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Explanation of the Dragon's Heads and Horns

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Explanation of the Revelation 12 Dragon's Heads and Horns



The Dragon Gets Credit For What He Instigates - He's Held Responsible!

As explained elsewhere on this web site, the sea beast of Revelation 13 (the beast that comes up out of the sea in Revelation 13 and which may also be referred to here as the sea beast of Revelation 13) and the scarlet beast of Revelation 17 represent the same power.  Consequently, the heads and horns of both of these beasts also represent the same power.  Note that the heads of the sea beast are still sea heads (but one has the mouth of a lion on it) and the heads of the scarlet beast are still scarlet beast heads (whatever that is), but they represent the same power even though they look different.  There are those who come to the conclusion that though the body, heads, and horns of the sea beast and the scarlet beast represent the same power, the heads and horns of the dragon are different.  This web page is designed to help you understand that the heads and horns of the dragon represent the same power as the heads and horns found on the sea beast of Revelation 13 and the scarlet beast of Revelation 17, even though the body of the dragon clearly is different from the other two beasts. 




To begin, the most obvious reason the heads and horns of the dragon represent the same power as those found on the sea beast is that the 7 heads and 10 horns of Revelation 12, 13, and 17 have only one explanation given for them by an angel in the vision.  This explanation is found in chapter 17.  Consider the explanations found in Daniel 7 and 8 where Daniel says that while in the vision, he questioned those standing nearby as to the meaning of the horns on the dreadful beast, and received an explanation of what he was seeing.  The heads of the sea beast were explained in a later vision through the explanation of the horns of the goat.  One could say that wherever there are heads and horns in Daniel, there is a subsequent explanation giving the interpretation of each of them.  Likewise, there must also be an explanation of the heads and horns found in Revelation 12, 13, and 17.  The fact that there is only one explanation for heads and horns in all three chapters of Revelation 12, 13, and 17, indicates that the explanation applies to the heads and horns of all 3 beasts. 

If one refuses to accept this, there is another way to determine that the heads and horns represent the same power for all 3 beasts. 

And, if one refuses to accept any explanation that shows the heads and horns are the same for all three beasts, then one must invent an explanation for the heads and horns that one considers different from the others.  That is problematic as there is no other key in Revelation 12 to indicate what these heads and horns are.

Revelation 12:9 tells us that the dragon is the devil.  We can know that the sea beast and the scarlet beast are not the devil since we already know their identity (assuming you have read the other web pages on this site).  So, how can the heads and horns represent the same power on all 3 beasts?  The explanation of this comes through the idea clearly presented in Revelation 12 and 13 that I call credit by responsibility.  This credit by responsibility concept is not a new idea to careful bible students, though it is not commonly known to most people. 

To explain this concept of credit by responsibility, let us digress for a moment into some rather puzzling aspects of the bible.  Sooner or later, most people run into puzzling texts, such as where God claims he causes certain forms of evil.  After reading such texts in the bible, most don't know how to explain them so will probably simply skip over them when they encounter them again in the future.  But were they to investigate carefully, they would find this idea of credit by responsibility applied even to God himself.  One such "puzzling" text is Jer 49:37 , which says "For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them: " (Elam was part of what is now Southwestern Iran). Here God says he will cause or bring evil upon Elam.  Does God cause evil?  I think not, for the bible presents God to be author of all that is good and Satan to be the author of all that is evil.  But there is the fact that God is ultimately responsible for the universe and all that happens in it, and that includes permitting evil to occur because he allows us to have free will.  Nothing evil can happen without his express permission (much as he does not like it), so God is saying that he is taking responsibility for the evil that occurs, though he is NOT the cause of evil.   It is very important for us to understand that God himself does not CAUSE evil, but rather is trying to destroy evil and is in fact good. 

To understand the explanation of the concept of credit by responsibility, it helps to understand that the woman of Revelation 12 is believed to represent the true believers in God, or one could say that she represents the true church as contrasted with the apostatized church presented in Revelation 17.  Here is how the credit by responsibility concept works in Revelation 12. 

