Answer: Here follows my own thoughts and beliefs about the historical and coded meanings within “the book of Revelation”. Much of it is what I learned ages ago—and I have never seriously believed it was a book of prophecy, because as “prophecy” it read like either a “bunch of nonsense” or perhaps some sort of “coded text.”
The book of Revelation is often dated at being written around the year 95 by historians. First, “Babylon” was a symbolic name or code name for Rome in Jewish-Christian literature. To the Christians, Rome was as decadent, wealthy, and as powerful as Babylon, and like Babylon, Rome would be humbled. The visions point to Roman emperor Domitian (89-96). Only it would be have been a bad idea to use the name "Domitian". According to some historians, Jews and Christians were heavily persecuted toward the end of Domitian's reign. The beast with seven heads means the seven hills of Rome. The number 666 seem to allude directly to the emperor Nero (54–68).
Why and how does the number 666 allude to the Roman emperor Nero? Nero Caesar in Greek becomes “Neron Kaisar.” Neron Kaisar transliterated into Hebrew is NRVN QSR because vowels are not written in Hebrew. In both Hebrew and Latin, letters had numerical meanings. The numerical equivalents assigned to each of these letters in Hebrew add up to 666, the infamous “Number of the Beast.” Yet, IF the Latin form of Nero's name (Nero Caesar) is used instead of the Greek form (Neron Kaisar), the value of the Hebrew equivalent (NRV QSR) would be 616 instead of 666. As such, that bit of info provided an interesting explanation of the variant number 616, which appears instead of the number 666 in some New Testament versions.
In turn, it could be argued that the allusion to the emperor Nero was—thus—a symbolic reference or code reference for the emperor Domitian.
I learned almost all of the above ages ago in a course on the New Testament by Dr. H. C. Adams, Faculty Emeriti. Brilliant educator! (I did take the time now to double check the dates and spellings of names.)
The above is a common interpretation by biblical scholars from a historical point of view--widely accepted. (There are other interpretations that do not focus on historical evidence.) This explanation makes the most sense to me rather than anything else I have heard.
I should add the name of a text that was an extremely useful source book to me when I was taking this course: Isaac Asimov Asimov's Guide to the Bible, Random House, 1981.
Source:
Isaac Asimov Asimov's Guide to the Bible, Random House, 1981. It was first published in two volumes in 1968 and 1969. (Asimov discussed the historical, geographical, and biographical aspects of the events described in the Old and New Testaments.)
Myth Woodling, August 27, 2020