The two Beasts of Apocalypse

Gioacchino da Fiore (d. 1202), Expositio, pars IV, distinctio IV, f. 168ra: “Thus it seems plausible that, just as that beast which rises from the sea will have a certain great king from its own sect, who will be like Nero and, as it were, emperor of the whole world, so the beast which will rise from the earth will have a certain great prelate, who will be like Simon Magus and, as it were, universal pontiff over the whole world. And he himself will be that Antichrist of whom Paul says that “he exalts himself and opposes himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits in the temple of God, showing himself as if he were God” (2 Thess 2:4).” ¹