The number of the Beastindicated by the number 666immediately makes you think of devilal Sin and at forces of bad in general. But why exactly this number? The cause is to be found in its mention within the book of Revelation: it is here that 666 is identified as the “number of the beast” representing Satan or the Antichrist from the birth of the Christian church. The choice was not by chance: 666 has a symbolic meaning: in Jewish and Christian culture, in fact, the number 7 represented the perfection divinewhile the 6which precedes it, indicated theimperfection associated with evil and sin. The number therefore has a double meaning, both spiritual (biblical) and numerological.
The verse from the Apocalypse of Saint John
The number 666 appears in the Book of Revelationalso known as Book of Revelationchapter 13, verses 11-18. In this step, theapostle John describes the vision of a disturbing beastallegory of corrupt power on Earth:
Then I saw another beast, coming up out of the earth, and it had two horns like those of a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. (…) He also forced everyone, small and large, rich and poor, free and slave, to have a mark placed on their right hand or forehead. No one could buy or sell if he did not bear the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number that corresponds to his name. Here lies wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.
Biblical origin and symbolism
In the biblical tradition, numbers often have a large value symbolic. The 7 it is a number that recalls the perfection divinelet’s think for example of the seven days of Creation or the seven spirits of God… The 6which precedes the 7, on the contrary is the man’s numberbecause the human being was created on sixth daybefore the definitive completion of the divine work. It is therefore a number incomplete or imperfectwhich fully represents the fragility of the human condition. The repetition of the number 6, as in the case of our number of the beast, 666, indicates imperfection at its highest level, almost a perfection “in reverse”, except that the concept of perfection, according to Christian tradition, can only refer to that which has a divine nature.
The number of the beast, therefore, does not only indicate wickedness, but also the illusion of power and the failed attempt to imitate God
Interpretations and curiosities
Over the centuries, various interpretations have been put forward by historians, theologians and scholars and according to some of these, the number of the beast would contain a secret code. Through the gematriaa system numerological which assigns a numerical value to each letter of the Hebrew alphabet, it was possible, in fact, to transform words, or names, into numbers.
Based on this, 666 is not only considered pure symbolism, but the number could also refer to a historical figure who actually existed and was considered particularly evil by the Christian community. Among the most accredited interpretations is the one that connects him to the Roman emperor Nerowhose name was certainly known for first persecutions against Christians. Transliterating his name into Hebrew, the letters added up to 666; some ancient versions of the Apocalypse instead report the number 616, corresponding to Nero’s Latin transliteration. In this way, the number could also have functioned as a sort of warning, a hidden communication, addressed to members of the Christian community.
