Christ and the Clash of Cultures - Lecture 5
The 666 in Revelation was a literal mark borne by Roman citizens wishing to shop in the marketplace. It was the mark of Nero.
All trade was to take place in the market place by law - anyone caught bartering was in major trouble. The Romans regulated behaviour by tightly regulating the access to food.
Excommunication was easy – just don’t allow access to the marketplace (Romans 13) – the “small” and the “great”, the rich and the poor etc must have the “number of the man”…
Roman culture played game with numbers – like the prison joke about jokes… have you heard “1036” – mother murderer (Nero).
