666 is some kind of reference to a beast (Satan?) that has something to do with the Apocalypse. 666 is an official Biblical reference to The Devil. Or so most people think.... especially the hyper-evangelical types who know everything.

King Jimmy tells us "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. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six."

Sounds kind of cool. Definitely poetic — as one would expect from the big book commissioned by Jim Stewart (the monarch, not the actor). The bad news is that scholars have long had doubts about the accuracy and veracity of that translation of the Bible.

And then there is 616.

Between

• translations of Greek and Aramaic and Latin
• numerological interpretations of superstitious people
  
• conspiracy theorists (actually, they are conspiracy hypotheticians)

it's hard to tell which of those numbers — if either — matters.

The controversy rages on. What make it interesting is that there are good arguments to support the idea that there is something special about either 666 or 616.... or both ...or neither.

If you care, there is an article about it. Read it before you decide which number should be in your tattoo: Number of the Beast. Of course, if it really matters to you, Google lists 11,600 articles on the subject. Happy reading!