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666 - The number of the Beast

666 - the number of the Beast originates in the Apocalypse of John, commonly known as the Book of Revelation. Rev. 13:18: Here is wisdom. 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.

Most explanation of this curious appearance is based on numerology also called word calculus (Wortrechnung in German) ¹. This involves assigning numbers to the letters of the alphabet, and performing calculations with them.

Nero (54-68 AD) was the fifth in the list of the rules of Rome (De Imperatoribus Romanis). The first in the list was  Augustus (27 BC-AD 14). C. Octavianus (the original name of Augustus) was one of three great-nephews of  Gaius Julius Caesar for Augustus father Octavius married Atia, daughter of Caesar's sister.  By virtue of adoption of Octavianus by Ceasar and following Roman custom, Octavius assumed the name C. Julius Caesar Octavianus (hereafter "Octavian"). To identify himself with his adoptive father and to give his subsequent actions a veneer of legitimacy, he simply called himself  “Caesar”.  On 16 January 27 BC  C. Julius Caesar Octavianus became Imperator Caesar Augustus.  Thus Caesar  (Latin  Cæsar) become a title of imperial character. Note that the name Caesar  was pronounced kai-sahr in classical Latin.

Continued in the tradition Nero also took the name Caesar and in Greek, Nero Caesar becomes Neron Kaisar. If we transliterate Neron Kaisar into Hebrew, we get NRVN QSR (or better קסר  נרון  for vowels are not written in Hebrew) ². If we add the numerical equivalents assigned to each of this letters , their total is 666, the Number of the Beast. Note that if we use a Latin form of Nero's name (Nero Caesar) instead of the mentioned Greek form (Neron Kaisar), the value of the Hebrew equivalent (NRV QSR) would be 616 instead of 666. This is an interesting explanation of the variant 616 which appears instead of 666 in some New Testament versions.

It should be noted that there are theories  that 666 is a code name which alludes to another Roman emperor namely Titus Flavius Domitianus (51 - 96 AD), who also brutally persecuted Christians during his reign and whom the Christians referred to as Nero reborn.  Some scholars believe that during his reign the this final part of the New Testament was authored.

Still another interpretation goes back to St. Irenaeus (2dn century AD)   . He associates 666 with the word LATEINOS. This word denotes the Latin speaking man in the ancient Greek. The background for this connection is the fact the  Latin was the official language of the Roman Catholic Church and all documents were published first in Latin, and then translated into other languages. Irenæus proposed this association in his Against Heresies (Book 5, chapter 30, paragraph 3)     that it might be as he writes  ... a very probable [solution], this being the name of the last kingdom [of the four seen by Daniel]. For the Latins are they who at present bear rule: I will not, however, make any boast over this [coincidence].  (cf. Daniel 2:40, 7:7     ). However, Irenaeus wrote in Greek many of his works so his explanation uses numerical values of the letters of the ancient Greeks alphabet.

The German monk and mathematician Michael Stifel (or Stiefel or Styfel) (1487 - 1567) who invented logarithms independently of Napier using a totally different approach ³  was also known for his mathematic- mystical speculations.  He was especially attracted by magic numbers appearing in the Bible as 666 (The Number of the Beast appearing in the Book of Revelation 13:18) or 1260  (The Book of Revelation 12:6) and 1290, 1335 and 2300 (Book of Daniel  12:11, 12:12, 8:14). His favorite method was theWortrechnun (word calculus). He wrote two books devoted to this method. One of them is in 1532 anonymously published Ein Rechen Büchlin Vom End Christ. Apocalypsis in Apocalypsin.  For instance, he predicted here that Judgement Day would occur on October 19, 1533 at 8:00 AM.  To do this he took John 19:37 which in Vulgata says: Videbunt in quem transfixerunt (They shall look on him whom they pierced.). Considering letters used as Roman numerals ↑  he got: VIDebVnt In qVeM transfIXerVnt. After reordering this gave him the year MDXVVVVIII = MDXXXIII = 1533. The determination of the day and the hour was based on other mystic reasonings    .  

He used the same method to prove that the newly crowned  pope Leo X is the Antichrist: He started with LEO DECIMUS, and took again the letters with numerical value LEO DECIMVS = Leo DeCIMVs = MDCLVI =1656. After took off  M, as the initial of the word Mysterium, and adding to the resulting number 656 the number of letters 10 he got 666.

Stifel was a follower and admirer of Luther. In response to this, Peter Bungus (Bongus), a Catholic theologian wrote  a 700 page book  Numerorum Mysteria (Bergamo, 1599; reprint Hildesheim: Olds, 1983) to prove that it was not Leo X but Martin Luther who was the Antichrist. He used the following letter values assignements motivated by the ancient Greeks way to express numbers ↑ :

Then using the variant Martin Lutera  of Martin Luther’s name he got

i.e. .

Since using only the letters with a numeric interpretation when using Roman numerals reduces the number of letters which can be taken into account, Stifel introduced two additional assignments of numerical values to the letters, the first one he calls the  small alphabet

Then using the triangular numbers ↑  procedure: 1, 1+2=3, 1+2+3=6, 1+2+3+4=10, ... he build up the big alphabet

When he applied this alphabet to the text Id bestia Leo he only confirmed the previous result:

to get .

Stifel constructed also the following magic square ↑  in his Rechen Büchlin [1] , Vol. 2, p. 243.  

Here .

For other additional numerological connections visit     and for mathematical ones  

3	Stifel was the first who used  a hook for the square root (in his Arithmetica integra 1544). This sign was derived from the initial R or r  which was previously by Paciolus, Cardano, and others.

Notes

3

The symbol probably developed form the first letter r of the word radix. The initial letter R or r  was previously used in this sense by Paciolus, Cardan, and others.  In printed form a hook for the square root, i.e. without the vinculum (=the horizontal bar over the numbers inside the radical symbol),  appears for the first time in the year 1525 in Die Coss by German mathematician Christoff Rudolff.  Another German mathematician Stifel used this sign in his Arithmetica integra in 1544.

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