Episēmon - Buying or Selling Without The Mark

Buying and selling without the " mark " of the beast




Fundamentalists and other assorted whacknuts always love to talk about how nobody will be able to " buy or sell " without " the mark " of the beast, this is based on the verse of Revelation 13:17

" And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name "

I've seen conjectures this refers to credit cards, bar codes, cell phones, bitcoins, printed or minted money in general, these are usually accompanied by dramatic pictures like this:







....but,..., not surprisingly, none of these proposals actually takes real history into account

So, .....now I will point out something about 666 that seems to have been completely overlooked by these people blathering on about microchip implants and chakras

In ancient Greek, the letter digamma, ( The numeral 6 ) was also known as an " episemon " ( A distinguishing mark ) Digamma was later replaced by the sigma-tau ligature of the letter " stigma " ( Used to refer to the marks of Christ )









Texts written circa 2-300 AD use digamma for the number 6
Texts written circa 1500 AD and on use stigma for the number 6


An episēmon (Greek ἐπίσημον, from epi- "on" plus sēma "sign"; plural: episēma) is a Greek word that can mean:

- a distinguishing mark or symbol, ( Also called parasēmon ), especially in the following contexts:

- an ensign or figurehead on an ancient ship
- a characteristic symbol displayed on a shield, similar to a coat of arms
- a characteristic symbol stamped on an ancient coin
- another name for the Greek letter Digamma, the numeral sign for " 6 " ( cf Stigma )


This means an " episemon " ( Digamma / Stigma - mark ) was also a characteristic symbol stamped on an ancient coin

A well known example is the Tetradrachm :



You're probably familiar with the Tetradrachm from the Bible's story of Judas betraying Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. While it's disputed exactly what type of coin the Bible refers to, one thing is certain, and that is that the word " episemon " referred to the proof / mint mark on coins from the period Christ was supposedly alive








The use of mint marks on coins dates all the way back to the ancient Greeks. They called them " Magistrate Marks " because they referred to the magistrate in charge of producing that coin. If there was a problem with a coin, they would know which magistrate was in charge of its production

( A magistrate is a civil officer or lay judge who administers the law )

An example is the use of the letter Gamma Γ as an episemon Γ in the mint mark XIIΓ , standing for s[emis]) denarii on the Nummis coins

Obviously then, the phrasing used in Revelation concerning " buying or selling " without " the mark " is an obvious reference to the period use of distinguishing marks ( episemon ) on coins, as mint marks

Buying or selling anything required using coins with mint marks that distinguished them as coming from reputable mints

Now that you know 666 and 616 are actually written with the same mark that was used on currency in ancient Greece, read the verse again:








Since digamma and stigma are representing the same thing, they are both " distinguishing marks "


~ digamma as a proof mark on currency

~ stigma as the marks of Christ ( The wounds )