 11