Historical Confirmation of the Year 538 as the Beginning of the 1,260-Day Prophecy The prophetic time period of three and one half times, forty-two months, or 1,260 days appears several times in the books Daniel and Revelation (see box). As Seventh-day Adventists, we believe that the papacy is the little-horn power of Daniel 7 and 8; that the 1,260 symbolic days are 1,260 literal years, during which the papacy ruled, first with increasing, and later, with ever diminishing, power. We