Six hundred and sixty-six

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Six hundred and sixty-six
666
presentation
Roman DCLXVI
dual 10 1001 1010
Octal 1232
Duodecimal 476
Hexadecimal 29A
Morse code - · · · · - · · · · - · · · · 
Mathematical properties
sign positive
parity straight
Factorization
Divider 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 18, 37, 74, 111, 222, 333, 666

Six hundred and sixty-six (666) is a Biblical number that appears for the first time in the Revelation of John in its current meaning . In the context of occultism and number mysticism , it is assigned a special meaning. It is also called the number of the beast or the number of the Antichrist .

Biblical origin

The number is found with specific meaning in the Bible in the Revelation of John (13.18 ELB ) in the New Testament . There it says in the Greek original in the edition of Nestle-Aland (27th edition):

“Ὧδε ἡ σοφία ἐστίν · ὁ ἔχων νοῦν ψηφισάτω τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ θηρίου · ἀριθμὸς γὰρ ἀνθρώπῦθ” ατστίὸἀρισθὶ ὁατόο ἀρὐαἀ ὁατἕξο στόὸἀριτ ὁατἕξο ῦατσθιριαἑξή όατἕξο ἀρὐαὶ ”ατἕξο στκὸἀκιτκθ ὁατἕξο ἀριτθθ.

“Here is the wisdom. Whoever understands, calculate the number of the beast; for it is a man's number; and its number is six hundred and sixty-six. "

- Rev 13:18 ELB - Revised Elberfeld Bible (1985)

According to the widespread understanding of the text, the “beast” is identified with the Antichrist mentioned in the letters of John .

The number 666 appears with numerical meaning in the Old Testament in the 1st Book of Kings ( 1 Kings 10.14  LUTH ) and in parallel in the 2nd Book of the Chronicles ( 2 Chr 9.13  LUTH ), where the weight is given in quintals . In the book of Ezra ( Ezr 2,13  LUTH ) the number of sons of Adonikam (666) is mentioned.

Alternative readings

Fragment of papyrus 115 with ΧΙϚ (616) as the number of the beast

The critical editions of the text (the Nestle-Aland or the Greek New Testament ) which are authoritative for New Testament scholarship today consider reading 666 to be the original reading of the passage. In doing so, they rely on the two most important ancient text witnesses of the Bible, the Codex Sinaiticus (4th century) and the Codex Alexandrinus (5th century), which, like most of the later textual witnesses, pass on the 666. As early as 47 (Chester Beatty III), a papyrus fragment from the 3rd century, there is 666, written in the Greek number letters ΧΞϚ ( Chi , Xi , Stigma ).

On the other hand, the church father Irenaeus of Lyon knew that in some manuscripts the 616 was to be read instead of the 666, but considered this number to be a copying error. However, Bishop Tyconius (4th century), one of the few early ecclesiastical interpreters of the Revelation, had no difficulty in interpreting the 616 as the number of the Antichrist .

In fact, two documents preserved to this day find the reading 616: once in the dated to the year 300 Papyrus 115 ( POxy.  , Written 4499) ΧΙϚ (chi, iota , stigma), and the Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus , a palimpsest of the 5th century.

The minuscule 2344 from the 11th century, which should not be neglected in terms of its text value, offers the reading 665 (written out in words).

Interpretations

As in related apocalyptic literature, names, places and periods of time are often encrypted in the Revelation of John . In the opinion of most exegetes , “Babylon” (17.5 LUTH ) stands for Rome or the Roman Empire . The number 666 represents the encrypted form of a name ("the number of a human name", 13.17 LUTH ). This is due to the fact that in historical times numbers were written with the same characters as letters, as it is from the Roman , Hebrew and knows Greek numbers . The numerical values ​​of the letters of a word can be added ( checksum ). For its interpretation, this sum was subjected to mathematical calculations and converted into other words. However, since the most varied of output words can result in one and the same total value, the “deciphering” is always ambiguous and, without additional information from the author, more or less arbitrary and random.

Accordingly, the broader context of the above-mentioned occurrences of the number 666 in the Old Testament has been used to understand from the description of the Solomonic wealth (1 Ki 10.14 LUTH ; 2 Chr 9:13 LUTH ) about the not allowed marriages ( "Fornication") Solomon and the worship of foreign gods ("idolatry") come to the interpretation that the number could symbolize a perverted royalty.

