Number of the Beast (numerology)
The Mark of the Beast is mentioned in the Book of Revelation of the Christian Bible. Revelation 13:17 (the last chapter of the Bible) states:
- "... no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or name of the beast, or the number of his name."
In the King James Version, Revelation 13:18 reads:
- Here is wisdom: let him who hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred three score and six.
- Ὧδε ἡ σοφία ἐστίν· ὁ ἔχων νοῦν ψηφισάτω τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ θηρίου, ἀριθμὸς γὰρ ἀνθρώπου ἐστίν· καὶ ὁ ἀριθμὸς αὐτοῦ ἑξακόσιοι ἑξήκοντα ἕξ.
- Hōde hē sophia estin; ho echōn noun psēphisatō ton arithmon tou thēriou, arithmos gar anthrōpou estin; kai ho arithmos autou hexakosioi hexēkonta hex.
- Hōde hē sophia estin; ho echōn noun psēphisatō ton arithmon tou thēriou, arithmos gar anthrōpou estin; kai ho arithmos autou hexakosioi hexēkonta hex.
- Hic sapientia est. Qui habet intellectum, computet numerum bestiae. Numerus enim hominis est, et numerus ejus est sescenti sexaginta sex.
The number 666, which supposedly represents the name of the antichrist, is another source of controversy. There are various theories about the meaning of this verse, and there have been many attempts to show that a person is the Antichrist by relating his name to the number 666.
One interpretation is simply that 666 represents humankind in general because of the special significance that the number has in the Bible. Six is known as an "imperfect number" because it is one short of seven, the "perfect number" (seven days in the week, seven tongues of flame, seven spiritual gifts...). So three (the number of the Trinity) sixes is seen as extremely imperfect. Therefore, 666 represents imperfect man, while 777 represents God.
A more radical interpretation is that 666 is actually some kind of code based on the letters of someone's name. This sparks great public interest since it seems to provide some way to identify the antichrist. Numerologists like to devise clever ways of assigning numbers to letters so that the letters of a name will add up to this symbolic number. Probably the best-known scheme has A=100, B=101, and so on. With this code, the name "HITLER" adds up to 666. While these ideas are intriguing, they usually require many odd preconditions (you have to start with 100, you cannot include the first name) and work in a few languages only (in Spanish, for example, "HITLER" adds up to 668.)
For example, scholars who believe the Book of Revelation refers to real people and events argue that the number represents the value of Nero or Neron Caesar (נרון קסר, Nrwn Qsr*) in Hebrew letters, which also have numerical values (note that Hebrew is written from right to left):
r S q n w r n
666 = 200 + 60 + 100 + 50 + 6 + 200 + 50
Some early texts of the Book of Revelation use 616 instead, which would represent the alternative Hebrew spelling נרו קסר, Nrw Qsr:
r S q w r n
616 = 200 + 60 + 100 + 6 + 200 + 50
- *Note: Hebrew נרון קסר, Nrwn Qsr = Greek Νερων Καισαρ, Nerôn Kaisar, though קסר, qSr, should strictly speaking be כסר, kSr.
In an alternate style of greek notation for numerals, 6 + 60 + 600 can be expressed as digamma koppa kappa which when superposed into a monogram, form the graffito form of the labrys very common on roman walls of the time, which is interesting considering what some characterise as misogynist tendencies in Revelations.
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Naturally enough, 666 also has many mathematical properties, some more interesting than others:
The number 666 retains a peculiar significance in Western societies. Just as many people try to avoid the "unlucky" number 13 (sometimes going to the extent of having a floor "12A" in multi-story buildings), so people find ways to avoid the "Devil's number", even in contexts that would seem on first sight to be far removed from superstition.
For example, when the giant CPU manufacturer Intel introduced the 666 MHz Pentium III in 1999, they chose to market it as the Pentium III 667 on the pretext that, since the actual clock speed was 666.666 MHz, 667 was the more accurate approximation—conveniently ignoring their own usual rounding practice: as examples, consider the earlier 66.666 MHz 486-66, the 466.666 MHz Celeron 466, or the later 866.666 MHz Pentium III 866.
Former U.S. president Ronald Wilson Reagan has six letters in his first, middle, and last name.
In ancient Dacia, 666 was the number of those who returned to the right faith.
See also:
Mathematics
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