666? We may have been wrong!

[font=Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][font=Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Revelation! 666 is not the number of the beast (it's a devilish 616)

A newly discovered fragment of the oldest surviving copy of the New Testament indicates that, as far as the Antichrist goes, theologians, scholars, heavy metal groups, and television evangelists have got the wrong number. Instead of 666, it's actually the far less ominous 616.

The new fragment from the Book of Revelation, written in ancient Greek and dating from the late third century, is part of a hoard of previously unintelligible manuscripts discovered in historic dumps outside Oxyrhynchus in Egypt. Now a team of expert classicists, using new photographic techniques, are finally deciphering the original writing.

Professor David Parker, Professor of New Testament Textual Criticism and Paleography at the University of Birmingham, thinks that 616, although less memorable than 666, is the original. He said: "This is an example of gematria, where numbers are based on the numerical values of letters in people's names. Early Christians would use numbers to hide the identity of people who they were attacking: 616 refers to the Emperor Caligula."

The Book of Revelation is traditionally considered to be written by John, a disciple of Jesus; it identifies 666 as the mark of the Antichrist. In America, the fundamentalist Christian right often use the number in sermons about the coming Apocalypse.

They and satanists responded coolly to the new "Revelation". Peter Gilmore, High Priest of the Church of Satan, based in New York, said: "By using 666 we're using something that the Christians fear. Mind you, if they do switch to 616 being the number of the beast then we'll start using that."

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The history of interpretation concerning the correlation of a person with the number 666 has only resulted in endless speculations. One of the most prominent candidates has been the first-century Roman emperor Nero. A rare rendering of his name into Neron Caesar, transliterated into Hebrew as nrwn qsr, renders the number 666 (nun/50, resh/200, waw/6, nun/50, qof/100, samech/60, and resh/200 = 666). This rare form of Nero's name was actually found in an Aramaic document from Qumran (cf. John's play on Hebrew words in the Book of Revelation at 9:11 and 16:16). It is also noteworthy that a variant reading in Greek New Testament manuscripts exits that cites the number as "616" rather than "666." The transliteration of the normal Nero Caesar into the Hebrew nrw qsr, renders the number 616. There was also a belief in a revived Nero as the antichrist from the first century (cf. book 5 of the Sibylline Oracles) to the time of Augustine, who cites this idea in The City of God.

Irenaeus, however, wrote within a century of the apostle John and did not mention Nero. He proposed a number of options, including lateinos, meaning a Latin (30 + 1 + 300 + 5 + 10 + 50 + 70 + 200 = 666), and thus a Roman ruler, and teitan, a Roman name with which he was enamored (Contra Haereses 5.29-30). A few modern scholars have noted that the numbers can also argue for a connection with Babylon and Nimrod. The list is expanded with the creative use of numbers during times of modern crises (e.g., Hitler was a major candidate during World War II).

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