Old church

A page from Athanasius Kircher's Oedipus Aegyptiacus with the derivation of the number of the animal from various names: Latin , Teitan , Lampetis , Antemos .

Irenaeus of Lyon (2nd century AD) gives a cumbersome allegorical interpretation of the number 666. He rejects all calculations of a particular name. Nevertheless, he mentions the three names (presumably found by him) Euanthes, Latinos and Teitan as computationally possible solutions to the riddle. His own position is that of not daring to identify with specific names in advance:

“So it is safer and safer to wait for the fulfillment of this prophecy than to suspect and prophesy all sorts of names. There are so many names of the number mentioned, and so the matter does not get any further. Because if there are many names that have this number, then the question always remains open which of these he will lead. "(Irenaeus of Lyon: Against the Heresies, V, 30, 3)

Andreas von Caesarea (* 563, † 637) lists a number of proper names in his important commentary on Revelation as an interpretation of the number 666. New to him are Λαμπέτης ("Lampetes") and Βενέδικτος ("Benedict"). He also mentions alleged attributes of the Antichrist ( κακὸς ὁδηγός : “bad leader”, παλαιβάσκανος : “old disapproval”, ἀληθὴς βλαβερός : “true harm”, ἄμνος ἄδικος : “unjust lamb”).

Medieval anti-papist interpretation

Medieval exegetes assigned the number in anti-Papal polemics to the Pope , either to a specific official or to the head of the Roman Church in general .

In the episode of Joachim von Fiore's effective commentary on the Apocalypse, the Franciscan Ubertino da Casale († after 1328) indicates the number 666 to the contemporary Pope Benedict XI. ( Βενεδίκτος ).

Identification with alleged Latin papal titles goes to the office as such:

The Pope's tiara should read : VIC AR IV S F ILII D E I (Governor of the Son of God), which in chronographical counting would result in the sum 666. However, this designation occurs only very rarely, as a variation of the more common coin Vicarius Christi (governor of Christ). This was a common title for all bishops, it was not until the 12th century that it was reinforced by the title of the Pope. This inscription is not found on the preserved old tiaras.

The same result is obtained in chronographical counting with the word sequence RE X SA C ER D OS L AT I N V S (Latin king and priest). This was not listed as a papal title at all.

Reformation time

Martin Luther points the two animals in Rev 13 EU to the papacy and the empire, which are in league with one another. He interprets the number 666 from Rev 13,18 LUTH in a marginal note of his Bible edition from 1545 to the duration of the secular papal rule. Passed down in a gloss, Luther also knows the interpretation רומיית(a Hebrew word that is supposed to mean "Roman") for the number 666. He indicates this by writing and adding the numbers 200, 6, 40, 10, 10, 400 among themselves. The reformer Andreas Osiander (* 1498; † 1552) indicates the number 666 to the time of the reign of the Pope, calculated backwards from 1517. The Swiss reformer Heinrich Bullinger (* 1504; † 1575) sees the number 666 as a reference to the period from 97 to 763, the time when papal rule emerged.

Historical-critical interpretations

From Emperor Nero to the number 666

Since the beginning of the 19th century, historical-critical exegesis has also been used for the interpretation of the Revelation of John. The associated “historical” interpretation assumes that the Apocalypse relates to the presence of its author, i.e. the end of the first century, in the Roman Empire : The early Christians expected the end times in their own presence. Since the 1830s, exegetes such as Christian Friedrich Fritzsche , Ferdinand Benary , Ferdinand Hitzig and Eduard Reuss indicated the number 666 to Nero , who was the first emperor to persecute the Christians. The exegetes usually identify Nero with the animal. Unlike the exegete Peter Corssen (1856–1928), who considers Rev. 13.18 EU to be a case of isopsephia , in which numerical values ​​are merely compared. According to Corssen, for the seer Johannes, animals and humans are two different quantities that have the same numerical value, namely 666. The request to calculate the number of the animal means, according to Corssen, that one should find out the name of a person who is also included in this number. Regardless of whether the number puzzle in Rev 13:18 EU refers to the historical Nero or the Nero redivivus , who lives in popular expectation , for example in the form of another emperor like Domitian or Hadrian , this interpretation finds most of them in scientific exegesis to this day Pendant.

