Tuesday, August 11, 2009

NT Pod 8: The Alternative Number of the Beast: Programme Notes

I have just released episode 8 of the NT Pod and the topic this time is The Alternative Number of the Beast. The podcast discusses Revelation 13:18 and "the number of the beast", 666, as well as the alternative reading, 616, witnessed in Irenaeus and P115. I mention in the podcast that you can see P115 clearly on the web and this is the link:

P.Oxy LXVI 4499

It's there on the third line, chi, iota, stigma (hexakosiai deka hex).

For a useful video introduction to the issues, see my post from yesterday, Number of the Beast: 666 or 616: how does it work?, which features Ian Boxall and David Parker.

For an earlier post on the topic here, see The Number of the Beast: 616 and Oxyrhynchus.

Relevant bibliography includes:

David C. Parker, "A New Oxyrhynchus Papyrus of Revelation: P115 (P.Oxy 4499)", NTS 46 (2000): 159-74

Peter M. Head, "Some Recently Published NT Papyri from Oxyrhynchus: An Overview and Preliminary Assessment", Tyndale Bulletin 51 (2000): 1-16 [Available online in PDF format - click article title]

I may add a bit more here in due course.
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4 comments:

  1. Tony Siew 12 August 2009 at 02:41

    Hi Mark, thanks for posting this. I have been following your podcasts and find them very helpful.

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  2. M.W.Grondin12 August 2009 at 03:45

    I'm thrice confused, Mark.
    1. One of your links says P.Oxy. LXVI, the other says LVI.
    2. Both links say 666 can't be Nero in Greek, which is true, but they seem unaware of the Hebrew alternative.
    3. In your pod, you say that Nero Caesar can as well be 616 as Gaius Caesar, but that doesn't seem true, either, unless I'm not figuring right.

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  3. Mark Goodacre12 August 2009 at 08:52

    Thanks, Tony. Pleased you have found them helpful.

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  4. Mark Goodacre12 August 2009 at 08:57

    Thanks, Mike. It's a confusing business! And it's not helped by the errors on the POxy website. The correct volume number is the one I give here, P.Oxy LXVI. Yes, those links do not seem as well informed as they might be. Perhaps it would be less confusing if I omitted those from the blog post. Nero Caesar to 616 is essentially figured in the same way as Neron Caesar to 666 -- same transliteration but minus the "n" (nu / nun).

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