The Mekhilta turns to the prophet Daniel's vision of the four kingdoms, focusing on the terrifying image assigned to Greece. In (Daniel 7:6), the kingdom of Greece appears as a leopard, but not an ordinary one. This leopard has four wings on its back, like those of a bird, and four heads. Dominion was given to it.
Each detail in Daniel's vision carries symbolic weight. The leopard is swift, agile, and predatory. Unlike the lion or the bear used for other kingdoms, the leopard suggests speed and cunning rather than brute force. This fits the historical character of the Greek empire under Alexander the Great, whose conquests were legendary for their rapidity. He swept across the known world in barely a decade.
The four wings amplify the leopard's natural speed. A leopard is already fast. A winged leopard is supernaturally fast. The four wings may correspond to the four directions of Alexander's conquests, or to the swiftness with which Greek culture spread across the ancient world. The four heads are traditionally understood as the four successor kingdoms that emerged after Alexander's death, when his empire fractured among his generals: the Ptolemaic, Seleucid, Antigonid, and Attalid dynasties.
The final phrase is the most ominous: "and dominion was given to it." Greece did not seize power through its own merit alone. Dominion was given, implying a divine hand behind the transfer of world power. The Mekhilta reads Daniel's visions as prophetic history, showing that every empire rises and falls according to God's plan, not its own ambition.