1In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head while on his bed. Then he wrote the dream and told the sum of the matters.
2Daniel spoke and said, “I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the sky broke out on the great sea. 3Four great animals came up from the sea, different from one another.
4“The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings. I watched until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet as a man. A man’s heart was given to it.
5“Behold, there was another animal, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth. They said this to it: ‘Arise! Devour much flesh!’
6“After this I saw, and behold, another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The animal also had four heads; and dominion was given to it.
7“After this I saw in the night visions, and, behold, there was a fourth animal, awesome, powerful, and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth. It devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet. It was different from all the animals that were before it. It had ten horns.
8“I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots; and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking arrogantly.
9“I watched until thrones were placed,
and one who was ancient of days sat.
His clothing was white as snow,
and the hair of his head like pure wool.
His throne was fiery flames,
and its wheels burning fire.
10A fiery stream issued and came out from before him.
Thousands of thousands ministered to him.
Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
The judgment was set.
The books were opened.
11“I watched at that time because of the voice of the arrogant words which the horn spoke. I watched even until the animal was slain, and its body destroyed, and it was given to be burned with fire. 12As for the rest of the animals, their dominion was taken away; yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.
13“I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man, and he came even to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him. 14Dominion was given him, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away, and his kingdom one that will not be destroyed.
15“As for me, Daniel, my spirit was grieved within my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. 16I came near to one of those who stood by, and asked him the truth concerning all this.
“So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things. 17‘These great animals, which are four, are four kings, who will arise out of the earth. 18But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.’
19“Then I desired to know the truth concerning the fourth animal, which was different from all of them, exceedingly terrible, whose teeth were of iron, and its nails of bronze; which devoured, broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet; 20and concerning the ten horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up, and before which three fell, even that horn that had eyes and a mouth that spoke arrogantly, whose look was more stout than its fellows. 21I saw, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them, 22until the ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
23“So he said, ‘The fourth animal will be a fourth kingdom on earth, which will be different from all the kingdoms, and will devour the whole earth, and will tread it down and break it in pieces. 24As for the ten horns, ten kings will arise out of this kingdom. Another will arise after them; and he will be different from the former, and he will put down three kings. 25He will speak words against the Most High, and will wear out the saints of the Most High. He will plan to change the times and the law; and they will be given into his hand until a time and times and half a time.
26“‘But the judgment will be set, and they will take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it to the end. 27The kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole sky, will be given to the people of the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions will serve and obey him.’
28“Here is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts troubled me greatly, and my face was changed in me; but I kept the matter in my heart.”
Paul and Barnabas set sail on their first missionary journey (Acts 13.1-14.28), accompanied by John Mark (Acts 12.25), from this port five to six (5-6) miles north of the mouth of the Orontes River, which served as the port for the great city of Antioch (Acts 13.4), fifteen to sixteen (15-16) miles away. Seleucia appears once in the Bible, in Acts 13.4: "So Barnabas and Saul, sent out by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus" (NET). Built in 301 B.C. by Seleucus Nicator I, "King of Syria," the most zealous of princes in the region for the building of cities, who is reputed to have built nine cities named Seleucia, sixteen named Antioch, and six named Laodicea. This particular city was also called "Seleucia by the Sea" (I Macc. 11.8).
The city was built upon a promontory, a high point of land projecting into the sea beyond the coastline. This high point of land was called Mt. Hazzi by Hittites, as well as the Ugaritians. The site of the city was chosen, according to legend, while Seleucus (312-281 B.C.), one of Alexander the Great's generals, was sacrificing on this mountain. An eagle allegedly descended, snatching part of the entrails of the animal sacrifice, and deposited the entrails at the place precisely where the new city would be constructed. Seleucus took control of one of the four fragments of Alexander's conquests, roughly covering modern Turkey unto what is now modern Iran, which new kingdom took his name, Seleucia. Seleucia, along with the other three fragmented kingdoms, Greece, Thrace, and Egypt, fulfilled Daniel's prophecy of the "four heads" in Daniel 7:6, predicting the four-fold fragmentation of the empire of Alexander the Great.
Seleucus, ever the general, viewed the site, however, as militarily unsafe from attacks from the sea; therefore, he moved the new capital of his kingdom to Antioch, where inland trade routes could be better protected. Almost prophetically, his prudence was confirmed by the occupation of the port by the Ptolemies (241-219 B.C.), as per 1 Maccabees 11:8, "... King Ptolemy took possession of the cities along the seacoast as far as Seleucia-by-the-Sea." The Ptolemaic dynasty that ruled Egypt and the Seleucid dynasty that ruled Seleucia fought over Israel until the decisive battle of Paneion in 200 B.C., where Antiochus III, the descendent of Seleucus, defeated the Ptolemaic general Scopus and consolidated all of Israel.
The port was actually created by the enlargement of the natural basin, which was fed by a stream. Because the stream silted the basin, Vespasian, then later Titus diverted the stream via a constructed watercourse. This canal was over fifteen hundred (1500) yards in length, the last approximate one-hundred forty-two (142) yards tunneled through rock at a height and width of over six (6) yards. This "Tunnel of Titus" was the greatest project undertaken by Rome in the provinces. Inscriptions of Vespasian (69-71) and Titus (79-81) remain on the tunnel's walls. Currently called "el-Kalusi," this ancient port of Seleucia is largely silted, but still partially visible.