The number 666

• In mathematics, 666 is the 35th triangular number
• In modern popular culture, it is often associated with the phonetic similarity between "Six" and "Sex."
• Additionally, pop stars frequently pose with a hand gesture forming the number 666 in front of the eye
• The number 666 has also become a symbol for conspiracy theories

When the first six Roman numerals are added, the result is 666.

However, with 'M,' the seventh and final basic numeral in the Roman numeral system is missing. It has a value of 1000.

Surprisingly, in the Book of Revelation, following the mention of 666 as a symbol for the reign of the Beast, there is a thousand-year reign of the resurrected Christ after the victory over the Beast and its false prophets (Rev 20). The number Seven – 'M' being the seventh and last numeral in the Roman numeral system – appears frequently in the Book of Revelation and is mentioned twelve times in the first chapter alone, which is highly unusual even in the context of the Bible.

It is reasonable to assume that the Israelites occupied by Rome saw, in Roman numerals, a symbol of evil. The sum of the numeral sequence IVXLCD is 666. However, the seventh Roman numeral with a value of 1000 is missing. All three numbers – 7, 666, and 1000 – play a central role in the Book of Revelation: Seven is the most frequently mentioned, 666 symbolizes as the numerical value of the Beast the rule of evil, and 1000 represents the thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ after the triumph of good. It becomes evident that the numerical symbolism of the Book of Revelation refers to the Roman numeral system.

Furthermore, 666 is said to be the number of a human name.

Emperor Nero (37-68 AD) was considered one of the cruelest Roman rulers in antiquity, embodying evil. His name is associated with the number 666. The original Latin designation for the Roman Emperor Nero was 'Nero Caesar.' When the name is translated into Hebrew, it becomes נרון קסר (Neron Kesar). As Hebrew letters also serve as numerals, the sum of these numbers is 666.

Numerical Symbolism as the Origin of the Book of Revelation

By inserting the relevant elements into the corresponding passage of the Book of Revelation, the following emerges:

"[The beast forced everyone], to put a mark on their right hand or on their forehead. No one could buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast [Nero Caesar] or the number of its name [in Roman numerals "IVXLCD," in Hebrew letters "נרון קסר," in both cases 666]. Here is wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man [“נרון קסר,” Nero Caesar]. His number is 666."

The authors of the Book of Revelation apparently noticed first that the name of Nero, when translated into Hebrew, equals 666 when using the letters as numbers. Additionally, they observed that the sum of the first six Roman numerals (IVXLCD) also equals 666. However, since omitting the remaining seventh numeral "M" seemed incomplete, they needed to incorporate the number 1000 (the value of "M") and the number 7 ("M" being the last of the seven basic Roman numerals) in a special way to establish a connection to the Roman Empire and, consequently, Emperor Nero.

They achieved this by mentioning the number seven more frequently than anywhere else in the Bible. They also emphasized the number 1000 by associating it with a 1000-year reign of Jesus Christ. The number 1000 represents the Good in direct opposition to 666, the number of Evil. The contrast is evident in the Roman numeral sequence:

IVXLCD|M

The superiority of "the Good" 1000 ("M") is already apparent through its greater numerical value compared to "the Evil" 666 ("IVXLCD"). Overall, the text of the Book of Revelation gives the impression that it was constructed around the three central numbers – 7, 666, and 1000 – directly related to the Roman numeral system. The text is better understood as a work of art inspired by other biblical texts than a prophetic work of a seer.

The brutal persecutions of Christians were not the only consequence of the Great Fire. Emperor Nero now needed enormous sums of money to rebuild the capital Rome. The subsequent aggressive tax policy led to a major uprising in the Eastern Roman province of Judea in 66 AD. Nero brutally suppressed the uprising in the "Jewish War" (66-73 AD). During the war, the second Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed (70 AD, the first temple built by King Solomon at the site had already been destroyed by the Babylonians 500 years earlier). The Jerusalem Temple was by far the most significant Jewish temple in the ancient world. Jesus Christ is said to have preached there 40 years earlier. The Jewish Temple treasury was looted, brought to Rome, and paraded in a triumphal procession. The destroyed Temple of Jerusalem has not been rebuilt to this day. Nero himself did not live to witness the destruction of the highest Jewish temple.

