I believe there was also prior art for slave owners branding or tattooing slaves with their initials[0], so it is quite logical for the Book of Revelation to de

I believe there was also prior art for slave owners branding or tattooing slaves with their initials[0], so it is quite logical for the Book of Revelation to describe a Beast doing this to people who were enslaved to it. Using a numeric hash of the name instead of the text form also makes sense, just like the way TLS certificates use hashes of the domain name (and other details). I guess I just don't see the funny side because what is described in Revelation is reminiscent of both terrible abuses of the past and modern day infringements of rights. [0] https://imperiumromanum.pl/en/article/tattoos-in-roman-world/ https://imperiumromanum.pl/en/article/tattoos-in-roman-world...