for John and his first-century Christian readers would be the Roman emperors who had impacted the Christian movement in a negative way since its inception, those who distinctly fit the pattern that the antichrist to come would fulfill.53 The list would start with Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, all of whom acted in self-exalting ways that threatened Christian security in Jerusalem as well as in Rome and the wider Mediterranean world.54 The three generals who vied for Roman rule during the tumultuous