In Revelation 12, the dragon is shown standing before the woman waiting for her to give birth so it can devour the child soon to be born.  That child was Jesus.  Now, historically we know that the devil was NEVER seen standing before the woman waiting for the birth so he could kill the child.  The Romans did kill the children of the town of Bethlehem and the coastal towns in an attempt to kill Jesus, but Jesus and his family were already gone, so the attempt failed (though you can surmise that Herod probably THOUGHT he had succeeded).  Though the devil didn't go out and kill the children of Bethlehem, the dragon is given credit in Revelation 12 for what was done.  He was responsible because he instigated the attempt on the life of Jesus and for this reason, he gets the credit in Revelation 12 for the action of Rome.  Does this make sense to you?  It should.

Later, after Jesus went back to heaven, the dragon is shown pursuing the woman (Revelation 12:13).  This largely represents the persecution of the Christians by the Romans.  Historians list ten persecutions suffered by the Christians under Pagan Rome, beginning with that of Nero, A.D. 31, and ending with that of Diocletian, A.D. 303 to 313.  The fact that this is Roman persecution is evidenced by the fact that

(1) it occurs after the birth and ascension of Jesus (Rev. 12:13), but


(2) before the woman is given the wings of an eagle to swiftly fly away to the wilderness to hide for the 1260 prophetic days (see 1260 days are 1260 years explanation), which we can show began in 538 AD (Rev. 12:14),


(3) it occurs at a time when history records pagan Rome was in charge of the areas where the persecutions took place (before 476 AD),



"The persecution of the Christian church by the empire of Rome officially came to an end in March of 313 AD, when Constantine issued the document known as the 'Edict of Milan,' which assured to each individual freedom of religious belief" (Source: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia under topic "persecution").    Again, nobody saw the dragon persecuting the woman, so we know that this means the dragon is being given credit by responsibility for what he instigates, which in this case was for Rome to persecute Christians.  Hence, the dragon is, in a secondary sense, representative of Rome.

During the 1260 years beginning in 538 AD, the dragon works through the Papacy to persecute Christians (Revelation 12:14 - 15), while during this time the woman has to hide in the wilderness.  What is interesting is the fact that the dragon is given credit by responsibility for the activities of the power represented by the body of the sea beast.  Here is reasonable evidence that this is true:

(1) Revelation 12:13 says  "And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child".


(2) Revelation 13:2 says "...and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.",


(3) Revelation 13:7 says  "And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations",


(4) Revelation 13:5 says "And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months."


What we see above are texts that gives the basic facts surrounding this set of events.  First the dragon sees that he is cast to the earth (remember that there are two casting out events recorded in Revelation 12, once out of heaven from his home there, and the second time is when he realizes that he has lost the battle for the hearts and minds of those living in heaven, which occured when Jesus died), and after that he begins persecuting the woman through Pagan Rome. 

Revelation 12:13 clearly is a reference to the Roman persecution that followed because it says the woman has given birth to the man child (Jesus), which makes that a past event.  Yet it says that the woman went into hiding in the wilderness in the next verse (Revelation 12:14), so we know that though Revelation 12:13 primarily applies to the Roman persecution, it also is the cause of the woman hiding in the wilderness during the 1260 days (years), so must have some application there as well.  If it did not, then the woman would have no cause to go into the wilderness. 

During the time that the woman is in the wilderness (is in restraint or a type of prison), the Papal authorities were responsible for the persecution of the true believers.  Pagan Rome was gone, so it was no longer the responsible party for persecution of the true Christians.  Revelation 13:5 tells us that the dragon gave the sea beast authority, power, and even a seat from which to rule.  That places the dragon in control of the sea beast and THAT makes the dragon RESPONSIBLE for what the sea beast does because he instigates the activities of the sea beast.  Historically it is also true that this was done through Pagan Rome when it handed power over Rome to the Pope at the time that Constantine moved the capital to Constantinople.  But the devil instigated this transfer of power, so is made responsible for what he did there.

Further, the woman is said to be hidden in the wilderness during the 1260 days (years), and the sea beast is allowed to make war against the saints for 42 months (Revelation 13:5), which is 1260 days (Remember that in biblical prophetic usage, months can refer to a 30 day month, see explanation of the day for a year principle).  The time periods are the same time frame and of the same duration, and the dragon has pursued the woman into the wilderness where she is now away from his face.  The persecution of the woman during the 1260 years by the dragon is in reality the war against the saints the sea beast executes.  The dragon is persecuting the woman by instigating the sea beast to carry out a war against the saints during the 1260 days.  Hence, he is responsible and is given the credit for what is done by the sea beast.

