In Oracle V , which dates to the late first or early second century AD, Nero has become a resurrected and demonic power symbolic of Rome, itself. But even when he disappears he will be destructive.
Then he will return declaring himself equal to God" V. Here, Nero is manifested as the Antichrist, "that man of sin [lawlessness] The Sibyl presents Nero both as king of Rome Oracle V , ff and the means of God's retribution in destroying it A matricide and megalomaniac, who presumed to cut through the isthmus of Corinth and was perceived as responsible for the destruction of the Jewish Temple in AD 70, Nero "will come from the ends of the earth" as a champion of the East and an instrument of God's punishment.
He will overthrow tyrants and "raise up those who were crouched in fear" before falling in a final battle against the West. Then there will be peace and "no longer will anyone fight with swords or iron or with weapons at all" ff. The Christian poet Commodian fl. AD also writes of the Antichrist, when Nero will return from hell. He himself shall divide the globe into three ruling powers, when, moreover, Nero shall be raised up from hell, Elias shall first come to seal the beloved ones; at which things the region of Africa and the northern nation, the whole earth on all sides, for seven years shall tremble.
But Elias shall occupy the half of the time, Nero shall occupy half. Then the whore Babylon, being reduced to ashes, its embers shall thence advance to Jerusalem; and the Latin conqueror shall then say, I am Christ, whom ye always pray to; and, indeed, the original ones who were deceived combine to praise him. He does many wonders, since his is the false prophet" Instructions , XLI.
Writing in the early fifth century AD, Sulpicius Severus recounts the reign of Nero, "the basest of all men, and even of wild beasts Too, given that his body never was found, there are doubts whether he committed suicide; "even if he did put an end to himself with a sword, his wound was cured and his life preserved," as foretold in Revelation, "to be sent forth again near the end of the world, in order that he may practice the mystery of iniquity" II.
Not all Christians shared the popular belief that Nero was the Antichrist or his precursor. Lactantius was a converted pagan who was tutor in Latin to one of the sons of Constantine. In the early fourth century, he wrote On the Deaths of the Persecutors , which recounts the fearful deaths of those who had persecuted the Christians.
The death of Nero, however, frustrated this account in that some thought he had not died at all. This has led some persons of extravagant imagination to suppose that, having been conveyed to a distant region, he is still reserved alive; and to him they apply the Sibylline verses concerning 'The fugitive, who slew his own mother, being to come from the uttermost boundaries of the earth;' as if he who was the first should also be the last persecutor, and thus prove the forerunner of Antichrist!
But we ought not to believe those who, affirming that the two prophets Enoch and Elias have been translated into some remote place that they might attend our Lord when He shall come to judgment, also fancy that Nero is to appear hereafter as the forerunner of the devil, when he shall come to lay waste the earth and overthrow mankind" II.
And hence some suppose that he shall rise again and be Antichrist. Others, again, suppose that he is not even dead, but that he was concealed that he might be supposed to have been killed, and that he now lives in concealment in the vigor of that same age which he had reached when he was believed to have perished, and will live until he is revealed in his own time and restored to his kingdom.
But I wonder that men can be so audacious in their conjectures" XX. I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia.
In the apocalyptic Revelation of John, there is a second beast who, risen from the sea, has seven heads, one of which once was wounded but then healed ,3. Given power by Satan himself "to make war with the saints, and to overcome them" , this beast compelled that "all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him" and caused "that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed Moreover, the second beast marked everyone with its own mark, without which "no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name" Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six" In ancient Greek and Hebrew, letters also represented numerals as in Latin , their values assigned according to the order of the alphabet, alpha and aelph , for example, having the numerical value of 1.
By adding these values, words could be represented as the sum of their numbers. This literation of numbers and numeration of letters was known as isopsephia by the Greeks and gematria by the Jews which, in cabalistic practice, has been used to interpret Hebrew scripture. Suetonius relates an example of isopsephia when he records that graffiti appeared in both Greek and Latin lampooning Nero after he had his mother killed: "A calculation new.
John was likely a witness to the absolute destruction of Jerusalem after the Roman-Jewish War of The city was reduced to rubble, and most of its inhabitants slaughtered. Banished by the prevailing Roman authorities in the aftermath of the war, John found himself at Patmos, a small island in Asia Minor, where, some 20 years after the disastrous rebellion, he wrote his Revelation. Witnessing such utter destruction of the Holy City, he had good cause to view Rome as an agent of evil, and its Augustus as the Antichrist—the beast.
In Revelation , John rails against the economic system imposed on the Jews by the Romans, specifically the Roman currency—silver tetradrachms and denarii—that replaced the Jewish coins of the earlier period. And it goes without saying that without coins, there can be no buying or selling. The question is, which one is John talking about? There are three candidates:. This notorious persecutor of early Christians, under whose hapless watch much of Rome burned to the ground, committed suicide in 68 AD, plunging the empire into a period of chaos called the Year of the Four Emperors.
