Nero

====Antichrist====
{{main|Antichrist|The Beast (Revelation)|Number of the beast|Nero Redivivus legend}}
The [[Sibylline Oracles]], Book 5 and 8, written in the second century, speak of Nero returning and bringing destruction.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/sib/index.htm|title=The Sibylline Oracles 5.361–76, 8.68–72, 8.531–157|website=www.sacred-texts.com}}</ref>{{sfn|Griffin|2002|p=15}} Within Christian communities, these writings, along with others,<ref>[[Sulpicius Severus]] and [[Victorinus of Pettau]] also say that Nero is the Antichrist, [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/sulpiciusseveruschron2.html Sulpicius Severus, ''Chronica'' II.28–29]; [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0712.htm Victorinus of Pettau, ''Commentary on the Apocalypse'' 17] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070206014610/http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0712.htm |date=6 February 2007}}</ref> fueled the belief that Nero would return as the Antichrist. In 310, [[Lactantius]] wrote that Nero "suddenly disappeared, and even the burial place of that noxious wild beast was nowhere to be seen. This has led some persons of extravagant imagination to suppose that, having been conveyed to a distant region, he is still reserved alive; and to him they apply the Sibylline verses." Lactantius maintains that it is not right to believe this.<ref name="lactantius"/><ref>[[#Champlin|Champlin]], p. 20</ref>

In 422, [[Augustine of Hippo]] wrote about [[2 Thessalonians 2]]:1–11, where he believed that Paul mentioned the coming of the Antichrist. Although he rejects the theory, Augustine mentions that many Christians believed Nero was the Antichrist or would return as the Antichrist. He wrote that, "in saying, 'For the mystery of iniquity doth already work,'<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=60&chapter=2&verse=7&version=9&context=verse|title=2 Thessalonians 2:7 – Passage Lookup – King James Version|publisher=BibleGateway.com|access-date=2010-11-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081229123239/http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=60&chapter=2&verse=7&version=9&context=verse|archive-date=2008-12-29|url-status=live}}</ref> he alluded to Nero, whose deeds already seemed to be as the deeds of Antichrist."<ref name="augustine"/>

Some modern biblical scholars<ref>{{cite book|author=Cory, Catherine A.|title=The Book of Revelation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IzzAFl2ONfAC&pg=PA61|year=2006|publisher=Liturgical Press|isbn=978-0-8146-2885-0|pages=61–|access-date=27 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160504104449/https://books.google.com/books?id=IzzAFl2ONfAC&pg=PA61|archive-date=4 May 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Garrow, A.J.P.|title=Revelation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SkOg-tEYbR4C&pg=PA86|date=2002|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-203-13308-8|pages=86–|access-date=27 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160511222846/https://books.google.com/books?id=SkOg-tEYbR4C&pg=PA86|archive-date=11 May 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> such as Delbert Hillers ([[Johns Hopkins University]]) of the [[American Schools of Oriental Research]] and the editors of the ''Oxford Study Bible'' and ''HarperCollins Study Bible'', contend that the number [[Number of the beast|666]] in the [[Book of Revelation]] is a code for Nero,<ref>{{cite journal|author=Hillers, Delbert|title=Rev. 13, 18 and a scroll from Murabba'at|doi=10.2307/1355990|journal= Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research |volume=170 |issue=170|year=1963|page= 65|jstor=1355990|s2cid=163790686}}</ref> a view that is also supported in [[Roman Catholic]] Biblical commentaries.<ref>Brown, Raymond E.; Fitzmyer, Joseph A. and Murphy, Roland E. eds. (1990). ''[[Jerome Biblical Commentary|The New Jerome Biblical Commentary]]''. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. p. 1009. {{ISBN|978-0136149347}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Just, S.J.|title=''The Book of Revelation, Apocalyptic Literature, and Millennial Movements'', University of San Francisco, USF Jesuit Community|url=http://catholic-resources.org/Bible/Apocalyptic.htm|access-date=18 May 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070601223850/http://catholic-resources.org/Bible/Apocalyptic.htm|archive-date=1 June 2007|url-status=live}}</ref> The statement concerns Revelation 17:1-18, "the longest explanatory passage in Revelation",<ref>{{bibleverse|Revelation|17:1-18|NKJV}}</ref> which predicts the destruction of Rome by work of an "eighth emperor"  who was also one of the "seven kings" of the most extended and powerful empire ever known in the human history: according to this lecture, Babylon the Great is identified with Rome<ref>{{cite journal |  first = Scott Gambrill |last = Sinclair |  url = https://scholar.dominican.edu/religion-course-materials/2/ | title = The Book of Revelation (Course Lecture Notes) |journal = The Scott Sinclair Lecture Notes Collection | date = 2016 | publisher =  Dominican University of California  |issue= 2 | pages = 36–37 |doi = 10.33015/dominican.edu/2016.sinclair.02 | format = PDF| quote = Nero persecuted the church at Rome, and the Beast whose number is 666 probably represents him. [...] Revelation also draws many parallels between "Babylon" (Rome) and the New Jerusalem. [...] In John's social situation the emperor did appear to be the Almighty, and Rome did appear to be the Heavenly City}} (attributed to the [[public domain]])</ref> which has poured the blood of saints and martyrs (verse 6) and subsequently become the seat of the Vatican State, reigning over all the kings existing on Earth.
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