By adding the numerical values ​​of the Hebrew spelling for Emperor Nero,נרון קסר(Neron Kesar), you get the sum 666, as Ferdinand Benary explained. If you continue to calculate according to the Hebrew rules, the same calculation results for the Greek spelling Νηρων Καισαρ (Nêrôn Kaisar). It is possible that the text was deliberately written so that only Christians with a knowledge of Hebrew could see through the encryption and not e.g. B. Roman civil servants who in the eastern half of the empire, where the Revelation of John originated (according to the text itself on the Aegean island of Patmos ), understood Greek, but not Hebrew. This makes the gematric numerical indication of the Revelation of John an ancient example of cryptography . The alternative number of the beast 616 can also be interpreted as Nero: This results if the Latin Nero is used instead of the Greek or Hebrew spelling Neron :

“So now the content of the mysterious book lies before us in full clarity. 'John' predicts Nero's return around the year 70 and his reign of terror, which will last 42 months or 1260 days. After this period of time, God appears, overpowers Nero, the Antichrist, destroys the great city by fire and binds the devil for a millennium. The millennium begins, etc. All of this has now lost all meaning, except for simple-minded people who may still try to figure out the day of the last judgment. "

- Friedrich Engels : The Book of Revelation

Robert Graves in his book The White Goddess interprets the Roman spelling of the number (DCLXVI) also as a reference to Nero, but as a notaricon of the sentence D omitius C aesar l egatos X ti v iolenter i nterfecit ( Latin for Emperor Domitius forcibly killed the messengers of Christ ). Nero was named Domitius before his adoption by Emperor Claudius .

Thomas Witulski relates the number of the beast to Hadrian instead of Nero: Traianus Hadrianus (this spelling of the name is documented on coins), Greek Τραιανός Άδριανός , Hebrewטרינוס אדרינוס(Trinus' Adrinus). When added together, the numerical values ​​of the Hebrew letters add up to 666. With this, John implicitly identifies the incumbent Emperor Hadrian with the figure of Nero redivivus.

In his comment, Heinrich Kraft refers the number of the beast to Emperor Nerva and uses verses 17.10 EU , which alludes to the short transition period between the rule of Domitian and that of Trajan , which in turn leads to the writing of the book during this time - between summer 97 and spring 98 - would fit.

In April 2016, Hans Taeuber from the Institute for Ancient History at the University of Vienna came up with the Trajan solution , accepting an Isosephic riddle . Marcus Ulpius Traianus, Trajan's full name, has not yet been accepted because the sigma at the end of "Ulpius" was rated as 200 and did not result in 666. However, due to different spellings, the final sigma can also have a different value and thus be reached with the word Ulpius 666. If this interpretation is correct, the Revelation of John would also be two decades younger than previously assumed.

Modern interpretations

Various interpretations to support various conspiracy theories are spread on the Internet . These speculations combine the number 666 with all sorts of names through extensive calculations and word rearrangements, e.g. Adolf Hitler (sum of the surname by assigning a = 100, b = 101, c = 102 ...), Henry Kissinger , Ronald Wilson Reagan (because of the six letters per name), Bill Clinton or Barack Obama . The word sex or the Internet are also interpreted as a sign of the Antichrist, since the three Ws in the World Wide Web are understood as the Hebrew letter Waw , which has the numerical value 6.

According to a thesis widespread among evangelicals and right- wing esotericists , the number is contained in the barcodes with which goods are usually priced, in debit and credit cards , ID cards and in implanted microchips , with which all people in the New World Order are identified.

reception

occultism

This number is of central importance in the thinking of the English occultist Aleister Crowley . Crowley referred to himself as τὀ μέγα θήριον ( Greek : The Great Beast , Rev 13,1ff  EU ) of the Revelation of John and used to sign letters for his followers with 666, the 'number of the beast'. He claims to have received the text of his Liber Al vel Legis by revelation after he had studied a stele in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo in 1904 , which had inventory number 666 .

