1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:08,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey brainstaff Lauren Bogelbaum. Here, 2 00:00:10,440 --> 00:00:13,319 Speaker 1: would you buy a used car from someone if their 3 00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:17,280 Speaker 1: current license plate ended in sixty sixty six? Or take 4 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:19,640 Speaker 1: a job at an office tower in New York City 5 00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:23,759 Speaker 1: with the address six six six Fifth Avenue. After all, 6 00:00:24,239 --> 00:00:27,440 Speaker 1: sixty six six is the infamous number of the Beast. 7 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:32,000 Speaker 1: Allegedly a Satanic code for evil. It comes up in 8 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:35,879 Speaker 1: all kinds of fictional horror media as a sometimes literal 9 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:40,559 Speaker 1: mark of Satan. In the New Standard American Bible, the 10 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:45,800 Speaker 1: Book of Revelation thirteen eighteen reads, here is wisdom, Let 11 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:49,200 Speaker 1: him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, 12 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:51,800 Speaker 1: For the number is that of a man, and his 13 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:57,360 Speaker 1: number is sixty sixty six. From that biblical prophecy, it 14 00:00:57,520 --> 00:01:01,080 Speaker 1: sure sounds like sixty six six is u's lucky number, 15 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:04,479 Speaker 1: But when you dig deeper into the Bible and its 16 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:08,280 Speaker 1: historical context, there's evidence that the author of Revelation was 17 00:01:08,440 --> 00:01:12,720 Speaker 1: using numbers to send his early Christian readers a coded message. 18 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:17,360 Speaker 1: In the Bible, the beast refers to an evil looking 19 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:20,440 Speaker 1: creature that the author of Revelation saw rising out of 20 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:25,319 Speaker 1: the earth. In an apocalyptic vision Revelation thirteen eleven through eighteen, 21 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:31,000 Speaker 1: this creature could perform miraculous things, a demand that everyone 22 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:33,880 Speaker 1: be marked with its name or number, to buy and 23 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:37,400 Speaker 1: sell anything, and kill those who did not worship it. 24 00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:41,920 Speaker 1: Over the centuries, scholars have wondered whether this beast referred 25 00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:45,320 Speaker 1: to someone who has come and gone, has yet to come, 26 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:50,160 Speaker 1: or to no one person in particular. The Book of 27 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:53,600 Speaker 1: Revelation was originally written in Greek, the language of the 28 00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:57,880 Speaker 1: Christian world in the first and second century CE. At 29 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:00,840 Speaker 1: that time, they weren't using the numbers that we use today. 30 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:04,840 Speaker 1: Our Arabic numerals are based on Indian mathematics that were 31 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:07,640 Speaker 1: already in the works back then, but wouldn't be fully 32 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:12,959 Speaker 1: developed for another few centuries. Instead, to represent numbers, each 33 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:16,639 Speaker 1: letter of the Greek and Hebrew alphabet was given a 34 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:22,280 Speaker 1: numeric value. For example, alpha equals one, beta equals two, 35 00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:28,280 Speaker 1: and Pi equals eighty. The Greek speaking Christians reading Revelation 36 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:32,960 Speaker 1: would have been very comfortable reading letters as numbers. They 37 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:36,040 Speaker 1: also would have been comfortable turning numbers back into letters 38 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:42,280 Speaker 1: thanks to a practice called isopsophy. Isopsophy loosely means equal 39 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:45,959 Speaker 1: in numeric value. It was a popular way of playing 40 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:49,880 Speaker 1: with words in the first century and thereabouts. The trick 41 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:52,480 Speaker 1: was to add up the numeric value of the letters 42 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:55,480 Speaker 1: in one word and then find another word or phrase 43 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:59,639 Speaker 1: that added up to the same number. Numerically equal words 44 00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:04,160 Speaker 1: or were thought to have a special connection. One of 45 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:07,120 Speaker 1: the best known for century isoce fees comes from the 46 00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:14,240 Speaker 1: Roman historian Spetonius quote a calculation new Nero his mother slew. 47 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:19,880 Speaker 1: In this case, the emperor's name Nero equals one thousand 48 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:23,440 Speaker 1: and five, which is the exact value of the phrase 49 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:28,440 Speaker 1: his mother slew. Four Romans who suspected that this ruthless 50 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:32,359 Speaker 1: emperor had murdered his mother. This isoce fee was proof. 51 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:38,080 Speaker 1: Archaeologists have discovered ancient Roman graffiti that substituted numbers for names. 52 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:41,400 Speaker 1: For the article, this episode is based on How Stuff Works. 