The quest for dating the book of Revelation. Via a bit of stumbled upon trivia.

[Rella]

2
A piece of numismatic evidence from the time of Domitian goes a long way, in my view, of dating the Apocalypse.



The coin seen above depicts Emperor Domitian's wife, Empress Domitia, on the face, with an engraving of their son, on the reverse, who died in early childhood, holding seven stars above himself while sitting over or upon, the earth.

The Latin phrasing is as follows:

On the face, it reads "DOMITIAAVGVSTAIMPDOMIT"

On the reverse, it reads "DIVVSCAESARIMPDOMITIANIF"

Essentially, Emperor Domitian had the coin struck then minted to commemorate the death of his son, whom he had deified by calling himself "Divine Caesar". Additionally, Emperor Domitian took the title "Dominus et Deus", meaning "Lord and God".

And so, for his, that is, Domitian's son, to be likewise deified, it made Domitian's son the son of the "Lord and God".

Now, compare this to Revelation 1:16 KJV

And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
And, also Revelation 2:1 KJV

Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks...
Then, finally, Revelation 2:18 KJV

And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass...
It seems pretty clear that at the very least, chapters 1 & 2 of the Apocalypse were written after this coin was struck as a response to Emperor Domitian's claim to Deity, and to the apotheosis of his deceased son.

It would seem the author wanted to make the point that it was neither the Emperor Domitian or his son, who is Lord God (See and compare Revelation 1:8 NASB) and Son of God, respectively. Rather, it is God the Father and Jesus of Nazareth, who ought to bare these titles.

Hence, if these things are so, the dating of the Apocalypse has to be given as some time after the coin was minted and circulated. This occurred in circa 82-83 CE.

Share

answered Jan 11, 2018 at 11:21

The Votive Soul

https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/6006/revelation-before-or-after-ad70

[3 Resurrections]

But Rella, ALL of the Roman caesars were part of the cult of emperor worship with the deification of themselves.  From Julius Caesar and forward.  Domitian claiming to be a god was just more of the same.  It would take something beyond this to date Revelation.  It is just as likely that it was Domitian duplicating the seven-star symbolism of the Revelation AFTER the book of Revelation was written earlier - not the other way around with John copying Domitian.   That would be a strange thing for John to do anyway - to incorporate pagan symbolism in his apocalypse.

[Wycliffes_Shillelagh]

On the backside of the coin...

That child is sitting on the earth, or maybe the sun or moon?  Look at the lines on it... that's a sphere.  1300 years before Galileo, that's a sphere.

Jarrod