Since the dragon is held responsible for what the sea beast does, that means the dragon, in a secondary sense, also is representative of Papal Rome.  There is no stated reason to attach this secondary representation to either the heads or horns of the dragon, so it must be that the dragon body represents Papal Rome during the 1260 years time.  The body of the sea beast represents the 1260 year time period, so it's heads and horns represent a time period that follows the 1260 year time period.

Evidently, the dragon, though successful against the woman during the 1260 year time period, does not think he is successful enough, so he spews out water from his mouth to try to sweep away the woman, but the earth opens its mouth and swallows the water.  It is said that the dragon spews the water out towards the woman just after it has been explained that she has hidden herself in the wilderness.  Note that the dragon does not follow her into the wilderness.  Why is that?  For the answer to this question, click here

Now, Revelation 17:15 says "The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues."  So, because water represents these things, the earth probably represents the opposite, or dry conditions which probably represent a relative lack of organized nations or a relative lack of people.  So, what would the spewing out of water from the dragon's mouth represent?  Maybe this: There was a real problem with a population explosion that occurred in Western Europe in the 17th century, and this put considerable pressure on people to find any available land on which to live and grow food or other crops needed by themselves and society.  No doubt this population explosion threatened many with starvation.  This, and religious persecution, threatened the religious beliefs and lives of many and caused them to leave for America during this time.  The earth opening its mouth and swallowing the water may represent the opening up of America as a refuge from religious persecution that occurred before 1798.  The earth  could be said to have swallowed a flood of people looking for a better life.  Based on historical events, this places the timing of Revelation 12:15-16 at about 1620-1800, or in other words, roughly near the end of the 1260 days (years).

This is a clue, telling us how that "dry" earth is going to be filled up when the earth beast comes along, to provide "water" for it, so to speak, to give it people to populate a new nation.  It even tells us the most important reason why - persecution by the dragon drives them to go to this new place. Overpopulation also played a part in this. So, the people would come from the dragon of Revelation 12 (out of the sea beast's domain - remember the dragon secondarily represents the sea beast) and move to the New World where a new nation would spring up out of the dry ground.  Hence, from this we know roughly when these people would migrate (near the end of the 1260 years), we know that they come from the domain of the beast (the dragon's mouth - remember that those heads are from the papacy), and go to a place where there are no prior organized nations (the earth would swallow the flood of water and in Revelation 13 you have a power that arises at the end of the 1260 years in an area that is "dry", represented by the 2-horned earthbeast).  The fact that there are no winds shown over the dry land represents the idea that this new nation would arise without the strife and warfare the has created empires in the past, unlike what is shown for the beasts of Daniel 7.

What we have so far is that the body of the dragon is secondarily representative of both Pagan AND Papal Rome.  This means the body of the dragon is representative of time from the birth of Jesus till 1798 by representing first Pagan and then Papal Rome.  Does this make sense to you now? 

So, where do the heads and horns fit in?

The bible directly answers the question about where the horns fit in.  The dragon is credited with the combined activities of the 10 horns of the scarlet beast of Revelation 17 and the time represented by the body of the scarlet beast (the returned beast) just before Jesus comes again.  This would be during the time of the image beast spoken of in Revelation 13. 

Here is how the author knows this to be true: consider that Revelation 17:12 - 14 says that the 10 horns of the scarlet beast will give their power and authority to the returning beast (Papal Rome), and then together they will make war against the saints of God.  Revelation 12:17 says that the dragon will make war against the remnant of the seed of the woman.  This is Satan's final series of acts against God before Jesus comes again.  Nevertheless, the war made against the saints in Revelation 12:17 is the same war spoken of in Revelation 17: 12 - 14.  Note the key word to understanding this is "war".  Revelation 12:16 places the vision near the end of the 1260 days, and then goes on to say that the dragon goes off to make war against the remnant of the woman's children. 

Now, why would he do that when he is already engaged in a war against the saints of God during the 1260 days?  This should be a clue to you that this last verse of Revelation 12 is not talking about the war during the 1260 days, so must be a war at a later time.  The verse in Revelation 17:12-14 makes it clear when this war will resume - during the time of the 10 horns.  During the time of the heads of the scarlet beast, the scarlet beast is said to be in the abyss, restrained if you will, so it cannot carry out war.  This means the war spoken of in Revelation 12:17 must occur after the 7 heads of the scarlet beast which would be during the time of the 10 horns.  The time of the 10 horns is yet future as of the writing of this page in March of 2003.  This is logical because chapter 12 covers the history of the dragon from the birth of Jesus to just before Jesus comes.

