A Hypothesis of Solution to the Riddle of Revelation on the Number 666 (in Connection with an Enigmatic Verse from Dante's Inferno)

The article presents the results of a study aimed at finding a logical solution to a famous riddle from the Book of Revelation: “Here is wisdom. He that has understanding, let him count the number of the beast. For it is the number of a man: and the number of him is six hundred sixty-six". Revelation proposes this riddle at the conclusion of an episode in which a great, evil dragon appears in the sky and persecutes a pregnant woman, but is thrown to Earth by Michael, then two demonic beasts appear. Here it is proposed that the solution to the riddle is "Apophis", the name of the gigantic evil serpent which in Egyptian mythology is the enemy of the solar god Ra. The plausibility of this hypothesis is based on the correspondence with the sum of the numbers associated with the Greek letters that make up this name, also considering the analogy of this story with the Greek myth of Leto, persecuted by a dragon before giving birth to the solar god Apollo. It is also corroborated by the fact that the proposed solution in turn allows to immediately resolve another enigma, contained in Dante's Inferno, where a demonic character, Plutus, pronounces a seemingly senseless phrase: “Pape Satàn, pape Satàn aleppe”. It can be deduced that Dante knew the solution to the riddle of Revelation and used it to make his enigma, which has remained unsolved until now. The proposed solutions of the two puzzles, therefore, corroborate each other, strengthening their reliability. Keywords: six hundred sixty-six, Revelation, Apophis, Plutus, Pape Satàn.