The Seven Kings of Revelation
“Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time” (Rev. 17:9-10).
The Seven Mountains
To figure out who the “seven kings” of Revelation refer to, it helps to first know what the “seven mountains” refer to—and the “seven mountains” almost certainly refer to the famed “seven hills of Rome,” which John, the writer of Revelation, would have been very familiar with. The seven hills of Rome are the group of hills on which the ancient city was built, including the Caelian, Palatine, Aventine, Esquiline, Viminal, Quirinal, and Capitoline.
The Seven Kings
Since the passage is related to the Roman Empire, “all we have to do is find a series of seven kings, five of whom ‘have fallen,’ the sixth of whom ‘is’ still ruling, and the last of whom was of but a brief reign. The one who ‘is’ will be the king alive and ruling at the time John wrote Revelation.”[1]
The following list of Roman emperors fits nicely:
1. Julius Caesar (49–44 BC)
2. Augustus (31 BC–AD 14)
3. Tiberius (AD 14–37)
4. Gaius “Caligula” (AD 37–41)
5. Claudius (AD 41–54)
6. Nero (AD 54–68)—this is when Revelation must have been written
7. Galba (AD June 68–January 69)
This list of Roman emperors fits well with Revelation’s description. The “five that have fallen” were Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Gaius, and Claudius. The one that “is” was Nero. And Galba was “the one after him, who continued a short time.” Note: Galba only reigned for around six months.
It seems pretty clear that Revelation was written in the reign of Nero, prior to his death in AD 68. He was the sixth king; and the short-lived rule of the seventh king, Galba, had not come yet.
Possible objection
Critics sometimes argue that the first emperor of the Roman Empire was Augustus, not Julius Caesar. And if we began the enumeration with Augustus, this would make Galba the sixth king, not Nero.
Response: It’s true some historians say Augustus was the first official emperor/caesar; however, John, who lived in the area during this time period, almost certainly had Julius Caesar in mind. Julius Caesar’s last name went from being an ordinary family name to a title adopted by Roman emperors!
“[Julius Caesar] changed the course of Roman history. Although he did not rule for long, he gave Rome fresh hope and a whole dynasty of emperors…[His rule] replaced a republic, ruled by the consuls and the Senate, with an empire, reigned over by emperors and their hereditary successors. It was the start of a brand new age for Rome.”[2]
Commenting on this issue, Kenneth Gentry says in Before Jerusalem Fell: “It is true that the Roman Empire was officially established under Augustus, and there are some scattered lists of the emperors that seem to begin the enumeration with Augustus…nevertheless, it seems that the enumeration of the ‘kings’ should most logically begin with Julius Caesar.”[3]
Gentry points out that many notable first- and second-century historians—both Jewish and Roman—begin the enumeration of Roman emperors with Julius Caesar. This includes the Jewish historian Josephus (AD 37–101), the Roman historian Suetonius (c. AD 70–160), and the Roman historian Dio Cassius (AD 150–235).
“For our purpose perhaps the most decisive representative of those who reckon the emperors from Julius is the Jewish writer Flavius Josephus. Not only do his dates (A.D. 37–101) overlap the very period of John and the New Testament, but he is also a Jew from Palestine, and his works were written for both the Romans and the Jews. Surely his reckoning would reflect contemporary opinion among the Jews and the Romans. And his Antiquities [book] calls Augustus the “second” emperor and Tiberius the “third” emperor. Later, Gaius the “fourth.”[4]
The Romans themselves surely would have agreed with Josephus’s enumeration since the Roman emperor Vespasian sponsored Josephus’s writings.
The evidence shows that the above list of emperors is almost certainly the one John had in mind when describing the seven kings in Revelation. This means “the king that now is” was Nero, who reigned from AD 54–68. This also means Revelation was written before Nero died in AD 68!
For more information about the topics discussed in this article, please see my article “The Harlot, Mystery Babylon, and the Seven-Headed Beast.” Or, for more detailed information, check out my book The End Is Here: How the New Testament’s Prophecies Were Fulfilled, available NOW on Amazon!
By Alex Polyak, Director of The Bible Fulfilled, 10/17/25
[1] Kenneth Gentry, Before Jerusalem Fell, p. 152.
[2] “The Roman Empire in the First Century: Julius Caesar,” PBS, viewed Nov. 26
[3] Gentry, Before Jerusalem Fell, 154.
[4] Ibid., 155