Some would argue that the war spoken of in Revelation 12:17 cannot be at the time of the end because the very next thing that happens in the vision is that John sees the sea beast come up out of the sea, which represented the Papacy and is known to have actually gotten power against God's people in 538 AD by the decree of the Eastern Roman emperor, Justinian.  The problem is that using this argument places the war spoken of in Revelation 12:17 as occurring just before 538 AD, which would contradict Revelation 12:16 which has already been reasonably shown to refer to the time period 1620-1800.  Revelation 12:13 - 17 shows a progression of time leading through and past the 1260 years time period, leading right up to the end of time.  Revelation 12:17 points to a time that is still future to our own time in March of 2003.  Hence, the sea beast comes up after the dragon in the vision, but this is a step backwards in time to 538 AD. 

What this boils down to is that there are 3 periods of persecution spoken of in Revelation 12, which also correspond to those mentioned in Revelation 13, and 17.  These are:

(1) That done first through Pagan Rome,  This means the dragon here represents Pagan Rome.


(2) next, that done through Papal Rome during the 1260 years lasting till 1798,   This means that here the dragon represents Papal Rome.


(3) and finally, that which will be done through the combined forces of the returned scarlet beast (Papal Rome) and it's 10 horns at the end just before Jesus returns, which will be during the time of the image beast of Revelation 13.  This means that here the dragon represents the 10 horns in the final war against God's people.  Reasonably it would be the 10 horns of the dragon that do this.


Below is a graphical representation of a timeline for the dragon from the birth of Jesus to the end of the world.  Above the dragon's time line are time lines for other powers that the dragon also represents secondarily through credit by responsibility.  Note that time moves to the right towards our time:

|--------------- Dragon Body ------------------|-7 heads|---10 horns---|
Pagan Rome -
Jesus' Birth to 476 AD
---------------------  Papal Rome to 1798
                        -----------------------------  Gap - what goes here?
                                                           -----------     10 horns
                                                                          ------------------
Dragon
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The author has put each succeeding time period on separate levels in case the reader is color blind and cannot see the color coding of the lines.  As you can see, the dragon continues from the beginning of the time line (the birth of Jesus) to the end of this world's history.  This must be true because he has not died.  But as is true of the worldly kingdoms such as Greece, the time of dominance or prominence of each time period and corresponding kingdom or power is what is represented by the body, heads, and horns.  The body was prominent as the dragon or the devil primarily, and secondarily as Pagan and Papal Rome because the pagan religious systems were implemented through both Pagan and Papal Rome. 

The devil controlled the religious world during the days of Pagan Rome through pagan religions present in that empire.  Later, during the time represented by the sea beast, the pagan religious symbols and rites were incorporated into the Christian Church of the time, and the devil still controlled things through the pagan religious system, though with a different cover over it.  After that, the heads and horns gain prominence because of religious freedom and the Protestant Reformation that occurred prior to 1798 but really gained influence after 1798.  But the devil continues to exist.  We just don't "see" him so much as before.  This is similar to what it stated in Daniel 7:12 -  "As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time."  The devil continues to exist, but his days of dominance of the religious world in an open manner like was done during the days of pagan religions is now past.  Henceforth, his dominance is expressed through the activities of the 7 heads and the soon to come 10 horns (as of the writing of the web page in March of 2003). 

Each segment above the dragon (such as Papal Rome or Gap) are time periods and powers that the dragon represents in addition to representing himself (or the devil).  Hopefully this little graphical chart makes sense to you.  The time from Jesus' birth to the end of Pagan Rome (476 AD) is followed by Papal Rome that continues till 1798, which is followed by a time gap (yet to be filled in by the explanation on this page) that lasts until the 10 horns arrive.  Then the 10 horns remain until Jesus comes again.  Now, what goes into the time gapHeads? Nothing, maybe?  Logically, something must go into that gap.