Nero's Death

Nero revered ancient Greek culture throughout his life and left Rome in 66 AD for about a year to stay in the then Roman province of Greece. He participated in the Olympic Games and also performed publicly as an actor. This behavior of a Roman emperor was deemed unworthy in the eyes of the Roman nobility. After Nero's return from Greece, a broad alliance formed against the emperor, and he was declared an "enemy of the people." Fleeing to Egypt, he died on June 11, 68, on an estate near Rome. His bodyguard had already fled, and he was only surrounded by a handful of followers. When he heard his pursuers approaching, he stabbed himself in the throat with a dagger. Nero was only 30 years old. A particularly disgraceful punishment was that the memory of Nero was banned by decree ("Damnatio memoriae"). The mention of his name should be avoided ('he whose name must not be mentioned'), and he was erased from all annals, and all accessible portraits and inscriptions were destroyed.

Is Nero's given name the number of the Beast?

Nero had his closest relatives and wives killed; he ordered a war that destroyed the significant Temple of Jerusalem, and he brutally persecuted Christians. According to legend, even Peter, the politically most significant disciple of Jesus, fell victim to him. Besides, Rome went up in flames in an apocalyptic conflagration, which must have reinforced the contemporaries' impression that Emperor Nero was the embodiment of absolute evil. It is therefore highly likely that the 666 in the Book of Revelation refers to Emperor Nero, whose given name corresponds to the number of the Beast. The 666 would thus be an ancient code. For Hebrew-speaking contemporaries of John, it must have been clear that Emperor Nero was meant without directly naming him. On the other hand, the visionary and prophetic text of the Book of Revelation retains its timeless character by consistently avoiding the mention of historical figures, consciously refraining from narrating historically tangible events.

The story of Solomon is told in the first book of Kings. The subsequent second book of Kings ends with the Babylonians capturing Jerusalem and the Israelites being carried off to Babylon (Babylonian Captivity). In the following book of Ezra, the number 666 is mentioned again. In a list of those returning from the Babylonian Captivity, a man named Adonikam is mentioned, who had the impressive number of 666 descendants (Ezra 2:13). The high number of descendants is not unusual in comparison. The other returnees had between 42 and 3630 descendants. It is a characteristic of biblical texts to often give numbers a symbolic meaning.

Conclusion

Apart from the New Testament's 666 in the Book of Revelation, the number 666 is mentioned only two more times in the Old Testament. In those instances, the number does not have a negative character and is associated with multiplication. Once in the multiplication of the wealth of King Solomon, who far exceeded his predecessors David and Saul, earning 666 talents annually, and the multiplication of Adonikam, who could boast the impressive number of 666 descendants. It is noteworthy in this context that 666 has an interesting mathematical property—it is a triangular number—which might be the reason why the authors of the Old Testament chose this particular number.

The number 666 is special because it is a triangular number, representing a continuous increase of a specific value, with each row adding 1. Chroniclers may have chosen this number to highlight the continuous growth of the wealth of the Israelite people under King Solomon, which had already begun under Solomon's father, King David.

The chroniclers of the Bible frequently incorporated symbolic numbers into their writings (e.g., 3, 7, 12, or 144 (the square of 12)). They were likely familiar with triangular numbers as well, as they follow a simple pattern and could have been known to various ancient cultures. The choice of 666 among all triangular numbers may be due to the unique equality of units, tens, and hundreds places in this sequence. It is interesting to note that only two previous triangular numbers, 55 and 66, also have equality in their digits. These could symbolically represent the two predecessors of Solomon, Saul and David, who were wealthy but not as rich as Solomon. According to tradition, Solomon surpassed them by a significant margin. Additionally, it is noteworthy that the apex of the triangle forms the number 1, which does not explicitly belong to the triangular numbers. In this case, it is plausible to recognize it as God, according to biblical understanding as the origin of everything.

