The Caligula code : dating the Book of Revelation to his reign

• Main Author: Thom, George Alexander
• Other Authors: Stuart, Liz ; King, Anna
• Published: University of Winchester 2007
• Subjects: 228
• Online Access: https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.550218

This thesis aims to provide a strong case for the dating of the Book of Revelation to the year 39 CE, during the reign of the Roman Emperor Gaius Caesar, otherwise known as Caligula. This places it far earlier than either the Irenaeus-attested 95 CE, or the Preterist pre-destruction of Jerusalem of 69 CE. This thesis will show how the two cryptic clues in Rev. 13:18 and Rev.17:9-11 concerning the Beast can both be applied to Caligula, if the recently discovered Oxyrhynchus papyrus that reads the number of the Beast as 616 is used instead of the more popular, but arguably later, 666 and if the name Gaius Caesar is acknowledged to refer to both Caligula and one of his predecessors, Julius Caesar. Historical-critical methods will be applied to identifying the False Prophet of Revelation and three of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse as historical personages figuring in the events leading up to the proposed composition date. By suggesting that the author of the book, John, used the fraudulent literary technique of vaticinium ex eventu, prophecy after the event, it will be shown that these real people operated in three of the four quarters of the ancient world, each in his own area and in the corresponding season of the year, in correct sequence. The Fourth Horseman will be shown to be a genuine attempt at prophecy that failed. A seldom-considered crucifixion date will be used to fit the time periods of this thesis perfectly into the long-term Daniel Seventy Weeks prophecy. Astronomical placement of planets in constellations will show how the cosmic statements in the Book of Revelation can also be used to pinpoint dates leading up to John's end-time. This thesis presents a case for dating the Book of Revelation as the earliest of the New Testament canon.