palou said:
numberwang said:
The book is commonly dated to the end of Domitian at 95 AD so there would be more than 5 fallen emperors.
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As said, you don't need any more than the points stated in the OP to determine that the source material was talking about Romans.
"1 - One world government under one leader"
That's pretty obvious. In 95 AD, the roman empire is in its final stages of expansion (stabilized at around 117 AD), when their conquests seemed the most neverending. From the (very limited) point of view of someone having grown up in the contempory Jewish culture, Rome DID already conquer most of the world, pretty much all of the land part of local folklore (Egypt, Israel, Mesopotamia, Assyria, etc...) having been assimilated. There is 1 ruler, as it is an empire.
"3 - One single currency for the whole world, mark of the beast"
"4 - One world religion that adores the Beast"
Obvious consequence of the former. Any religion that isn't their own is, of course, satanic.
"5- Concentration camps to kill christians"
95 AD happens to be in the starting period of the systematic purge of christians in the empire (the reign of Domitian). Probably not yet wide-spread, but increasing, and a fear that any christian surely must have had at the time
"8- Worldwide conflict and war"
Written in Judea, in the middle of the brutally silenced Jewish Revolts (66 - 136 AD) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish%E2%80%93Roman_wars . One of the biggest bloodbaths the world had seen, at that point (over a million civilians killed by the Romans - notice, Judea only had a population of around 3 million at the time.)
6- Environment disasters that cause famine"
What they were hoping for, I guess. Saved them in Egypt, why not against the Romans, since beating them in combat seems hopeless.
"9 - Return of Jesus Christ as a super powerful warrior with supernatural powers"
Again, what they were hoping for - a leader to get rid of the Romans. Many historians believe that this was the original expectation that the Jewish people had of Christ when he came to Jerusalem, the anger of the public coming from the dissapointment.
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