666 in music culture

Particular importance is attached the number 666 in the heavy metal -Subkultur, such as in The Number of the Beast on the eponymous album of Iron Maiden or on the album on Metal Metal of Anvil in 1982, partly in Death Metal and more especially in black metal . The Greek progressive band Aphrodite's Child released a double album in 1972 with music by Vangelis for the Revelation of John entitled 666 . The US-American alternative metal band Slipknot released the song The Heretic Anthem on their album Iowa in 2001 , with Corey Taylor singing "If you're 555, then I'm 666" .

Also more recently, the number is used by musicians. The band HIM released an EP called 666 Ways to Love and played the song Your Sweet Six Six Six on their album Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666 . On June 6, 2006, the single Cult from the album Christ Illusion by the American thrash metal band Slayer came out, on the cover of which you can see a mutilated Jesus Christ with the number 666 on his chest. The alternative rock band Billy Talent released a live album in 2007 under the title Billy Talent 666 live .

Visual arts

In an apocalyptic drawing by Keith Haring , the 666 appears as the mark of a horned, world-destroying being who holds a dollar sign in one hand and a rocket in the other.

Numerology

From a numerological point of view, the number 666 has the following special features:

Triangular number

The sum of consecutive whole numbers is called a triangular number in mathematics . The sum of the numbers from 1 to 36 (1 + 2 + 3 +… + 36) is 666. The 36 is itself a triangular number (1 + 2 + 3 +… + 8).

One of the most famous games of chance, French or American roulette , is therefore referred to by the superstitious as a devilish game or game of the devil , because the roulette wheel contains the numbers from 0 to 36.

In addition, a magic square of edge length 6 can be constructed in which the sum of all entered numbers is 666; the sum in each row or column is therefore 111.

Representation as a Roman number

When represented in Roman numerals as DCLXVI , each numerical value below 1000 is used exactly once, in order of decreasing size.

Prime numbers

Prime numbers and especially the number seven play an important role in number mystics . If one forms the sum of the squares of the first seven prime numbers (2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17), one obtains 4 + 9 + 25 + 49 + 121 + 169 + 289 = 666. A special prime number related to 666 is Belphegor's prime number with the number 1 000 000 000 000 066 600 000 000 000 001.

Circle number

The sum of the first 144 (= (6 + 6) ²) decimal digits of the circle number Pi is 666.

See also

literature

  • Bible text of Revelation , chapter 13 according to Lutherbibel (1984) , cath. NRSV , Greek NT (ancient Greek) (further translations at bibleserver.com ).
  • Peter Corssen : Once again the number of the beast in the apocalypse. In: Journal for the New Testament science and the knowledge of early Christianity. 3rd vol., 1902, pp. 238-242.
  • Peter Corssen: For understanding about Apok 13:18. In: Journal for the New Testament science and the knowledge of early Christianity. 4th vol., 1903, pp. 264-267.
  • Peter Corssen: The emergence of the number 666 II. In: Journal for the New Testament science and the knowledge of the early Christianity. Vol. 5, 1904, pp. 86-88.
  • Otto Böcher : The Johannes apocalypse . Results of Research 41, Wiss. Buchgesellschaft Darmstadt 4th edition 1998, 198 pages (pages 84-87 to 666).
  • Jürgen Roloff : The Revelation of John. 219 pp., Zürcher Bibelkommentar, Theologischer Verlag Zürich 1984, (pages 144–145 to 666).
  • Peter J. Williams: P115 and the Number of the Beast. Tyndale Bulletin, Vol. 58, 2007, pp. 151-153.
  • Thomas Witulski: The Revelation of John and Emperor Hadrian. Studies on the Dating of the New Testament Apocalypse. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-525-53085-6 .