144 decimal places of the number Pi

The first 144 decimal places, when added, result in 666. Even though this is a coincidence, it is an interesting one, especially considering that in the biblical context, the number 12 and its square, 144, play a significant role. In the Book of Revelation, there are 144,000 individuals from the 12 tribes of Israel (12 tribes * 12,000 each, Rev 7:4), who are particularly protected by God and likely the same 144,000 who ultimately stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion and have been redeemed (Rev 14:1). The number Pi connects, in a mystical, divine, or coincidental manner depending on one's perspective, the number of the redeemed, which is 144, and the number of the beast, which is 666. The significance of 144,000 as the number of redemption is particularly emphasized by Jehovah's Witnesses, a Bible-based religious group that originated in the United States around 1870 and has followers worldwide.

The number Pi with its 144 decimal places in groups of ten:
3.1415926535 8979323846 2643383279 5028841971 6939937510 5820974944 5923078164 0628620899 8628034825 3421170679 8214808651 3282306647 0938446095 5058223172 5359

The squares of the first seven prime numbers

The sum of the squares of the first seven prime numbers is 666.

Here, too, it is an interesting coincidence that the number 7 (7 creation days, 7 seals, etc.), another highly significant number in the Bible, is associated with 666.

The number 666 is often associated with conspiracy theories. The basic idea is that conspirators, who are supposedly visible to everyone but still unrecognized, use the symbolism of 666, e.g. in company logos, fonts, and paintings. However, a closer look shows that these interpretations are incorrect. Here are some examples:

• INTERNET
  The Hebrew letter "Waw" has the numerical value 6 and corresponds to the Latin letter "w" in languages such as English, French, and German. WWW is the abbreviation for World Wide Web and was prefixed to many domains as a subdomain, especially at the beginning of the internet. "www" is then supposed to be read as 666. However, it is overlooked that the biblical number 666 is defined in the Bible as six hundred and sixty-six (600+60+6). Read as a Hebrew numerical value, "www" would only yield 6+6+6 = 18
• MONSTER ENERGY
  "Monster Energy" is very popular especially among young people (market capitalization 12/2023: about 50 billion euros). The company logo, which is prominently displayed on all of the company's beverage cans, refers to the eponymous monster, which has torn open a can, for example, with three of its claws. On the other hand, the image is strikingly similar to the Hebrew letter "Waw", which would then be represented three times next to each other as a numerical value of 6. Thus, the three sixes on the can could be understood in the Christian-influenced USA, the country of origin of the brand, as a warning against the invigorating but potentially harmful effects of the highly sugary energy drink and would thus be more of a hidden marketing gag. It is also important to mention here that three times the numerical value of Waw (6+6+6 = 18) does not correspond to the value of six hundred and sixty-six
• MONA LISA PRADO
  Art objects in large collections are cataloged with a consecutive number. Especially less valuable objects are often only stored and not hung in private rooms or exhibited publicly. In these cases, it is not uncommon for the catalog number to be located directly on a painting. This allows them to be identified more quickly in the archives. When numbering, a "catalog number 666" can also occur. Conspiracy theorists then want to attribute a special meaning to these objects. For example, the painting "Mona Lisa Prado", from the workshop of Leonardo da Vinci, once bore the catalog number 666 (now 504), which was applied in the lower left corner of the painting
• WALT DISNEY
  The logo of the US entertainment company Walt Disney uses a very decorative font. Some conspiracy theorists interpret three of these decorations as sixes, which together are supposed to have the meaning of 666. They overlook a fourth six, so that, if at all, not 666, but 6666 would be hidden in the logo. However, 6666 has no meaning in the Book of Revelation