Now logically, if the dragon is responsible for the sea beast's activities, it is also responsible for the beast's heads and horns as well.  This should be evident because of the fact that on one side of the time gap, the dragon is secondarily representing the body of the sea beast, and on the other side he is representing the 10 horns of the sea beast (or scarlet beast, if you will).  And if you have studied the sea beast, you know that the sea beast's body represents time from March of 538 AD to February 15, 1798, the heads go from February 15, 1798, to the future to the point when they end, which should be when the current pope (Benedict XVI) changes his name to a new name, and finally the 10 horns begin their time after the 7 heads have ended.  So, logically, the heads should fill the gap because their end marks the beginning of the time of the 10 horns and the different body parts of the same beast are represented on both sides of the time Gap.  Those horns on the dragon must have a beginning marker in time, and the end of the heads would logically act as the marker.

The logical conclusion of the matter is that by this means we can know the identity of the dragon's heads and horns: they represent the same power that the heads and horns of the sea beast of Revelation 13 represent.

Another way to summarize the facts presented above is through the table shown below:

Persecution Period
Bible Verse
Pagan Rome
Papal Rome
10 horns
31 AD - 476 AD Rev. 12:13 Persecution    
538 -1798 Rev 12:14, Rev 13:5,7   War against saints  
1798 -10 horns Rev 17:8   Peace - beast in abyss ("is not" or is in restraint so that it cannot war against the saints of God, does not have the power to prosecute for heresy during this time)  
10 horns - end Rev 12:17, Rev 17:14   War against Saints War against Saints






Some argue that since the dragon gets credit for the activities of Pagan Rome, then the horns of the dragon are the same as those of the dreadful beast because it represented Rome in the vision of Daniel 7.  This would appear logical, but it ignores the plain fact that the dragon also represents Papal Rome and it too has heads and horns.  Consequently, these heads and horns must be accounted for.  They cannot just be ignored.

Some might try to argue that both beasts are credited to the dragon, but only the 10 horns of the dreadful beast are present on the dragon and the 7 heads must be something other than those of the sea beast.  They may suggest then that the 7 heads may be 7 forms of Roman government or maybe 7 emperors of Rome. The problem with this idea is that it is an either-or situation.  The 10 horns on the dreadful beast began their time in 476 AD.  The 10 horns of the sea beast as of the writing of this page in March of 2003 have not yet arrived.  Therefore, because of the differing starting dates, they are mutually exclusive.  It cannot be both.  It must be one or the other.  So, which is it?  Are the horns on the dragon from the dreadful beast of Daniel 7, OR are the horns from the sea beast of Revelation 13?

It might appear logical for the horns to be from the dreadful beast (pagan Rome), but they are NOT for the following reasons:

(1) the dreadful beast in Daniel 7 had 10 horns initially and then lost 3 of them to the talking horn (which represented Papal Rome), but the beast in Revelation 12 starts with 10 horns and never loses any horns,


(2) there is evidence that the dragon secondarily represents Papal Rome, which means it also gets credit by responsibility for the sea beast.  Something else to consider is that the body of the sea beast represents time to 1798.  The credit by responsibility concept would also extend to the heads and horns so that these must be what the heads and horns represent,


(3) there is no mention of the activities of the horns of Daniel 7 in the explanation portions of Revelation 12,   Not even a hint of that is present in Revelation 12.


(4) the 10 horns of the scarlet beast do make war against the saints as mentioned in Revelation 17:12 - 14 and we know that this is also mentioned in Revelation 12:17.  Both sets of horns do this during the same time period, which means these 10 horns very likely must be the same.  If the 10 horns were those of the dreadful beast, then they would very likely be carrying out the war in a completely different time period, 


(5) Further, the time represented by the horns on the dragon must follow the time represented by the heads, which in turn must follow the time represented by the body of the dragon (which secondarily represents the sea beast).  This is true because of the rule demonstrated in Daniel that the author calls the Miller Principle.  So the time of the 10 horns of the dragon must be the same as those 10 horns of the scarlet beast.  They cannot represent the 10 horns of Daniel 7 because they had their time of dominance from the time of the fall of Rome (476 CE) onward.  The 10 horns of the dragon must have their time of dominance after 1798 because they follow the heads of the dragon which in turn must follow Papal Rome's fall in 1798 (when the Papal government was done away with and the pope taken captive).


