A Concealed Claudian: The Meaning of 666 in Revelation

Various suggestions were made in Antiquity and the Middle Ages to explain the 666 of Revelation 13:18. Few of them are satisfactory, except perhaps for a neglected allusion to Sarapis, and the modern communis opinio is that it refers to Nero. After presenting an extensive survey and evaluation of pr...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Nelson, Max ca. 20./21. Jh. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Interlibrary Loan:Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany)
Published: 2025
In: The journal of theological studies
Year: 2025, Volume: 76, Issue: 1, Pages: 109-137
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
Description
Summary:Various suggestions were made in Antiquity and the Middle Ages to explain the 666 of Revelation 13:18. Few of them are satisfactory, except perhaps for a neglected allusion to Sarapis, and the modern communis opinio is that it refers to Nero. After presenting an extensive survey and evaluation of previous guesses, I propose instead that 666 concerns an unknown heir to the imperial Claudian family, as the sum of the values of each letter in the name Κλαυδίας.
ISSN:1477-4607
Contains:Enthalten in: The journal of theological studies
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1093/jts/flaf015