Now we turn to the question of the first emperor to begin
John's count of the five who had fallen (17:10-11). Early date
advocates insist that Julius Caesar should be the first in our
count. Gentry says that ".... the evidence still points to the
legitimacy of starting the count with Julius Caesar."57
Wallace adds, "....it would be folly to attempt to name the
Roman Caesars and leave Julius out."58 While it is true that
some historians recognize Julius as the first, I believe the
evidence favors starting with Augustus. First, modern
historians recognize Augustus as the first. In The Roman
Historians, Michael Grant begins his review of the emperors with
Augustus. He continues by saying, "Augustus .... was the first
Roman princeps or emperor .... After accompanying Caesar
[Julius], now dictator (that is to say absolute ruler, though he
is never thought of as the first of the emperors)...."59
Virtually every Roman historian agrees with this analysis.
There are also those of ancient times who recognized
Augustus as the first. Suetonius does list Julius as the first.
But as Bell, an early date advocate, comments,
Suetonius includes Julius in his Lives, but the first part
of the work is lost, so we do not know his rationale for
doing so. He does point out, however, that Augustus
received magistratus atque honores .... novi generis perpet
vosque, recognizing some distinction between the princeps
and his uncle.60
Most early date scholars use Suetonius quite heavily for their
proof of Julius being the first emperor. This shows that
Suetonius is ambiguous at best.
There are several pieces of ancient evidence in favor of
Augustus that must be examined. First, Roman coins have been
recovered which name Augustus as "father of his country."61
Tacitus comments that the people had often thrust upon him "the
title 'Father of his country.'"62 This is strong evidence of
what the people believed at this period of time. Historian
Plutarch recognized that Julius never accepted the title of
emperor.63 Ptolomy, an ancient astronomer, (A.D. 100 --
c.178) in his Chronological Table of the Kings, chose to begin
the list of emperors, not with Julius, but with Augustus.
Interestingly, he also passed over the reigns of Galba, Otho,
and Vitellius.64 In summary, modern historians, coins,
Plutarch, Tacitus, and Ptolomy (and possibly even Suetonius) all
agree that Augustus was the first Roman Emperor.
We have briefly tried to examine the two popular dates for
Revelation with an alternative view during the time of
Vespasian. John says that "five have fallen." Since we
established Augustus as the first emperor, we begin our count
with him. The first five are: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula,
Claudius, and Nero. These are the five who had fallen. The
three civil war emperors should be omitted because of the
confusion of who was in charge and because no one really ruled
at this time. Therefore, Vespasian (the sixth) is the one who
"is." After him came one who would reign only a short time.
This would be the short reign of Titus. After this came the
beast who, according to our analysis, would be none other than
the famous, but feared, Domitian.
1 J. Christian Wilson, "The Problem of the Domitianic Date of Revelation," New Testament Studies 39 (1993): 587. 2 Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 5.30.3. 3 Kenneth Gentry, The Beast of Revelation (Tyler, TX: Institute Christian Economics, 1989), 151-152. 4 Homer Hailey, Revelation An Introduction and Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1901), 33. 5 Wayne Jackson, "The Book of Revelation --When Was it Written?," Christian Courier 25 (Nov. 1989): 26. 6 Tacitus, Annals, 14.27. 7 Wilson, "The Problem of the Domitianic Date of Revelation," 587. 8 Albert A. Bell, "The Date of John's Apocalypse. The Evidence of Some Roman Historians Reconsidered," New Testament Studies 25 (1979): 93. 9 For an excellent work on this view see Kenneth Gentry, The Beast of Revelation. 10 Gentry, 82. 11 Ibid., 121. 12 Robert H. Mounce, The Book of Revelation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977): 226. 13 Jim McGuiggan, Revelation (Lubbock, TX: International Biblical Resources, 1976): 161. 14 Wilson, "The Problem of the Domitianic Date of Revelation," 589. 15 Tacitus, Annals, 15.44. 16 Michael Grant, Nero --Emperor in Revolt (New York: American Heritage Press, 1970), 156. 17 Steven Friesen, "Ephesus --Key to a Vison in Revelation," Biblical Archaeology Review 19 (May/ June 1993): 32-33. 18 Gentry, 29-34. 19 Irenaeus, 5.26.1. 20 Gentry, 31. 21 Hailey, 33. 22 Ibid. 23 Ibid. 24 Bell, 100. 25 Friesen, 34. 26 Ibid. 27 Juvenal, Sat 4.38; Pliny, Paneg. 53.3-4 as quoted by Adela Yarbro Collins, "Dating the Apocalypse of John," Biblical Research 26 (1981): 34. 28 Eusebius, H.E. 2.17. 29 Bell, 96. 30 Adela Yarbro Collins, "Dating the Apocalypse of John," Biblical Research 26 (1981): 40-41. 31 Michael Grant, The Roman Emperors (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1985), 63-64. 32 Ray Summers, Worthy is the Lamb (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1951): 84. 33 Collins, 40. 34 Michael Grant, The Ancient Historians (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1970): 300. 35 Plutarch's Lives, Galba. 36 Grant, The Roman Emperors, 47. 37 Tacitus, Histories 1.55-57. 38 Ibid., 1.61, 64. 39 Ibid., 1.69. 40 Ibid., 1.48. 41 Ibid., 1.32. 42 Ibid., 1.50. 43 Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, 4.9.9. 44 Tacitus, Histories, 1.76-77. 45 Ibid., 1.50. 46 Ibid. 47 Plutarch's Lives, Otho. 48 Tacitus, Histories, 4.11. 49 Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, 4.9.2. 50 Grant, The Roman Emperors, 49. 51 Ibid., 51. 52 Ibid. 53 Tacitus, Histories, 2.80. 54 Ibid., 2.81, 85. 55 Ibid., 2.79; Grant, The Roman Emperors, 53. 56 Ibid., 4.11. 57 Gentry, 106. 58 Foy E. Wallace, Jr., The Book of Revelation (Fort Smith, AR: Foy E. Wallace Jr. Publications, 1966):32. 59 Grant, The Roman Emperors, 9. 60 Bell, p. 98. 61 Michael Grant, History of Rome (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1978): 251. 62 Tacitus, Annals, 1.72. 63 Plutarch's Lives, Antony. 64 Ptolomy, Chronological Table of the Kings. Robert Hutchins, ed. Great Books of the Western World (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1938), 466.
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