Four monarchies

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The fifth monarchy is a millennarian idea, based on Biblical sources. The Book of Daniel[1] refers to four monarchies or 'world empires', namely (under a conventional interpretation[2]): the Assyrian Empire; the Persian Empire; the Greek (Hellenic) imperium set up by Alexander the Great; and the Roman Empire. The fifth monarchy, according to interpretations of the Book of Revelation, would be the culminating imperium of the final days.

A standard medieval interpretation ties the fourth monarchy and its end to the end of the Roman Empite; which is considered not to have comet to pass. This is the case for example in Adso.[3]

Jean Bodin was concerned to argue against the theory of 'four monarchies' in universal history. He devoted a chapter to refuting it, in his 1566 Methodus ad facilem historiarum cognitionem[4] The theory was particularly emphasised by Protestant theologians, such as Jerome Zanchius[5], Joseph Mede[6], John Lightfoot[7]

This belief influenced the Fifth Monarchists of early modern England, in particular. The Foure Monarchies was the title of a long poem by Anne Bradstreet from 1650[8].

  • H. H. Rowley (1935), Darius the Mede and the Four World Empires in the Book of Daniel. A Historical Study of Contemporary Theories
  • Joseph Ward Swain, The Theory of the Four Monarchies: Opposition History under the Roman Empire, Classical Philology, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Jan., 1940), pp. 1-21
  • Gerhard F. Hasel, The Four World Empires of Daniel 2 Against its Near Eastern Environment, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 1979 4: 17-30

  1. ^ [1]: Biblical text, expounded.
  2. ^ Attributed [2] to Hieronymus of Milano.
  3. ^ [3]
  4. ^ [4]
  5. ^ [5]
  6. ^ [6]
  7. ^ [7]
  8. ^ [8]

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