Is the Doomsday prophecy of the book of Revelation inspired by pagan curses?

The mysterious book of Revelation in the Bible deliberately uses language and words seen in Roman curse tablets, a researcher said.

According to a new study, the mysterious language of the book of Revelation (famous for its strange imagery, including a seven-headed red beast and a female figure symbolizing the evils of Babylon) is intentionally similar to the language used in the ancient Roman "curse tables".

Strange images in the book of Revelation include the prophet (on the left) and a red seven-headed beast or dragon that may represent Satan. This image is from the Apocalypse flamande, a manuscript of the book of Revelation created in the 15th century.

Research suggests that the book of Revelation, part of the Bible, written in the late first century AD, attempted to distinguish religion from the paganism of the Roman Empire by expressing the message of it's in a different way.

Michael Hölscher, a researcher in the department of biblical studies at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, is conducting a research project on the similarities between the book of Revelation and Roman curse tablets for Germany's national research agency (DFG).

He said an important example from the book of Revelation is that God is spoken of "binding" and "releasing" Satan. The same term was used in Roman curse tables, also known as "defixiones" - Latin for "to bind" - meaning to force the victim to perform a certain action.

Another example is the book of Revelation which describes enemies as tables of curses. For example, Revelation chapter 13 prophesies that the 'mark of the beast' will be imposed on everyone, rich and poor, free and slave.

Book of Revelation

The Book of Revelation (also known as the Revelation to John, or the Apocalypse of John) is interpreted by most modern scholars as an attempt to prophesy the end of the world and the second coming of Jesus. .

Lead curse tablet.

According to the book of Revelation, non-believers will be thrown into hell, while Christians will go to heaven at the second coming.

According to scholar Bart Ehrman, the authorship of the book of Revelation is attributed to a man named John of Patmos who wrote it around 96 AD after witnessing or hearing about the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. -rusalem in 70 AD.

The Book of Revelation describes the end of the world with images familiar to early Christians. It also introduces the "number of the beast ", possibly a reference to the Roman emperor Nero, whose name in Hebrew numerology is "666" and who was notorious for brutally persecuting his followers. Catholicism.

Not only was the wording in the book of Revelation inspired by Roman curse tablets, Hölscher said, but also the actions. For example, an angel threw a large stone to destroy Babylon, a type of curse ritual.

Hölscher says the influence of curse tablets is also evident in the linguistic elements derived from the practice of writing curses. For example, figures associated with the gods in the book of Revelation often write the names of those gods on their bodies—followers of the beast, for example, wear the name or number of the beast on their hands or foreheads their.

Cursed tablets have been found throughout the former Roman Empire, from Britain to Egypt, and were widely available, although they were considered black magic and banned by Roman law.

They included a number of curses that harmed enemies, usually engraved on a thin sheet of lead, which was then placed in a place where only the gods could see it.

However, the similarities between the curse tablets and the book of Revelation do not convince all experts and remain controversial.