Another common suggestion is that the 10 horns of the dragon (or those of the scarlet beast of Revelation 17) are the 10 toes of the image in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2.  The problem with this is that these 10 toes correspond to the 10 horns of the dreadful beast of Daniel 7 (though it does not lose 3 toes).  This must be true because it clearly refers to the kings that come out of Rome (Daniel 2:44), since Rome is the last of the 4 kingdoms symbolized on the image and it refers to the feet and toes as one symbol for the kings that will come out of Rome.  The kings represented by the feet and toes of the image in Daniel 2 are political in nature, unlike the 10 horns of the scarlet beast of Revelation 17, which are religious powers.  There is nothing in Daniel 2 that would indicate that there has been a change in the nature of the symbolism in going from the legs of the image (which was representing a political power) to the feet and toes.  So, the Similarity Principle would apply and those feet and toes must represent political powers.  The conclusion of the matter is that the feet and toes of the image of Daniel 2 cannot be the same as the horns of the sea beast or the scarlet beast in Revelation.

All these facts combined make a strong case for the 10 horns of the dragon being the same as the 10 horns of the sea beast. This means that since the body of the sea beast and the 10 horns are obviously credited to the dragon from the sea beast, then it must also be true that the 7 heads come from the sea beast by credit as well.  This deduction about the heads is not directly explained in the text of Revelation 12, but it is the only logical conclusion that makes any real sense.  All the information shown above must be included to properly understand how the heads fill in the time gap.  Leave out the heads and there is that time gap that must be filled in.  All examples we have in Daniel and Revelation show that time represented by the body, heads, and horns of beasts is continuous.  There are no significant gaps from one body part to the next and likewise there is no significant gap between one kingdom and its division into more parts.  So, the heads of the sea beast must fill in the time gap.

One cannot credit heads from the dreadful beast to the dragon because there is only one head on the dreadful beast.  And it is not a good idea to "place" heads onto the dreadful beast that are not there originally.  In other words, it is possible that one is "adding words to the prophecy" by saying that there really are 7 heads on the dreadful beast because they exist on the dragon, unless one can make a compelling case that the heads of the dragon absolutely have to be pagan Rome in some way or another.  So far, the author has not seen anything anywhere near a compelling case for that.  If one insists that the heads are those of Pagan Rome (7 emperors or 7 forms of Roman government), then logically the horns should be the 10 horns of the Daniel 7 dreadful beast.  But, all 10 horns are shown here (it does not lose 3), and you have to ignore the evidence that Papal Rome is also represented by the dragon, and you have to ignore the evidence that the dragon going off to make war against the saints at the end of Revelation 12 is a clear reference to the same time period as the 10 horns of the scarlet beast that makes war against the saints.   

In summary, what it all finally boils down to is this:  the dragon primarily represents Satan, but in a secondary sense, the body of the dragon also represents pagan Rome to 476 AD and continuing with Papal Rome till the year 1798.  At that time, the 7 heads of the dragon begin to represent the 7 names of the popes (without the attached numbers) that have occurred since 1798 to the present.  Soon, the time of the horns will occur and the 10 horns on the 3 beasts will begin to represent the Protestant Religions. 

Hopefully this helps you understand how the dragon gets his heads and horns.



Are the Heads of the Dragon Ancient Kingdoms Occurring in Sequence?

Introduction:

This section is written for those of you who would like to dig a little deeper into the issues of the identification of the heads of the dragon, the sea beast, and the scarlet beast.  The section above and other web pages deal with the correct identification of the heads and horns of the dragon and other beasts of Revelation, while this section deals with a common hypothesis of the identification of the heads and why this hypothesis is probably incorrect.

There are some who argue that the heads of the dragon represent ancient kingdoms that the devil has worked through over the ages which occur in sequential order.  The sequence of kingdoms usually begins with ancient Egypt, and then continues on with Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and some others they may list.  The author will refer to this idea as the ancient kingdoms hypothesis.  Some may start further down the same list or have a different list altogether, so there are some variants out there.  Almost all of them have in common the use of a sequence of ancient kingdoms that the protagonists believe the heads of the dragons represent.  Typically, the horns are those of the dreadful beast of Daniel 7, but there are those who use the 10 horns of the scarlet beast.



The Ancient Kingdoms Hypothesis

The analysis of this gets a little complicated, but it is not impossible to understand.  Be sure you understand the rules of interpretation before starting into this. 

