The solution to the riddle of 666
which has been most widely accepted since it was first suggested in 1831
is that 666 is the sum of the letters of Nero Caesar written in Hebrew characters
as נרון קסר . . . (Richard Bauckham, “Nero and the Beast,” in The Climax of
Prophecy: Studies in the Book of Revelation [London: T&T Clark, 1993], 387)
It was apparently suggested
independently by four German scholars in 1831 (O.F. Fritsche), 1836 (F. Benary)
and 1837 (F. Hitzig, R. Reuss) . . . (Ibid., 387 n. 10)