Web links

Commons : Number of the Beast  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Ulrich B. Müller : The Revelation of John (= Ecumenical Pocket Book Commentary on the New Testament , Vol. 19). Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 1984, p. 249.
  2. Against the Heresies V 30.1 (in German)
  3. See Wilhelm Bousset, The Revelation Johannis, 6th edition, Göttingen 1906, p. 59 .
  4. ^ The Other Number of the Beast: 616. Center for the Study of Ancient Documents Oxford, accessed November 15, 2008 . ; see. also David C. Parker, A new Oxyrhynchus Papyrus of Revelation: P115 (P. Oxy. 4499), in: New Testament Studies 46th vol., 2000, pp. 159-174 on the papyrus as a whole. Parker considers reading 616 not original (p. 170).
  5. See G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation, Grand Rapids 1999, p. 72 and K. Bodner, B. Strawn, Solomon and 666 (Revelation 13.18). New Testament Studies 66, 2020, 299–312.
  6. Adv. Haer. (“Against the heresies”), V 28,2f. ; 29.2 .
  7. Adv. Haer. (“Against the heresies”), V 30,2f.
  8. ^ Wilhelm Bousset, The Revelation of Johannis, Göttingen 1906, p. 49 .
  9. ^ Wilhelm Bousset, The Revelation of Johannis, Göttingen 1906, p. 64 .
  10. See Wilhelm Bousset, Die Revelation Johannis, Göttingen 1906, p. 79 .
  11. See the edition by Rogner & Bernhard, Munich 1972, p. 2496 : “That's six hundred and six and sixty jars. That is how long the secular baptist will stand. "
  12. Cf. Wilhelm Bousset, The Revelation Johannis, Göttingen 1906, p. 84 with reference to the Luther edition by Walch , Vol. IX, p. 2816.
  13. See Wilhelm Bousset: The Revelation Johannis, Göttingen 1906, p. 85 .
  14. See Wilhelm Bousset: The Revelation Johannis . Göttingen 1906, p. 88 .
  15. See Wilhelm Bousset, The Revelation Johannis , Göttingen 1906, pp. 105f . There are also the works of the exegetes listed above.
  16. Examples of isopsephia include: Jean François Boissonade de Fontarabie (1774–1857), Anecdota II 459, where z. B. is calculated that the words θεός - ἅγιος - ἀγαθός all have the numerical value 284; Paul = σοφία have the numerical value 781. Corssen cites (in once more , p. 241) an ancient example of isopsephia in Berossus .
  17. Critical discussion Corssens at Bousset revelation S. 371 .
  18. See Böcher, Die Johannesapokalypse , p. 87.
  19. The Book of Revelation 1883, MEW 21: 14f. Engels gave further analogies to Roman rule and Nero, for example, in the 17th chapter an animal with seven heads appears, mounted by a scarlet lady. With reference to the statements in this chapter, he comes to the end: “1. The scarlet lady is Rome, the great city that rules over the kings of the world; 2. at the time the book is being written, the sixth Roman emperor is reigning; after him there will come another who will rule for a short time, and then comes the return of the one who is of the seven, who was wounded but healed, and whose name is contained in the mysterious number, and of whom Irenaeus still knew that it was Nero. "(MEW 21:13)
  20. ^ Robert Cavendish: The Black Magic , Verlag Richard Schikowski, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-87702-048-8 , p. 145.
  21. Witulski: The Revelation and Emperor Hadrian , Göttingen 2007, p 52nd
  22. Witulski: The Revelation and Emperor Hadrian , Göttingen 2007, p 236, 349th
  23. Witulski: The Revelation and Emperor Hadrian , Göttingen 2007, p 236 f.
  24. Kraft: The Revelation of John , Handbook for NT 16a, Tübingen 1974, p. 222.
  25. Researchers want to have identified the "beast" behind the number 666. In: derstandard.at . April 11, 2016, accessed on April 11, 2016 (German).
  26. Michael J. Gorman: Reading Revelation Responsibly. Uncivil Worship and Witness. Following the Lamb into the New Creation . Cascade Books, Eugene 2011, p. 126 f.
  27. Andrew Schulman: Identification Cards. In: Peter Knight (Ed.): Conspiracy Theories in American History. To Encyclopedia . ABC Clio, Santa Barbara / Denver / London 2003, Volume 1, p. 333; Michael Barkun : A Culture of Conspiracy. Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America. 2nd Edition. University of California Press, Berkeley 2013, pp. 45 and 79.
  28. Martin Gardner: Puzzle games from other planets. Hugendubel, 1986, ISBN 3-88034-295-4 .

annotation

  1. רומיית has no clear Hebrew meaning: it resembles words with the meaning "Roman", רומי means "Roman" masculine, רומית "Roman" feminine, so "the Roman", mostly the "Roman language", ie Latin, is meant .