Before Jerusalem Fell

Tb Nero Redivivus Myth 311
resolving the interpretive issue before us. The mortal sword wound
is to one of the heads (Rev. 13:3), and is a wound that apparently
should have ended even the life of the Beast generically considered:
for “the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast” (Rev.
13:3) after the wound was healed and the Beast continued alive. The
seven-headed Beast seems. indestructible, for the cry goes up: “Who
is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?” (Rev. 13:4).
At this point we need to reflect upon a most significant series of
historical events in the first century. If our arguments regarding the
appearance of Nero in Revelation commend themselves to the judicious
mind, then a perfectly reasonable and historical – rather than
legendary – explanation of the revived beast lies before the interpreter.
When Nero committed suicide two major interrelated historical
situations presented themselves to the world with catastrophic
consequences: First, with the death of Nero the Julio-Claudian line
of emperors perished from the earth. In superstitious, pagan fashion
Suetonius notes that “many portents” foreshadowed the tragedy that
was to be, i.e., that “the race of the Caesars ended with Nero.”4 ’
The
blood line that had given birth to, extended, stabilized, brought
prosperity to, and had received worship, from the Roman Empire
was cut off forever. “Upon the death of Nero on June 9, A.D. 68, the
first line of Roman Emperors, that of the ‘Julio-Claudian’ House,
became extinct. Whatever the demerit of its Princes may have been,
their continuity of descent at least presemed the Roman Empire from
the horrors of civil war.”4 2
Thus, “through the death of the last
Emperor from the original imperial Julian family, namely Nero, it
seemed as though the old imperial power had received its deathblow.”43
By itsel~ the cessation of the famed Julio-Claudian line
would have caused dismay among the citizens of the empire. But this
event does not stand alone.
Second, following the death of Nero and the extinction of the
Julian House, the Roman Empire was hurled into a civil war of such
ferocity and proportions that it almost destroyed the empire, seriously
threatening to reduce even “eternal Rome” to rubble. This
41. Suetonius, Galba 1.
42. B. W. Henderson, Fiue Roman Emperors (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1927), p. 1.
43. Weiss, ComnwnJaV 4453.