Some of the first translations of the New Testament were in Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic. These date back to the 2nd century. We know how important the Aramaic language was in Bible times. It was the language spoken by Jesus hence the conversational tongue between Him and His disciples. The Syriac version of the New Testament is clear regarding who banished John to Patmos. See the featured image of this post. This is not surprising, considering the fate of Peter, Paul, and others at the mercy of the strength of Rome in bed with the evil religious leaders in Jerusalem during the 1st century. It is crazy to think that Nero and Jerusalem would combine to take out James, Peter, Paul, and others … while leaving the best friend of Jesus alone. I don’t buy it and neither did many others in the early church, including the compilers of sacred text.
The Muratorian fragment, dated to AD 170-200, contains “The Apocalypse of John” that would become known as Revelation. The compiler of the fragment states that John was a “predecessor” to Paul in writing to 7 churches. He implies that Paul the Apostle followed the example of John the Disciple, in completing 7 letters to 7 churches. If this were the case, John would have had to finish his Revelation before at least the 7th letter of Paul, which would mean Revelation was written before AD 70. It is also interesting that the Muratorian fragment contains all the books of the modern New Testament except Hebrews, James, and 1st and 2nd Peter. There may be a good reason for such, as those books reference content and ideas from and/or make more sense in light of the content within Revelation. Their being written so close to the destruction of Jerusalem may have challenged their being gathered and retained through the years alongside many of the other texts in the New Testament.
The “Aramaic Peshitta” version contains comment text on the title page of Revelation, stating that the work of John was written right after the reign of Nero. That would mean an AD 68-69 writing date, which fits extremely nicely with “5 have fallen, 1 is” text of Revelation 17 when describing the kings of the beast that had 7 hills and blasphemous names on its head. It also works well in describing the Roman Empire as the beast that “was, is not, and is about to rise” to participate in destruction. The reason is that Rome after Nero’s death entered into massive unrest and civil war. It appeared to be the beginning of the end of Rome during the “year of the 4 emperors” until Vespasian returned to the capital and restored order. This was right before Titus obliterated Jerusalem. This would also explain the 666/616 mark of “a man” that revealed whose statue would be worshiped by force, representing the gentile beast of the sea – Rome. Indeed, Nero was said to have been wounded by the sword and lived.
In summary, perhaps this is why Irenaeus had mentioned in his “Against Heresies” that “several ancient copies” of Revelation were circulated before 180 AD. Mind you, this is far before the printing press. Irenaeus also recognized that Rome was the 4th kingdom of Daniel. Ironically, a statement he made about John the Apostle being seen toward the end of Domitian’s reign has been misinterpreted as “it,” or the vision being seen toward the end of Domitian’s reign. That one misquote has been parroted by many for centuries, and we are all the worse for it. What confusion could we clear up if we just believed the inspired text regarding when Revelation was written? After describing Rome as the city on seven mountains with blasphemous names on its heads, the angel speaks of 7 associated kings, saying “5 have fallen, 1 is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for a little while.”
Not last and not least, Clement of Alexandria, who lived from AD 153-217, wrote that the apostles’ ministries ENDED with NERO. See below:
“For the teaching of our Lord at His advent, beginning with Augustus and Tiberius was completed in the middle of the times of Tiberius.
And that of the apostles, embracing the ministry of Paul, ends with Nero. (emphasis mine) It was later, in the times of Adrian the king, that those who invented the heresies arose; and they extended to the age of Antoninus the eider, as, for instance, Basilides, though he claims (as they boast) for his master, Glaucias, the interpreter of Peter.
Likewise, they allege that Valentinus was a hearer of Theudas, and he was the pupil of Paul. Marcion, who arose in the same age as them, lived as an old man with the younger [heretics]. And after him, Simon heard for a little the preaching of Peter.
Such being the case, it is evident, from the high antiquity and perfect truth of the Church, that these later heresies, and those yet after them in time, were new inventions falsified [from the truth].” – Clement of Alexandria, AD 153-217