SEISMIC IMAGERY OF BOOK OF REVELATION 63 



Greek name was Thera — that is, " the beast " (Oyp, ^ r jp a ), the Theia of 

 Pliny. And Saint John said : " I stood upon the sand of the sea and 

 saw a beast " — that is, Thera (Oiqpiov) — " rise out of the sea, having seven 

 heads and ten horns." Later he interprets : " The seven heads are seven 

 mountains." And as he was long after looking at the island rising silent 

 in the sea, he closes his account with the strange sentence : 



"They that dwell on the earth shall wonder when they behold the beast that 

 was and is not, and yet is." 



I quote the following verses as but a sample of the seismic imagery 

 which is continued consistently through the whole Revelation. 



"And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great 

 earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became 

 as blood ; and the stars of heaven fell upon the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her 

 untimely figs. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and every bond- 

 man, and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the 

 mountains. 



"And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with 

 fire was cast into the sea; and the third part of the sea became blood; and the 

 third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died ; and the third 

 part of the ships were destroyed. And the third angel sounded, and there fell a 

 great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part 

 of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters ; and the name of the star is called 

 Wormwood; and the third part of the waters became wormwood, and many men 

 died of the waters, because they were made bitter. 



"And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven into the earth, 

 and to him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottom- 

 less pit ; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace ; 

 and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And 

 the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea ; and it became as the blood of 

 a dead man; and every living soul died in the sea. And there were voices and 

 thunders and lightnings ; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since 

 upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake and so great. And every island fled 

 away and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail 

 out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent ; and men blasphemed God 

 because of the plague of hail ; for the plague thereof was exceeding great. And 

 every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade 

 by sea, stood afar off, and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, 

 What city is like unto this great city? And they cast dust on their heads, and 

 cried, weeping and wailing, saying, alas ! alas ! that great city, wherein were made 

 rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness ! for in one hour she 

 is made desolate." i 



Here is given in terrible concentration the story of Tomboro or Kra- 

 katoa. Indeed, using modern language, I could parallel the recital from 

 the accounts I have studied of eye witnesses -of the many eruptions of 

 Santorin itself. Strong submarine explosions have blown water and vol- 



