What is the history to "666" in terms of relating to the devil, or any
other relative elements.

Hi, and thanks for your question

The use of the number 666 as a personification of evil comes from the Bible:

Firstly, it says:

Here is wisdom. He who has understanding, let him calculate the number
of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is six hundred
sixty-six.
-Revelations chapter 13, Verse 18

Then, it continues later:

The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest
day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever
receives the mark of his name.
-Revelations chapter 14, Verse 11

So, the beast himself has a number of 666, and his followers carry the mark.

Over recent years, and influenced by the "Omen" movie, the number has
necome synonymous with the antichrist, with the kid, Damien, in the
movie, having 666 as a birthmark under his hair.

You'll find a lot of interesting stuff, including articles on prophecy
and its relation to the number 666, over at

666: the mark of the beast; information and links
http://www.popsubculture.com/pop/bio_project/sub/666.html

Hope that answers your question

willie-ga

Search used

666 History
Revelations Chapter 14

This is a very obvious answer and contains little or no acedemic basis.

Willie gave a good answer, except many Chritian ideas are barrowed
from other religions and cultures, so it is possible that 666 predated
the Book of Revelations by 1000 years or so. I'm not saying this is
so, but it might be wise to search further, just in case.   Neil

Yea, it's not really the answer I was looking for.  I know the "pop"
reference of 666 comes from the Bible...I think everybody knows that,
but the question is where did it really originate from.  I've heard
acedemics talk about how it somehow refers to Nero...which would make
sense why they (christians) began using the number as the mark of the
devil, since Nero made them scapegoats during the first great Roman
fire during his reign.  However, I'm not entirely sure the merit to
this argument, though it makes for a great story.

"This is a very obvious answer and contains little or no acedemic basis"

I think that Willie sufficiently answered your question.  GIGO.

Maybe your original question should have been:

"I know the 'pop' reference of 666 comes from the Bible...I think
everybody knows that, but the question is where did it really
originate from.  I've heard
acedemics talk about how it somehow refers to Nero...which would make
sense why they (christians) began using the number as the mark of the
devil, since Nero made them scapegoats during the first great Roman
fire during his reign."  So, "What is the history to "666" in terms of
relating to the devil, or any other relative elements."

What you are really asking is why John the Revelator, in exile on the
Isle of Patmos, in the year 100 A.D.
(http://www.dwc.org/questions/Faith/revelations.htm) chose to use this
allegory to describe the beast.  If one assumes John, as an apostle,
was blessed with prophetic vision, one must also remember that he was
prophesying events to come in the latter days, i.e., right now.  So
what could John have seen in one or more prophetic visions--scenes of
current events, likely--that would cause him to use this symbol?  That
is what you are really asking, I believe.  Also remember that John's
allegories and visions were recorded by him in Aramaic, translated
into Greek and Hebrew (and other languages), and then translated into
English in 1611 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_James_Version).

So what we are left with is trying to interpret--today--a prophetic
vision of events occurring 2000 years after the vision was had by
John, recorded in a now-dead language and translated various times
before arriving in English.  That's a tall order.  Who knows what John
really saw and what "666" means?  After such a convoluted history,
there are any number of possible interpretations.  See
http://www.remnantofgod.org/666.htm.  Thus, I do not think one can
point to a historical basis or an academic "origin" of "666."  John
saw something in a vision that he knew to be of the devil, wrote it
down, and now, 2000 years later we have it as "666."

I'm sorry the question wasn't answered to your satisfaction. Given
that it was only a $5 question, and that you didn't specify you wanted
academic research performed, I assumed you only needed the quick,
obvious, response. Unfortunately I'm not a mind reader, so I was
unaware that you already knew the biblical reference.

In future, you might want to refer to the pricing guidelines for asking questions

http://answers.google.com/answers/pricing.html
Google Answers: How to price your question 
"Questions priced $2 - $5 -- Can be answered with a single link or a
single piece of information."

I'll be happy to answer more questions of yours in the future.

willie-ga

I am going to give you a very quick and loose version of what I
believe you are looking for. (since I do not have my books in front of
me).




