666: The Beast, Nero, and Centuries of Bad Arithmetic

by

Why 666?

Basically because this is my 666th posting on Medium, hence I’ve been inspired to mull over this rather infamous 666 number and apply a bit of critical thinking to it. There is what we actually know about this number, and then there are the multiple layers of religious mythology that surrounds it.

Which is which?

Let’s find out.

Where does this number come from?

The Bible of course, or to be a tad more specific the Book of Revelation, because the Bible itself is not one text, but rather is a collection religious texts compiled over a long period of time. Well hey, I’d guess you already knew that bit.

A popular claim is that despite being authored by numerous individuals over many centuries, it all contains one unified message. One small flaw there, that’s a myth. You can of course spin it that way by interpreting it all via one lens of belief, but that often involves a great deal of motivated reasoning. When it comes to 666 and what it really means, we face a similar issue. There is what people sincerely believe, and then there is what is actually known. Generally those two tend not to align.

The bit of text in question is in Revelation 13:15-18 …

15 The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 16 It also forced all people, great and small,rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.

18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.[a] That number is 666.

What exactly does 666 represent?

Wait, first let’s have our first revelation (yes, pun intended).

We have fragments of various very old copies of the Book Of Revelation, The plot twist here is that not all of them use 666, the oldest uses a different number …

Fragment from Papyrus 115 (P115)of Revelation in the 66th vol. of the Oxyrhynchus series (P. Oxy. 4499).[16]Has the number of the beast as χιϛ, 616.

One important early manuscript witness, Papyrus 115 (pictured above), gives the number as 616 rather than 666. That does not prove 616 was original, but it does show that the number had textual variation very early.

What does 666 or 616 refer to?

Let’s put that question another more specific way – how do the scholars who devote their lives to studying such texts interpret this?

The answer to this specific question is most probably the best available answer available.

There is a broad consensus in contemporary scholarship that the number of the beast refers to the Roman Emperor Nero. Here are a few examples of this:

Why have they come to this conclusion?

The text says it is “the number of a man.” Revelation invites readers to “calculate” the number of the beast. That points to ancient numerology, especially gematria, where letters also have numerical values.

If you play that game then you find that the strongest candidate is Nero Caesar. When “Neron Caesar” is transliterated into Hebrew letters, the values add up to 666. Nero was remembered as a persecutor of Christians, so this fits the political anti-Rome setting of Revelation.

That’s a cue for, “But what about 616?”

That still supports the Nero hypothesis, because a slightly different spelling of Nero Caesar can add up to 616 instead.

At this point, some readers may want to offer a more devotional or symbolic interpretation. That is fine as theology, but it is not the same thing as historical scholarship. The historical question is narrower: what would this number most likely have meant to Revelation’s first readers?

Stop. Don’t. No seriously just don’t chip in with your preferred religious alternative.

“Nero” is not my own personal interpretation, it is the broad consensus in contemporary scholarship. If you disagree, then your argument is not with me, it is with that scholarship. If you feel you have a better “interpretation”, go publish it within the appropriate academic journals and persuade those subject matter experts. When you have accomplished that, then do feel free to come back here and share the details.

But wait, what about …

There is one interesting objection.

The general consensus is that Revelation was written in the 90s AD. Since Nero died in 68 AD, and the reference appears to be written in the future tense and not the past tense, how do scholars align all this.

They usually align it in three ways.

First, Revelation is not just predicting a future individual. It is using apocalyptic symbolism. The “beast” is bigger than Nero personally: it represents Roman imperial power, emperor-worship, persecution, and coercive loyalty.

Second, Nero had become a symbolic bogeyman after his death. There was a widespread “Nero will return” legend, often called Nero redivivus. So a writer in the 90s could use Nero as a code for a renewed Nero-like imperial threat. Revelation 13’s wounded head that “seemed to have a mortal wound” but was healed fits this kind of imagery. You can view this as a popular conspiracy theory of the time.

Third, some scholars think Nero is used as a way to talk about Domitian or Rome under Domitian. In other words: “This current imperial power is Nero all over again.” The number 666/616 points backward to Nero, while the warning pointed forward/presently to Rome’s continuing power at the time the text was written.

In other words, it probably encodes Nero Caesar, but in a 90s AD reading Nero functions less as “this exact living man” and more as the archetype of persecuting Roman power, possibly reappearing in Domitian or in the Roman imperial system itself.

666 Folklore

The Bible is perhaps the ultimate Rorschach test, and so the deeply cryptic Book of Revelation is that, but on steroids.

Over the centuries many weird and truly wild claims have been associated with 666.