53 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:45,360 Speaker 1: Spoke with Thomas Weyment, a classics professor at Brigham Young University. 54 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:50,600 Speaker 1: He said, there's graffiti at Smyrna and Pompeii that says 55 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:53,680 Speaker 1: I love her whose number is one thousand, three hundred 56 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:57,920 Speaker 1: and eight. That's pretty common and hopefully everyone did their 57 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:03,280 Speaker 1: math correctly and could make the connections. Some Biblical scholars 58 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:06,560 Speaker 1: believe the author of Revelation intended for six sixty six 59 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:09,600 Speaker 1: to be an isosophe to be solved by his first 60 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 1: century readers. A Wayman explained, the author says, this is 61 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:18,159 Speaker 1: the number of a man, which is a classic isosophy formula. 62 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:21,839 Speaker 1: Christians would have known right away. This is a coded message. 63 00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:29,240 Speaker 1: Revelation is famously cryptic. In apocalyptic writings, an angel or 64 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:33,159 Speaker 1: other heavenly messenger often reveals their meaning through coded speech. 65 00:04:33,839 --> 00:04:37,160 Speaker 1: Weyman said, as a reader, you're seeing something through the 66 00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:40,080 Speaker 1: eyes of the visionary, and he's telling you. You need 67 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:43,000 Speaker 1: to make sense of this. That's part of your experience 68 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:48,440 Speaker 1: and participation in the vision. According to most scholars, six 69 00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:52,480 Speaker 1: six six was a coded reference to Nero, a beastly 70 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:56,560 Speaker 1: emperor who brutally persecuted early Christians in the Roman Empire. 71 00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:00,280 Speaker 1: To solve the isosophy and equate in your o to 72 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:03,520 Speaker 1: six sixty six, you must use the full name Caesar 73 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:08,200 Speaker 1: Nero in Greek, then pourt it to Hebrew. The transliteration 74 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:11,440 Speaker 1: of Caesar Nero to Hebrew gives you letters that add 75 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:16,320 Speaker 1: up to six sixty six. Interestingly, some early manuscripts of 76 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:19,880 Speaker 1: Revelation have the number written as six one six instead 77 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:24,000 Speaker 1: of six sixty six. The standard explanation is that Caesar 78 00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:27,960 Speaker 1: Nero is written differently in Greek versus Latin, which was 79 00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:31,800 Speaker 1: another language spoken by early Christians. In the Latin version, 80 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:36,640 Speaker 1: the letters only add up to six one six. Haustuffworks 81 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:39,880 Speaker 1: also spoke with James M. Hamilton, a professor of biblical 82 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:45,080 Speaker 1: theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He sees powerful 83 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:47,760 Speaker 1: symbolism in the repetition of the number six for a 84 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:52,760 Speaker 1: person on a spiritual journey. He explained that in biblical symbolism, 85 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:59,360 Speaker 1: seven represents completeness or perfection, and only Jesus Christ achieved 86 00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:03,800 Speaker 1: true perfect so if Jesus had a symbolic number, it 87 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:08,960 Speaker 1: would be seven seven seven. Hamilton thus sees the number 88 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:11,920 Speaker 1: of the beast as a warning sign for Christians to 89 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:17,200 Speaker 1: beware of Satan's quote cheap imitation of Christ. Hamilton said, 90 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:21,120 Speaker 1: that's the best Satan can do, one short of perfection. 91 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:27,560 Speaker 1: For Hamilton, those false Christs raised by Satan could take 92 00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:31,360 Speaker 1: the form of a corrupt emperor like Nero, or even 93 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:35,080 Speaker 1: modern cultural norms that rebel against God. In God's sight, 94 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:40,679 Speaker 1: he said, if participating in that culture entails worshiping false 95 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:44,840 Speaker 1: gods or denying something that the Bible teaches Christians need 96 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:47,480 Speaker 1: to say, I'm not going to take the number or 97 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:55,040 Speaker 1: name of the beast. Today's episode is based on the 98 00:06:55,160 --> 00:06:58,480 Speaker 1: article six sixty six meaning Angel number or the Devil's 99 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:02,320 Speaker 1: digits on HowStuffWorks dot Com. Written by Dave Ruse. Brainstuff 100 00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:05,280 Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com, 101 00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:09,080 Speaker 1: and it's produced by Tyler Klang. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 102 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:12,520 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 103 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:13,600 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.