It is not Nero because the beast is end times. The beast, the false prophet, and the dragon convince the kings of the earth to gather their armies to make war on Jesus.
Nero was the sixth king ruling as the time. So he was not the person already in the bottomless pit either, as a disembodied spirit, at the time of John, in Revelation 17:8.
The five previous kings were Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius. Julius Caesar was not a emperor, but the bible does not say emperor but king - leader. They were all of one family, Julio-Claudians. Nero was the last of the historic Julio-Claudians.
The little horn of the end times will be the seventh. And will be the leader of the EU. Then becomes the King of Israel for a short time, the Jews thinking he is their messiah, until he claims to have achieved God-hood. Is killed for the act, and brought back to life as the beast.
Nero cannot fit being the beast - because before becoming the beast, the person must go through a stage of being the (illegitimate) King of Israel - the Antichrist - which to qualify, the person must also be a Jew. His mother must be a Jew.
The person actually is on two tracks - (1) being the King of the fourth empire in the end times; that is the little horn, then the beast (2) being the King of Israel (illegitimate King of Israel, someone who is not who God sent to be their king - the Antichrist - for about 3 years 3 months.
You might have a point. I'm too busy right now to investigate everything here. I do think abyss could mean "non-existence" the way it is used in genesis
12 - Search the Apostolic Bible Polyglot also it seems that it is used for the sea as well. The harlot of babylon who sits on many waters probably signifies a world-system that is composed of many peoples: Revelation 17:15
"Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, Who are called by the name of Israel, And from the waters of Judah came out, Who are swearing by the name of Jehovah, And of the God of Israel make mention, Not in truth nor in righteousness." (isaiah 48:1 YLT) "From the waters of Judah" means "descended" from Judah. So it might mean 1 Nero (figuratively) came back from among peoples. 2 Nero was not in existence but came back. (figuratively) In regards to convincing the world to fight the saints there's the fact that Nero did convince the Roman empire to kill Christians (and attack Jerusalem) and it is referred to as the "whole world" in the NT (they used hyperbole and didn't care about being super specific back then it seems)
"And it came to pass in those days, there went forth a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world be enrolled --"(Luke 2:1 YLT)
"Emperor Nero then sent Vespasian, a decorated general, to quell the Judean rebellion. Vespasian put down the opposition in Galilee, then in Transjordan, then in Idumea. He circled in on Jerusalem. But before the
coup de grace, Nero died. Vespasian became embroiled in a leadership struggle that concluded with the eastern armies calling for him to be emperor. One of his first imperial acts was to appoint his son Titus to conduct the Jewish War."
A.D. 70 Titus Destroys Jerusalem
I think you are also confusing Nero with Domitian a bit. Here's the original theory (I think they also argue for a non-standard date of Revelation elsewhere in here to maybe explain the other disagreement you have) Their theory looks interesting I don't know enough to say I really believe this (I didn't vote for it in the poll either) Thanks for your thoughts. This might explain some things:
"The year of
Nero's death is A.D. 68. The
Seer goes on to say "One is", namely
Vespasian, A.D. 70-79. He is the sixth emperor. The seventh, we are told by the
Seer, "is not yet come. But when he comes his reign will be short". Titus is meant, who reigned but two years (79-81). The eighth emperor is
Domitian (81-96). Of him the
Seer has something very peculiar to say. He is identified with the beast. He is described as the one that "was and is not and shall come up out of the bottomless pit" (
17:8). In
verse 11 it is added: "And the beast which was and is not: the same also is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into destruction".
"All this sounds like
oracular language. But the clue to its solution is furnished by a popular
belief largely spread at the
time. The death of
Nero had been
witnessed by few. Chiefly in the East a notion had taken hold of the
mind of the people that
Nero was still alive.
Gentiles,
Jews, and
Christians were under the illusion that he was hiding himself, and as was commonly thought, he had gone over to the Parthians, the most troublesome foes of the empire. From there they expected him to return at the head of a mighty army to avenge himself on his enemies. The
existence of this fanciful
belief is a well-attested historic fact. Tacitus speaks of it: "Achaia atque Asia falso exterrit velut Nero adventaret, vario super ejus exitu rumore eoque pluribus vivere eum fingentibus credentibusque" (Hist., II, 8). So also Dio Chrysostomus:
kai nyn (about A.D. 100)
eti pantes epithymousi zen oi de pleistoi kai oiontai (Orat., 21, 10; cf. Suetonius, "Vit. Caes."; s.v.
NERO and the SIBYLINE ORACLES). Thus the contemporaries of the
Seer believed Nero to be alive and expected his return. The
Seer either shared their
belief or utilized it for his own purpose.
"
Nero had made a name for himself by his cruelty and licentiousness. The
Christians in particular had reason to dread him. Under him the first
persecutiontook place. The second occurred under
Domitian. But unlike the previous one, it was not confined to
Italy, but spread throughout the provinces. Many
Christians were put to death, many were banished (
Eusebius,
Church History III.17-19). In this way the
Seer was led to regard
Domitian as a second
Nero, "Nero redivivus". Hence he described him as "the one that was, that is not, and that is to return". Hence also he counts him as the eighth and at the same time makes him one of the preceding seven, viz. the fifth,
Nero. The identification of the two emperors suggested itself all the more readily since even
pagan authors called
Domitian a second
Nero (
calvus Nero, Juvenal. IV, 38). The popular
belief concerning
Nero's death and return seems to be referred to also in the passage (
13:3): "And I saw one of its heads as it were slain to death: and its death's wound was healed"."
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Apocalypse
