would destroy all confidence in its prophecy. If John, as these writers maintain, composed it in 68,
he lived long enough to be undeceived, and would have corrected the fatal blunder or withheld the
book from circulation.
(5) It seems incredible that such an easy solution of the problem should have remained
unknown for eighteen centuries and been reserved for the wits of half a dozen rival rationalists in
Germany. Truth is truth, and must be thankfully accepted from any quarter and at any time; yet as
the Apocalypse was written for the benefit of contemporaries of Nero, one should think that such
a solution would not altogether have escaped them. Irenaeus makes no mention of it.
The Emperor of Rome.
Caesar Romae, from .׃ מוֹר רסיק So Ewald formerly (in his first commentary, published
in 1828). But this gives the number 616, which is rejected by the best critics in favor of 666. In his
later work, Ewald adopts the Nero-hypothesis (Die Johanneischen Schriften, Bd. II., 1862, p. 202
sq.).
Caligula.
From Γάιος Καῖσαρ. But this counts likewise 616.
Titus.
The Greek Τεῖταν. Irenaeus considers this the most probable interpretation, because the
word is composed of six letters, and belongs to a royal tyrant. If we omit the final ν(n), we get the
other reading (616). The objection is that Titus, the destroyer of Jerusalem, was one of the best
emperors, and not a persecutor of Christians.
Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian.
Wetstein refers the letters to Titus Flavius Vespasianus, father and sons (Titus and Domitian).
He thinks that John used both numbers, 616 in the first, 666 in the second edition of his book.
"Eleganter" he says in his notes, et apposite Joannes Titum Flavium Vespasianum patrem et filios
hoc nomine designat ... Convenit secundo nomen. Τειτάνpraenomini ipsorumTitus. Res ipsa etiam
convenit. Titanes fueruntθεομάχοι, tales etiam Vespasiani." Nov. Test., II., p. 806; comp. his critical
note on p. 805.
Diocletian.
Diocletian, Emperor, in Roman characters, Diocles Augustus, counting only some of the
letters, namely: DIo CLes aVg Vst Vs.^1270 Diocletian was the last of the persecuting emperors (d.
313). So Bossuet. To his worthless guess the Huguenots opposed the name of the "grand monarch"
and persecutor of Protestants, Louis XIV., which yields the same result (LVDo VICVs).
The Roman Emperors from Augustus To Vespasian.
Märcker (in the "Studien und Kritiken" for 1868, p. 699) has found out that the initial letters
of the first ten Roman emperors from Octavianus (Augustus) to Titus, including the three usurpers
Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, yield the numerical value of 666. Düsterdieck (p. 467) calls this "eine
frappante Spielerei."
Caesar Augustus.
Καισαρσεβαστον(for-ς, suited to the neuter θηρίον), i.e., the "Caesar Augustan" beast.^1271
The official designation of the Roman emperors was Καίσαρ Σεβαστός(Caesar Augustus), in which(^1270) D = 500 + I = 1 + C = 100 + L = 50 + V = 5 + V = 5 = 666.
(^1271) The numerical value of Καισαρσεβαστον is = 20 + 1 + 10 + 200 + 1 + 100 + 200 + 5 + 2 + 1 + 6 + 70 + 50, in all 666.
A.D. 1-100.