Nero

Nero (37 - June 8, 68) was the Emperor of Rome from AD 54-68.

It is believed the apostle Peter was martyred under Nero as well as the apostle Paul.

* In 64 A.D. the Roman Emperor Caesar Nero attempted to systematically exterminate all people who professed faith in the newly found Christian religion. Under his evil rule, Romans witnessed the worst atrocities upon his victims; he did not just kill Christians, he made them suffer extremely. Nero enjoyed dipping the Christians in tar, and impaling them on poles around his palace, he would then light them on fire, and yell: "Now you truly are the light of the world." [1]

He murdered Claudius' daughter Antonia and had his own mother killed in 59. He stole Otho's wife Poppaea and later beat her to death. Finally, he was declared a public enemy by the Senate and with mobs coming to get him, he committed suicide on June 8, 68, with the help of an eager slave. His last words were said to be, "What an artist dies in me!"[2]

Nero was called "a beast" by the pagan writer Apollonius of Tyana, a contemporary of Nero, who said of the Tyrant, "I know not how many heads it has..." .[3] And according to the system of gematria, one calculation of the numerical value of the letters for NRWN QSR (NiRoN QaiSaR), or Nero Caesar, at the time of the Roman Empire is 666. Nero's likeness and various different forms of his name were stamped on coins of the empire.[4]

## References[edit]

1. ↑ Shelley Lubben: Circus Maximus Prophesy (shelleylubben.com)
2. ↑ Ancient Rome, Nigel Rodgers, Hermes House, page 73.
3. ↑ Apollonius of Tyana specifically mentions that Nero was called a "beast": "In my travels, which have been wider than ever man yet accomplished, I have seen many, many wild beasts of Arabia and India; but this beast, that is commonly called a Tyrant, I know not how many heads it has, nor if it be crooked of claw, and armed with horrible fangs.... And of wild beasts you cannot say that they were ever known to eat their own mother, but Nero has gorged himself on this diet."
See The Mark of the Beast, by Richard Anthony
4. ↑ Vol. 2 - The Coins of Rome: Nero at dielleditore.com.
One possible form of the name of Nero Caesar which does not appear on his coins fits the gematria code number "666." Using this code, his name could be rendered as "NRWN QSR". The number values of the Hebrew letters are:

N = 50
R = 200
W = 6
N = 50
Q = 100
S = 60
R = 200
which, when added together, equals 666.
See analysis Gematria and the Number of the Beast 666 (agapebiblestudy.com)