Antichrist is presented as a Roman ruler (caesar). 'Nero Caesar',
written in its seven Hebrew consonants (transliterated as 'Neron
Kaisar'), give a value of 50+200+6+50+100+60+200, which adds up to
666.

Oh for the love of PETE!!!! forgive my first time posting goof ups and
ignore the last 2 partial posts!!!!  lets try again...

It is very important to understand the history and climate surrounding
the writing of Revelations. John was imprisoned on the Greek isle of
Patmos in a period of intense christian persecution by the Roman
goverment. The climate was one of paranoia and fear, and this was
heightened by rumors of Nero's return. The emperor Nero persecuted the
early christians with great fervor and was quite off his rocker..he
eventually commited suicide when it all came crashing down arounf 68
ad. There were a few incidental emperors and then in about 81 ad the
emperor Domitian took power..He also was quite a bugaboo when it came
to the early christians. BUT in the 90's rumors began to circulate
that Nero was not really dead, and was returning to Rome to reclaim
his emperorship and he was madder than ever!! The early christians
feared him to no end, and John's writings were a call to arms to the
christian community to not give up the fight. He sends 7 letters off
to various chruches to reinforce the need to hang with the cause,a dn
then he concludes with his wild vision of the coming battle and how
the God of the Christians would destroy the enemies ( Rome). There are
many, many names and places within Revelations that are quite symbolic
to the people to whom he was writing. Hebrew letters all have a
numerical equivalent and the number "of a man" 666 was a clear
reference to the "Kaisar Neron" or Emperor Nero... I quote "Antichrist
is presented as a Roman ruler caesar). 'Nero Caesar', written in its
seven Hebrew consonants (transliterated as 'Neron Kaisar'), give a
value of 50+200+6+50+100+60+200, which adds up to 666.

There is no reason to belive ( and I have never come across anything
that says..) that "666" ever had any previous ( pre 90-100 ad)
historical significance or symbolism.

Revelations contains some wild imagery and pretty intense language,
and that vague loose symbolism is what has allowed it to be constantly
re-interpreted and always seem to remain "just around the corner".
"The mark of the beast" was initially coins with Nero's image upon
them, but nowadays its everything from a social security number to a
barcode or microchip implanted in you....I will withhold my opinions
of all this "Left Behind" garbage and things like that...and just
encourage you to read actual historical references to the time period
in question and ask yourself what was John of Patmos trying to convey
in his writings in the time period he was writing....

If you get a chance try to rent/watch/record the series "Mysteries of
the Bible" on A&E  the show about the book of Revelations is
absolutely excellent.

I have heard that the number "666" is related to the fraction 2/3,
which is the proportion of people who wont be saved at the time of the
rapture. 2/3rds as a decimal is .666> I don't know if this explanation
actually has any merit- just something I heard listening to some
extremist Christian radio (always entertaining).

i've always thought the biblical author paul was the antichrist and
i've recently found a book which attempts to make this case:

http://www.atheistsforjesus.com/book.htm

for Yakker-ga. Your comment on Paul being the anti Christ goes against
what the bible tells us about him. Paul was a rabid persecutor of the
Jews and was involved in the death of Steven [Acts 6;13, 7;58]. Then
one day on the road, he had " a religious experience" where the
resurrected Jesus asked him, Paul, why he was persecuting Him [
Jesus][Acts 9;4]. This would have included all Jesus` followers. From
that moment on, Paul`s entire life was turned upside down and he spent
the rest of his life continuing Jesus` work, preaching to all people,
the incoming Kingdom [Matthew 6;9,10]. God gave Paul the privilege of
writing more books/letters of the Christian/Greek scriptures than any
one else. About 41 C.E. Paul again experienced another supernatural
vision where he felt humbled. What information that was conveyed to
him came out in his writings which we have before us today. As to the
666. In the Bible, 6 is an imperfect number and the writing of it
three times is to emphasise it. Emphasising imperfection and all the
things wrong with the world. But all is not doom and gloom. Revelation
21;4 states...And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and
death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be
any more, the former things have passed away.