When Nero died, his best general Vespasian was in Jerusalem, fighting the Jewish rebels. After returning to Rome to maintain order in the chaos, he took the throne, and was the Emperor when his elder son, Titus, laid waste to the Holy City. Over one million people died in that war, most of them Jews like John. In fact, on the day before he was murdered, he consulted an astrologer. During this time he also consulted Apollo, the god of music and poetry, as well as light, truth and prophecy!
Commemorating his superstition, the emperor minted coins depicting Apollo on one side and a raven, associated with prophecy, on the other Jones Emperor Domitian died soon after and all was well! Emperor Domitian minted coins with the head of Apollo, right and the raven left.
He consulted Apollo, Roman god of music, poetry, light, truth and prophecy, for knowledge of the future. Depicted as a handsome young man, Apollo was also identified with Helios, the Greek sun-god. Emperor Domitian consulted the raven because its flight pattern was believed to predict the future.
While Domitian looked to Apollo and the raven to foretell the immediate future, the omniscient Lord Jesus Christ, infinitely greater than Domitian, revealed the future of the world in this book. He instructed John to:. In the 19th century, Bible scholars, linguists, pilgrims, travelers and military intelligence officers from America, England and the Continent began visiting the lands of the Bible. They described sites, recorded manners and customs, drew maps and sketched landscapes.
This research began to open up the world of the Bible, making it no longer just a theological treatise, but a Book about real people, events and places.
Another dimension these explorers provided students back home was intelligence information for European countries awaiting the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Among his important works was Letters to the Seven Churches, about the world of Revelation 2—3. First, by reading the accounts of their travels and, secondly, traveling to the places they visited, making my own observations and taking pictures. I begin with the assumption that Revelation was written in AD 95, during the reign of Emperor Domitian, not in the reign of Nero Thomas — A dedicatory inscription for the Sabastoi Temple in Ephesus.
The name of Emperor Domitian had been chiseled out of the top four lines as a result of the damnatio memoriae issued by the Roman Senate. Emperor Domitian had a definite ego problem! In Imperial Rome the senate would deify an emperor upon death Kreitzer — However, like Gaius Caligula, and well attested by ancient writers, Domitian could not wait until death and deified himself.
Seutonius AD ca. He [Domitian] was a madman, blind to the true meaning of his position, who used the arena for collecting charges of high treason, who felt himself slighted and scorned if we failed to pay homage to his gladiators, taking any criticism of them to himself and seeing insults to his own godhead and divinity; who deemed himself the equal of the gods yet raised his gladiators to his equal.
One Juventius Celsus. Later writers repeat the same claim and even embellish it Jones However, in Silvae 1. Other contemporary evidence seems to support the view that Domitian claimed deity. Unfortunately, no inscriptions with such titles on them have been discovered. Dio Cassius again adds an important detail, when he wrote:. After Domitian, the Romans appointed Nerva Coceius emperor. Because of the hatred felt for Domitian, his images, many of which were of silver and many of gold, were melted down: and from this source large amounts of money were obtained.
The arches, too, of which a very great number were being erected to this one man, were torn down Cary Finally they passed a decree that his inscriptions should everywhere be erased, and all record of him obliterated Rolfe Also known by his Greek name Zeus, he is holding a thunderbolt fulmen in his right hand as a sign of his deity.
A marble portrait of Domitian with an oak-leaf crown, the so-called corona civica, found in Latina, Italy, and now in the National Roman Museum, was probably buried before the emperor died Sapelli What could not be destroyed were coins minted by Domitian because it was impossible to recall all of them. On the reverse was their infant son, born in the second consulship of Domitian in AD 73 and who died in the second year after he became emperor AD 82 Rolfe He is depicted as naked and seated on a zoned globe with his arms outstretched surrounded by seven stars!
The globe represents world dominion and power, while stars typically bespoke the divine nature of those accompanied. If he was the son of a god, then who was god? Of course, his father, Domitian! In 84 Domitian struck a reverse type Jupiter holding thunderbolt and spear. The dead and deified son of Emperor Domitian sitting on a globe the earth with his arms stretched out. Minted between AD 81—84, this is a rare coin because he is grasping for only six stars.
Usually the coins have seven stars, like the seven stars in the right hand of the glorified Son of Man Rv Martial, the first century Howard Stern of Rome, confirms this idea in his writings. One of his epigrams, written in AD 94, describing the Gens Flavia Jones 1, , footnote 1 says:. This piece of ground, that lies open and is being covered with marble and gold, knew our Lord domini in infancy. Here stood the venerable house that gave the world what Rhodes and pious Crete gave the starry sky [Helios, the sun god, was born on Rhodes according to some traditions; Zeus, the chief Greek god, was born on Crete].
But you the Father of the High One did protect, and for you, Caesar, thunderbolt fulmen and aegis took the place of spear and buckler Bailey b: Domitian put himself on the same level as Jupiter.
Interestingly, after the death of Domitian, Martial repudiates these titles attributed to Domitian Bailey b: Apparently, he reflected the sentiments of the day while Domitian was alive. Martial may not have believed it, but that is what Domitian wanted and that is what he got.
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