Before Jerusalem Fell
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Before Jerusalem Fell

by Kenneth L. Gentry by Kenneth L. Gentry

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Th Role of Nero Caesar 215 family.” Clearly Nero fits the bill of the beast. He was a destructive “beast” of the worst and most horrible sort – far worse than the paranoid Domitian. At this juncture we must consider the fact that, according to Revelation 13:10, the “beast” is alive while Revelation is being written. This precludes any figure beyond the date of the writing of Revelation, which at the latest is 95-96. Nero’s name is most appropriate in this connection. Tb Serpent Second, there seems to be a subtle indication that the one designated “666” is somehow serpent-like. Not only is Satan himself called a “serpent” in Revelation (Rev. 20:2), but his cohort, the Beast, is so designated. The sound of the number 666 even in English sounds hauntingly like a serpent’s chilling hiss. In the Greek the situation is the same. The three letters serving as the number are: x~q. Phonetically their eerie sound is that of a serpent’s hiss. What is more, the middle number-letter even has the appearance of writhing serpenh ~olol What is interesting in this regard is the apparently well-known relationship of Nero with a serpent. According to Suetonius, at about the age of three while Nero was napping, would-be assassins were frightened away be a snake which darted out from under his pillow. The only foundation for this tale was, that there was found in his bed near the pillow the slough of a serpent; but nevertheless at his mother’s desire he had the skin enclosed in a golden bracelet, and wore it for a long time on his left arm. But when at last the memory of his mother grew hateful to him, he threw it away, and afterwards in the time of his extremity sought it again in vain.1°2 Tacitus mentions the discovery of a serpent in Nero’s crib.103 In Die’s work we read: “As time went on, the finding of a serpent’s skin around Nero’s neck while he was still a child caused the seers to declare that he should receive great power from an old man; for serpents are supposed to slough off their old age by discarding their 101. Farrar, Ear~ Days, p. 470. 102. Nero 6:4. 103. Annah 11:11.

216 BEFORE JERUSALEM FELL old skin. ”lw Weigall expands on this episode and notes Agrippina’s (Nero’s mother) superstition in this regard: One day when Nero was asleep, in his cot, an attempt to strangle him was made by some men, apparendy in the pay of the Empress, who had concealed themselves near by; but the approach of his mother frightened them, and they decamped. It was then discovered that an old snake-skin had been placed under the boy’s pillow, probably by his nurse, as a magical protection against harm; and Agrippina was superstitious enough to attribute his escape to the power of this charm. But a snake-skin had also another occult quality, according to the folk-lore of the time – namely, that of bestowing upon its possessor great honour through the medium of an elderly man, this fancy having its origin in the belief that an old snake renewed its strength and youth by shedding its skin. Agrippina therdore took cotiort in the thought that her boy was evidently going to be honoured in the future by the already rniddleaged Claudius; and she caused the snake-skin to be made into a bracelet which she obliged Nero always to wear. 105 Obviously the use of such a snake-charm by Nero was wellknown; it appears in ancient history books dating more than a half-century later. This Nero-serpent connection also occurs in the Sibylline Oracles Book 5 (dated before A.D. 132) lW: One who has fif~ as an initial will be commander, a terrible snake, breathing out grievous war, who one day will lay hands on his own family and slay them.107 Collins’s note on this Sibylline verse is of interest: “The fact that [Nero] is called a snake maybe influenced by the story that a serpent was found around his neck when he was an infant (Tacitus, Annals 11:11 ).’’1O8 Admittedly, the connection is not the strongest; it could never serve alone as proof Nevertheless, here, at least, is a quite suggestive correspondence in a most unusual detail of Nero’s life. 104. Roman Hist~ 61:2:4. 105. Weigsll, Nero, pp. 43-44. 106. Collins, “Sibylline Oracles,” OTP 1:390. 107. Sib@line Oro&s 5:28-30; OTP 1:393. 108. Collins, “Sibylline Oracles,” OTP 1:393,

Th Role of Nero Caesar 215<br />

family.” Clearly Nero fits the bill of the beast. He was a destructive<br />

“beast” of the worst and most horrible sort – far worse than the<br />

paranoid Domitian.<br />

At this juncture we must consider the fact that, according to<br />

Revelation 13:10, the “beast” is alive while Revelation is being written.<br />

This precludes any figure beyond the date of the writing of<br />

Revelation, which at the latest is 95-96. Nero’s name is most appropriate<br />

in this connection.<br />

Tb Serpent<br />

Second, there seems to be a subtle indication that the one designated<br />

“666” is somehow serpent-like. Not only is Satan himself called<br />

a “serpent” in Revelation (Rev. 20:2), but his cohort, the Beast, is<br />

so designated. The sound of the number 666 even in English sounds<br />

hauntingly like a serpent’s chilling hiss. In the Greek the situation is<br />

the same. The three letters serving as the number are: x~q. Phonetically<br />

their eerie sound is that of a serpent’s hiss. What is more, the<br />

middle number-letter even has the appearance of writhing serpenh<br />

~olol<br />

What is interesting in this regard is the apparently well-known<br />

relationship of Nero with a serpent. According to Suetonius, at about<br />

the age of three while Nero was napping,<br />

would-be assassins were frightened away be a snake which darted out<br />

from under his pillow. The only foundation for this tale was, that there<br />

was found in his bed near the pillow the slough of a serpent; but<br />

nevertheless at his mother’s desire he had the skin enclosed in a<br />

golden bracelet, and wore it for a long time on his left arm. But when<br />

at last the memory of his mother grew hateful to him, he threw it<br />

away, and afterwards in the time of his extremity sought it again in<br />

vain.1°2<br />

Tacitus mentions the discovery of a serpent in Nero’s crib.103 In Die’s<br />

work we read: “As time went on, the finding of a serpent’s skin<br />

around Nero’s neck while he was still a child caused the seers to<br />

declare that he should receive great power from an old man; for<br />

serpents are supposed to slough off their old age by discarding their<br />

101. Farrar, Ear~ Days, p. 470.<br />

102. Nero 6:4.<br />

103. Annah 11:11.

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