Here is my top 20 list of rather popular 666 claims over the centuries:

  1. The Pope is 666: A major Reformation-era Protestant claim, often using strained Latin title calculations. The Geneva Bible even linked 666 to the rise of the Pope/Antichrist. 
  2. A specific pope is 666: Not just “the papacy,” but whichever pope someone particularly disliked.
  3. Martin Luther is 666: Catholic polemicists sometimes flipped the accusation back onto Luther and Protestantism.
  4. Protestantism itself is the Beast: A counter-Reformation mirror image of the “Pope is Antichrist” claim.
  5. Muhammad is 666: Some Christian polemicists used a dubious Greek/Latin spelling, Maometis, to make Muhammad’s name equal 666. 
  6. Islam itself is the Beast: A polemical reading driven by Christian-Muslim conflict rather than Revelation’s first-century context.
  7. The Ottoman Sultan is the Beast: Especially popular when Ottoman power threatened Christian Europe.
  8. The Turks are the apocalyptic Beast: Another anti-Ottoman reading, often more political panic than textual interpretation.
  9. Frederick II is the Beast: The Holy Roman Emperor was cast in apocalyptic terms by enemies during his conflicts with the papacy.
  10. The Holy Roman Empire is 666: A stretched attempt to map Revelation directly onto medieval European politics.
  11. Charlemagne is 666: An anti-imperial reading that treated renewed western empire as beastly Rome reborn.
  12. The Latin Mass encodes 666: A sectarian anti-Catholic claim rather than a serious reading of Revelation.
  13. Roman vestments or papal regalia encode 666: Theological costume arithmetic.
  14. The title “Vicar of Christ” proves 666: Usually dependent on choosing one convenient Latin wording and ignoring inconvenient ones.
  15. The year 666 AD proved the end was near: Calendar panic, not exegesis.
  16. The rise of Islam in the 7th century fulfilled 666: A retrospective attempt to make the number fit a disliked historical event.
  17. Any enemy king (you could pick any you don’t like) whose name could be forced into Greek numerals was the Beast: The “choose villain first, calculate later” method.
  18. A corrupt bishop or local church rival (yep, pick any) was 666: Apocalyptic mud-slinging at diocesan scale.
  19. A heretical sect leader (yes, pick any) was 666: Used as a theological weapon against groups labelled heretical. Remember; from the viewpoint of most beliefs, most other beliefs are heretical.
  20. A rival Christian faction (once again pick any) was the Beast: Because apparently nothing says “careful biblical interpretation” like doing arithmetic at your enemies.

By now you can see the pattern that is in play here: pick the villain, choose the language, bend the spelling, then declare victory.

What about now, surely we don’t do such stuff anymore … right? (Apart from Trump of course who is not exactly a Pope fan these days).

Hell no, of course we do it, the pattern seeking engine sitting between our ears just loves stuff like this.

Here are ten more modern examples:

  1. 666 is Satan’s personal number, like a supernatural barcode.
  2. Anyone with 666 in a phone number, address, or receipt is cursed.
  3. Barcodes secretly contain 666, so buying ordinary products is somehow satanic.
  4. Credit cards are the Mark of the Beast.
  5. Social Security numbers or national ID cards are the Mark of the Beast.
  6. Microchips, vaccines, or QR codes are secretly 666-based control systems.
  7. A particular pope, president, king, or billionaire must be the Antichrist because their name can be numerically forced to equal 666.
  8. The internet is satanic because “www” supposedly equals 666 in Hebrew.
  9. Monster Energy drink is satanic because the logo allegedly hides three Hebrew sixes.
  10. 666 appearing randomly is a direct demonic warning, rather than just three digits turning up in a world full of numbers.

This is all totally crazy stuff and deserves to be mocked.

It is, and so here you go …

  • 333 The semi-beast.
  • 999 The Australian beast.
  • 666.5 The beast, but only on a technicality.
  • 666B The sequel nobody asked for.
  • 666 AM The radio station of the beast, playing nothing but Nickelback and hold music.
  • 666 Mbps The broadband speed of the beast. Fast downloads, eternal buffering.
  • 666 steps The Fitbit goal of the beast.
  • 666 unread emails The inbox of the beast.
  • 666-piece puzzle The jigsaw of the beast. One piece is missing, obviously.
  • 666% APR The payday loan of the beast.
  • 668 The neighbour of the beast.
  • 665.999 The retail price of the beast.
  • $665.95 The bargain-bin price of the beast.
  • 666°F The oven temperature of the beast.
  • Route 666 The highway to hell with better signage.
  • 666 MB The download size of the beast.
  • Error 666 The website is possessed. Try clearing your demons and cookies.
  • 666 calories The snack of the beast.
  • 666-6666 The hotline of the beast. Please hold, your soul is important to us.
  • 667 The beast after one small promotion.
  • etc…

Can you think of any more?

One last Thought

With 666 we have inherited a strange cultural cocktail of ancient apocalyptic imagery, horror films, conspiracy thinking, and bad arithmetic. All of it is BS because none of it is true.

The real danger of 666 is not that three digits have supernatural power. They do not. The danger is our habit of taking ancient symbols, loading them with our own fears, and then calling the result truth. Revelation may be strange, but our persistent love for pattern-seeking mania can be even stranger.