Before beginning, consider that Daniel shows that the Miller Principle accurately describes how the beasts with multiple heads/horns are to be interpreted.  Remember that for a beast with a body, multiple heads and multiple horns, the body of a beast usually represents the first time period of a power or kingdom, the heads the next time period, and finally the horns represent the last time period of a power or kingdom.

How do protagonists of the ancient kingdoms hypothesis come to their conclusion?  They have no direct indication of who these heads and horns are in Revelation 12, 13, and 17, for it is not directly stated who they are.  There is enough information in Revelation 17 to determine the identity of the heads and horns if one correctly identifies the scarlet beast.  As a result, there is no explanation at all of the heads and horns identity if they refuse to accept the explanation given in Revelation 17.  Some. on the other hand, do accept the explanation of the heads as given in Revelation 17, and think that the dragon and the scarlet beast are one and the same (usually because scarlet is a shade of red).  They then read in Revelation 17 that two of the heads are sequential, so they assume that all are sequential.  The trouble is, that assumption is not necessarily true.

Generally, these individuals do not understand that the rules of interpretation laid down in Daniel should be applied in Revelation and can help them correctly identify the heads and horns.  The rules in Daniel should be used because there you can get a clear picture of the interpretation based on history.  Further, the beasts of Revelation are an expansion of the talking horn on the 4th beast of Daniel 7, so the rules must apply to Revelation just as they do to the beast in Daniel 7.  Build rules from that which is easily understood, then work on understanding the unknown. The prophetic beasts of Revelation are much more difficult to interpret unless you use those rules from Daniel. 

What is interesting is that protagonists of the ancient kingdoms hypothesis do use some of the rules found in Daniel, but only where it suits their purpose.  They ignore the remaining rules.  For example, they usually agree that waters represent peoples, nations, languages, and so on, and apply that explanation from Revelation back into Daniel, but that is also implied in Daniel so there is nothing new there.  They accept the idea that beasts are usually kingdoms as demonstrated in Daniel, so will apply that to Revelation.  They accept the idea that horns are kings, so will also apply that to Revelation.  But, when it comes to the clear evidence that heads exist concurrently with heads, they often will not accept that idea.  They will agree that they are concurrent in Daniel, but refuse to believe that is the case in Revelation.  The reason is simply that they believe that Revelation 17 indicates that all heads are sequential in Revelation, when it does not say any such thing - that is an ASSUMPTION on their part. 

Some assumptions have to be made, no doubt about it, but they fail to understand that the rule from Daniel that heads are concurrent must apply in Revelation 17 as well.  You can read about the exception for the concurrent heads on another page, but suffice it here to say that they apply the rules from Daniel only to a certain extent and ignore the remaining rules where it is convenient.  This also suits their purpose because they WANT the heads to be sequential ancient kingdoms.  They're used to that idea and any change to it is heresy to them!  But that does not make it so, no matter.  An assumption is still an assumption and nothing anyone does will change that basic fact!

Based on the beasts of Daniel and how God viewed both ancient Egypt and Assyria, many conclude that two of the heads must be these ancient kingdoms, with four of the remaining ones based on the four beasts of Daniel 7.  The author does not know why they believe they can do this, but several of the following reasons may be involved:


(1) it appears to them that the heads are powers through which the devil has worked throughout the ages of earth's history,


(2) the dragon is a very different beast than the other two beasts with heads and horns,


(3) possibly because in Daniel 7, on the dreadful beast, the talking horn is shown as a horn, and in Revelation 13, the talking horn becomes the sea or sea beast.  So a horn in one vision becomes a whole beast in a later vision.  Perhaps they think the reverse can also be done - a whole beast in one vision can become a head or horn in another later vision.


(4) The follow the herd phenomena.  The Duoay Rheims Catholic version of the bible has a footnote in it  for the sea beast of Revelation 13 which states that Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and Greece, Rome. and the seventh yet to come, the Antichrist and his empire. are the seven heads.  These comprise again a list of ancient kingdoms.  Seems everybody else is following their lead on this, which may or may not lead to truth on this issue.


