Report: 666 Not So Evil? '616' Revelation Might Bedevil Metalheads

Teri van Horn of MTV News has issued the following report:

Legions of metalheads who've saluted "the number of the beast" may need to subtract 50 from the numeral that adorns their notebook doodlings, T-shirts and tattoos.

A newly discovered fragment of the Book of Revelation challenges the conventional belief that the Antichrist's mark is 666, indicating instead that it is 616. Expert classicists used multi-spectral imaging to get a better view of the text, which is written in archaic Greek and dates to the late third century.

"It is clearly an important new manuscript, giving us a relatively very early copy of the text of Revelation," said Christopher Tuckett, a theology professor at Oxford University's Pembroke College. "It is probably not the earliest manuscript of Revelation that we have ... but this is the first time [the 616 reading] has been found in such an early text."

Fear of 666 is so extensive it actually has a name — hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia — and has inspired everything from televangelist speeches to Hollywood films. The numbers have long been appropriated into the heavy-metal lexicon and symbology. BLACK SABBATH, ROB ZOMBIE, DANZIG and SEPULTURA have featured depictions of "666" on their album covers, SLIPKNOT have decorated their stage set with 666 signs, and hordes of other bands have incorporated 666 symbols into T-shirts, stickers and other merchandise.

Most famously, 666 provided the title of IRON MAIDEN's groundbreaking 1982 album, "Number of the Beast". The title track begins with the Revelation passage "Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the beast, for it is a human number. Its number is 666."

Read the rest of the article at MTV.com.