The Ten Kingdoms of Rome

Question:

What are the ten divisions of the Roman kingdom, as mentioned in Daniel 7? And when did these kingdoms begin?

Answer:

The texts under question are as follows:

“After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns… Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.” (Daniel 7:7, 23, 24)

We will list the ten kingdoms here. The references to Gibbon are from Milman’s edition, five volumes, published by Porter & Coates, Philadelphia, 1880.

The figures preceding the colon are the chapter; following the colon, the paragraph.

1. The Alemanni, A.D. 351, Suabia, Alsace, and Lorraine. (See Gibbon, chapter 10, paragraph 26; 12:20; 19:20; 36:5; 49:22.)
2. The Franks, A.D. 351, Northwest Gaul. (Gibbon 19:20; 36:5).
3. The Burgundians, December 31, A.D. 406. (Gibbon 30:17.) Located in Burgundy A.D. 420. (Gibbon 31:39.)
4. The Vandals, December 31, A.D. 406. (Gibbon 30:17.) Located in Spain A.D. 409. (Gibbon 31:36.) Settled in Africa A.D. 429. (Gibbon 33:35.)
5. The Suevi, December 31, A.D. 406. (Gibbon 30:17.) In Spain A.D. 409. (Gibbon 31:36.)
6. The Visigoths, A.D. 408. (Gibbon 31:2, 14.) In Southwest Gaul A.D. 419. (Gibbon 31:39.) In Spain A.D. 467. (Gibbon 36:22; 38:2, 29.)
7. The Saxons entered Britain in A.D. 449. (Gibbon 31:41, 42; 38:33; Green’s England 1:17; Knight’s England 5:6.)
8. The Ostrogoths, in Pannonia A.D. 453. (Gibbon 35:16.) In Italy A.D. 489, final conquest A.D. 493. (Gibbon 39: 7, 8.)
9. The Lombards, A.D. 453, in Pannonia and Noricum, banks of Danube. (Weber’s Universal History, section 180; Gibbon 42:2; Encyclopaedia Britannica, article “Lombards.”) In Lombardy A.D. 567, 568. (Gibbon 45:5-7; Machiavelli’s History of Florence, chapters 1, 2.)
10. The Heruli, in Italy A.D. 475, 476. (Gibbon 36:28-33.)

The three plucked up were the Heruli in Italy in 493, the Vandals in Africa in 533, and the Ostrogoths in Italy in 538. Therefore, ten kingdoms existed in Western Rome between A.D. 476-493.