Hey RyanP, NTinos, NuTroll etal.
You ARE aware (aren't you?) that no where in the Greek text of "Revelation" does the term "AntiChrist" appear even once.
I seem to recall words like "beast", "dragon", "serpent", "Whore", "Scorpions" etc. but nowhere have I ever found the words AntiChrist, an
odd term used in the Johanine correspondence (John the Elder, whoever he was).
And you ARE aware (I assume?) that "666" is attested in many late Greek MSS of Revelation chapter 13, but many older ones (e.g. P.Oxy.LVI 4499, the
socalled Oxyrhynchus Papyrus from around 240AD) has "616" and not "666" as the Number of the Beast, which is the Number of a Man".
see:
www.csad.ox.ac.uk...
So the candidate in question must fulfill, presumably, both 616 and 666. The only candidate I can safely suggest would be NERO CAESAR in the two
variant spellings using a Hebrew gemmatrial config (NRO QSR =616 or NRON QSR = 666)
Where: Aleph = 1, Bet= 2, Gimmel = 3, Daled =4, He = 5, Vav = 6, Zayin = 7, Cheth= 8, Tet=9, Yod =10, Kaph = 20, Lamed = 30, Mem= 40, Nun = 50, Samek
= 60, 'qAYIN = 70, Phe = 80, Tsadeh = 90, Quph = 100, Resh =200, Shin-Sin = 300 and Tav = 400
NRO QSR = Nun + Resh + Vav (used for O) + Quph + Samek + Resh = 616
NRON QSR = Nun + Resh + Vav + Nun + Quph + Samek + Resh = 666
which would naturally place the composition of chapter 13 (or the marginalium of the 666 "number of a man" section) to the time of the Emperor Nero
during the 1st Failed Jewish Revolt against Rome (i.e. AD 66-70).
Apparently the writer of the Apocalypse of Yohanon (whoever he was), [whose book is a hotchpotch of apocalyptic images taken from the Book of Daniel
chapters 7-12, Zechariah 9-12, the specific Psalms from the Tamid Daily 2nd Temple Hymns ((Psalms 24, 48, 82, 94, 81, 93, 92). , the Plagues in
Exodus, Hezekile chapter 38-44, The 1st Book of Henoch, and Joel etc. ] thought that the Messianic Jews fighting their pointless war against Rome
would somehow win and usher in the New Jerusalem...
But look how that turned out...!