The prophecy of the fall of Babylon to Cyrus was written, according to scholars, at LEAST 500 years before those events occurred, to the best of my knowledge. I am not, myself, a scholar so I don't think I can cite an actual source for you. The other prophecies I referenced, Daniel 2, which foretold that Babylon would be followed by Medo-Persia, then Greece, then Rome, (pagan then papal), and then instead of a fourth kingdom the area would be "broken," and the nations would be divided, never again to be consolidated, brings down to the present age. This prophecy was given during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar, certainly hundreds of years before, say, Alexander the Great came on the scene.
The dream of a great "image" of a man in which this prophecy was given has an amazing amount of detail. Medo-Persia was represented by a body's arms of silver, as it was a dual kingdom. Silver was its currency. The hips and thighs of the body were brass, as was Greece's currency. The legs of iron represented Rome, which ruled with military might and chariots of iron, if I remember correctly. (Don't quote me on this one, as I said, I'm not a historian.) The legs give way to ten toes of mixed iron and clay, as Rome disintegrated into ten kingdoms. There's much more, it's a fascinating study. Many ambitious rulers have tried through marriage, intrigue, force and politics to unite those kingdoms. All have failed and will continue to fail.
