These Kings are not emperors.

1. There is no way you can look at Domitian and the emperors before him and come up with only 7:

44 BC *Julius Caesar (dies)
31 BC-14 AD *Augustus
14-37 AD Tiberius
37-41 AD Caligula (Gaius)
41-54 AD *Claudius
54-68 AD Nero
68-69 AD Galba
69 AD Otho
69 AD Vitellius
69-79 AD *Vespasian
81-96 AD *Domitian
* = declared to be gods by the senate

a) If we begin the count with Julius, we end up in the reign of Nero - the head with the deadly wound and therefore not the reigning emperor.

b) If we start the count with Augustus and omit the 3 pretenders (Galba, Otho, and Vitellius) then Vespasian is the one on the throne, Titus the King whose rule will be short, and Domitian as the 8th and second Nero who can then be described as one of 7.  But then what do we do with the early Church's statement that John wrote at the time of Domitian? (Iren. Haer 5:30:3)

c) If we make Domnitian the emperor "who is now", however, we have to leave out the first 2 emperors who were made gods - something John would never leave out.

Conclusion: John is doing something else here, rather than making emperor head count (no pun intended).

Everybody please remember that John's numbers are symbolic numbers. John did not come up with "7" by simply counting the emperors.

1. The monster Leviatan (referred to at the first appearance of the Beast from the Sea in this companion) had 7 heads long before there was a Roman Empire.

2. In all sorts of places in Revelation John has shown his complete lack of concern for arithmetical precision. i.e.: 2 (lamps) + 2 (trees) = 2 (witnesses)

3. 7 is a symbolic number that means "the complete series" of emperors.

The point John is making is this: the imperial line has only a short time left (2 heads) before the eighth (like another Nero) rises from the abyss (9:2).