In 12' it is the seven heads that are kings, in 13* it is the ten horns, but in 13' the smitten head must mean a king. The latter is commonly interpreted (by Victorinus, and by modern scholars from I'^ieh- horn,Liicke, Bleek,downtoHoltzmannandI5ousset) of Nero's death, which ended the Julian dynasty, and seemed likely for a time to bring the empire to an end in anarchy. Gunkel thinks the Hebrew original read ' the first head,' hence Julius Cajsar, whose death threatened the empire, but i.ssued in its greater power (cf. On 8* on Alexander's death). In 17'"' " the seven heads are the seven kings of Rome, and the writer feels bound by that number even when he needs to add an eighth. The ten horns, on the other hand, are apparently allied kings.
The evidence of later adaptations or interjirctations of given figures is often clear. The seven mountains of 171^** is so clearly such an addition for the sake of the idcntilication of the woman with the city Rome, that one is the more inclined to find in vv.18 and If also allegorical interpretations, and to question whether the woman was originally invented as a figure of Rome. 8he is now, of course, the city Rome (vv.0-«), and may have been created in that sense ; but even if so, not, we may be almost certain, by our author.
The second beast in 13""- is evidently now the prophet or priest (priesthood) of Roman emperor- worship (cf. 16" 19-" -20'"). But here also older traditions are to be supposed. Bousset regards this as a Jewish figure of Antichrist {Kumm. Excursus on ch. 13, Antichrist, p. 121), and a Jewish apocalyptical writer may very well have interpreted as Antichrist the religion of emperor- worship, and put this by the side of the beast who stood for the empire itself as its helper in evil. None of the many attempts to find a definite person in the .second bea.st (Vespasian, Simon Magus, Paul!, etc.) have made any approach to success. The personal interpretation of^ the first beast, however, as signifying Nero, has become almost a fixed assumption of critics. Gunkel's attack ujwn this strongliold of the contemiiorary-histuriail method has not changed the prevailing opinion (see Bousset, Holtzmann, etc.). It has, however, served to empha- size the fact that if the beast from the abyss is here by some one made a symbol of Nero, yet the beast was not first invented for this use, and it is not certain by whom, whether by our author or l)y a source, the identification was made. The opinion,
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indeed, does not go beyond probability. In view of tlie embodiment of the suijernatural power of evil in Antioclms Epiphancs in Daniel, it is not possible to s ttle the question by a "eneral appeal to 'con- gruitj', analogy, proportion, and a sarcastic thrvist at the famous critics who have ' placed T. Claudius Nero along with Christ, Satan, Death, Hades, the Church, and other powers and principles which constitute the Dramatii Persomeoi the Apocalypse' (Benson, p. 159). But it must be said that the evidence is of a wholly dill'erent sort from that which Daniel furnishes, with its detailed lii.story of Antiochus (chs. 8. 11), and is not such as we should expect if the writer had set out to indicate his belief that Nero would return from the grave, and be the demonic power of evil in the last assault of evil against good. On the origin and history of the belief in Nero's return the fullest investigation is that of Zahn (Zeitsch.f. kirchl. Wisscnxch. u. k. Leben, 1885-86). See also Bousset, Komm. p. 47511'., and Charles, Ascension of Isa iah, pp. li-lxxv. The chief evidence that Rev. refers to this ex- pectation is in ch. 17. The return of one of the seven kings as an eighth, who is nevertheless also the beast himself (v."), suggests this more or less current expectation. In the ten kings of v." it is possible to find the Parthian kings, with whom it was believed that Nero would return against Rome. And the idea that the city Rome would be de- stroyed by the verj' beast that represents her empire, in league with outside kings (vv."-"), is difhcult to explain at all apart from the Nero myth, which would perfectly explain it. If Nero be found here it is natural to infer that v.' describes in general terms his death, return, and final de- struction. Yet this formula ('was, and is not ; and •i about to come up out of the abyss, and to go into perdition ') so fully sums up the general apocalyp- tical theory of the power of evil (the history of the chaos-dragon, Gunkel), and seems shaped so clearly in contrast to the formula which sums up the nature of God ('who was, and who is, and who is to come'), that the reference to Nero may be, if present at all, secondary. The verse in which our author's hand is most clearly seen (v.") so inter- rupts this Nero story with an anticipation of IQ'""- 'for how are the ten kings to be overcome by the Lamb and His followers before they assist the beast in the destruction of Rome ?) as to suggest that Nero was not in his mind, but here, as in 12", only the Christian conflict with evil. So also the in- terpretation of the slain and healed head in 13' is uncertain, and even the number 666 gives no secure support to this historical reference. The Greek golutionof thisriddle, AATEIX02, '(THE) LATIN,' which is as old as Irenieus, though not aidopted by him, is still held by many ; but the Hebrew pij IDp Nero C^SAR, — which in a Latin spelling IDp V\i would yield 616, an early variant, — has far the larger number of advocates. Yet lo-p is the proper spelling of Ccesar, which would make 676. And when in answer to this objection it is said that an apocalyptical writer would prefer 666 to 676, because of its symmetry, and because it corresponds to the number of the name Jesus (IH2:OTS=888), it is natural to ask whether 666 might not have been chosen at first outright for its symbolic meaning, to signify the one who per- sistently falls short of holiness or perfection (seven), as Jesus goes beyond it in the fulness of His char- acter and power (so Milligan, Baird Lecture, p. 328 ; Briggs, Messiah of the Apostles, p. 324). So the number 3i, the length of tlie reign of evil (Dn 7» 12', Rev 112- »•" 12«-'* 13») needs no other ex- planation than the symbolism of the broken seven : the power of evil will be cut off in the midst and come to an untimely end. If, however, the number is to be interpreted hy gematria, another view claims