PP:
No, there is the problem. There is absolutely no reason to be looking beyond the text's named charcters and the writer's time.
No reason? Look at Leolia's quoted defense of the orientation you insist on:
5) The angel then provides a second interpretation of the seven heads of the beast in Revelation 17:10, claiming that they represent seven kings. Of these, five were described as fallen, one was currently ruling, the seventh was to come for a short while, and an eighth (corresponding to the figure of Nero redivivus) was to follow the seven. Attempts to identify these kings with historical Roman emperors has proven to be notoriously difficult. This is because there was some disagreement over who was the first emperor (e.g. Suetonius and Josephus regarded Julius Caesar as the first emperor, while Tacitus and Vergil regarded Augustus as the first emperor), and whether the three short-lived emperors of AD 68-69 (Galba, Otho, and Vitellius) count or not. Sybilline Oracles 5:35 and Josephus, Jewish War 4.491-99 mentioned Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, but Suetonius (Vespasian, 1) terms the three emperors' reigns as the "rebellion of the three princes" (rebellio trium principum), suggesting that their brief tenure were mere interregna between the reigns of legitimate emperors. Another uncertainty is whether the short-lived seventh king of Revelation 17:10 was intended to correspond with the three emperors of AD 68-69, with one of them, or with the relatively short reign of Titus (AD 79-81). One attractive and popular interpretation is to posit Augustus, Tiberius, Gaius, Claudius, and Nero as the first five emperors, Vespasian as the sixth emperor who "is" (skipping over the three interregna), Titus as the emperor "who must stay for a short while", and Domitian as the final emperor, Nero redivivus. However, Jewish and Christian sources otherwise seem to start with Julius Caesar as the first emperor (cf. Josephus, Antiquities 18.32, Sibylline Oracles 5:12, 4 Ezra 12:15, Barnabas 4:3-6, Theophilus, Ad Autolycum, 3.27), so this solution may well not be correct. It may also be the case that such approaches are somewhat forced since "seven" is a highly symbolic number in Revelation, and so it may not be reasonable to expect a perfect correspondence here.
Attempts to identify these kings with historical Roman emperors has proven to be NOTORIOUSLY DIFFICULT...because there was some disagreement over who was the first emperor...AND whether the three short-lived emperors ... count or not.
this solution may well not be correct. Such approaches are somewhat forced. May not be reasonable to expect a pefect correspondence here.
That is my reason for looking for other explanations. The ones you suggest don't seem to fit.
Beyond that though, there is just as much REASON to look for so called cryptic messages from alien entities as it is to train arrays of radio telescopes on sections of the sky with the hope of making contact with something OUT THERE.
That simple criteria is a hodgepodge of collected apocalyptic texts and interpreations forced upon them by your proposed identification. ; The last of which is not even from the same book.
No the "simple criteria" are descriptors of the entities being discussed. You abstract those criteria and use them in a search for possible candidates. You don't have to search far, wide & deep because your looking for something right NOW that is big enough and significant enough to have a major affect on world events. Russia and the USA are still enemies as is once again becoming evident. Russia is North. USA is South. The King of the North destroys the King of the South. The WIld Beast that dies as the Soviet Union died in 1991 gets tired of the wealthy harlot on its back and destroys her.
The early Christians identified the charcters with Rome and its Caesars.
They were wrong because it wasn't the time of the end. You can say they were wrong because no one can be right. That would be a logical conclusion if it weren't for the fact that we now have an extraordinary fit between those prophesies and events NOW.
You obviously haven't done the math. You don't like the idea that there might be something of redeeming value in the Bible. You are right I am intrigued by the possibilities. But my orientation isn't basically any less valid than yours.
