Number of the Beast adopt it (Haer. v.30,3). In the 380s, correcting the existing Latin-language version of the New Testament (commonly referred to as the "Vetus Latina"), Jerome retained "666". Around 2005, a fragment from Papyrus 115, taken from the Oxyrhynchus site, was discovered at the Oxford University's Ashmolean Museum. It gave the beast's number as . This fragment is the oldest manuscript (about 1,700 years old) of Revelation 13 found . "Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus", known before the "Papyrus 115" finding but dating to after it, has 616 written in full: , "hexakosioi deka hex" ( "six hundred and sixteen"). "Papyrus 115" and "Ephraemi
The Number of the Beast (song) In spite of this, it remains one of the band's more popular songs, reaching No. 18 in the UK singles charts, and has been performed on almost all of their concert tours. Additionally, the song has been covered numerous times and has appeared in several video games and films. According to the song's writer, bassist and band-founder Steve Harris, it was inspired by a nightmare he had after watching the film "", in addition to the poem "Tam o' Shanter" by Robert Burns. The song opens with a spoken word passage, read by English actor Barry Clayton, which quotes Revelation