(5) Revelation 17, which says "And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.", has a present tense verb for the "one is", suggesting that at the time of John, there was one of those 7 kings present in his day.  This is a common understanding of this text, but it is misleading because the context, if properly understood, would tell the reader that this "one is" is actually a future reference.  Still, there are those who read this and conclude that the heads must be ancient kingdoms, even if they predate the beast they are on, and that one of those kingdoms was present in the time of John, which means Rome.  This same reasoning is often applied to the dragon, so will be considered here.



Explanation of Reason #1:

First, let us deal with the idea that the devil has worked through the heads down through the ages.  We have to ask ourselves this question: has the devil worked through various visible earthly powers down through the ages?  The obvious answer to that question is a crystal clear "yes".  He certainly has.  But does that mean this is the right way to interpret the heads of the dragon?  No, and here is why.  

The ancient kingdoms hypothesis for the heads is an attempt to create an explanation for the dragon's heads and horns that fails to consider the full information the bible has to give the reader on this.  Revelation 12, 13, and 17 gives sufficient information to give the correct interpretation to those heads without the need of creating another explanation.  Go read the explanation of the dragons heads and horns in the section above on this web page for an understanding of the heads and horns of the dragon.  Once you have read that section, you should be able to see that the ancient kingdoms hypothesis is not correctly based on the bible and history.  It is as if they have a bible based explanation, but maybe because they don't fully understand it, or just maybe they don't like the one found in the bible,  they ignore it and create their own.  Some, of course, have never come to understand that there is an explanation for this in the bible since the explanation presented there is somewhat subtle, so naturally they don't appear to have a choice but to create an explanation.  Many do not understand the full set of interpretation rules available in Daniel 2, 7, and 8, and therefore are unable to see that these rules disallow the interpretation they use for the heads of the dragons.

The point of the matter is that where a bible based explanation is available, one should use that rather than making up another hypothesis to explain this.

Rule Violations of Explanation #1:

For purposes of the discussion in the next few paragraphs, consider the dragon as representing the devil himself, which is the primary interpretation of the dragon.  Further down in this discussion, the secondary representation of Pagan and Papal Rome will be considered.

The devil's kingdom is a spiritual kingdom, not a visible earthly kingdom.  If you question this conclusion, consider the following questions to help guide your thinking on this: We don't see king Satan ruling from his palace, do we?  Or how about President Satan?  What city is his office located in?  Where is Satan's council located (where do they meet?).  Where is his capital city?  Why don't we see interviews with him on TV?  He certainly would be big news, no doubt about it.  Where is his legally claimed territory on the map of the globe?  So, you don't know the answers to these questions?  OK.  Maybe that is because he rules a spiritual kingdom as is stated above, and not a visible earthly kingdom.  He may be invisible to human eyes, like many things in nature, but that does not mean he does not exist.  However, we don't see a visible earthly kingdom, so the logical conclusion is that his kingdom is a spiritual kingdom - he rules in the hearts and minds of many.

Based on the Similarity Principle, which says that the heads or horns will be similar in nature to the body of a beast (if the body is political, for example, the heads should also be political in nature).  This means that since the body of the dragon is spiritual in nature, then the heads and horns should be spiritual in nature as well.

In Daniel, when there was a change from the body of the sea to the heads, or a change from the body and head of the dreadful beast (4th beast) to the horns, the ruler of each of these kingdoms died and his kingdom split.  To date we have absolutely no evidence that the devil has died and no evidence his kingdom has split.  Fact is, the bible tells us that Satan will be alive and well until the lake of fire occurs, which is yet future.  What this all means is that those heads and horns on the dragon cannot be from his spiritual kingdom because he will not die until the lake of fire and there will NOT be a split in his kingdom - ever.  When he dies, that is the end of the matter.  There will be no split in his kingdom on that day or any day thereafter because his kingdom will be at an end right there at the lake of fire.  As a result, the heads and horns must come from earthly powers or kingdoms.  There is no other alternate explanation of them - they either come from the devil's own kingdom or from visible earthly powers or kingdoms, but since the bible and history rules out the split as coming from the devil's own kingdom, the heads and horns then logically must be from visible earthly powers or kingdoms. 

This means that an exception is created by the bible to the Similarity Principle because the heads and horns should be spiritual kingdoms and yet are not, and the Miller Principle because normally the heads and horns take their identity from the body of the beast they are on, but that does not happen in this case.  The material in Revelation makes this quite clear. 

Wherever there are exceptions, look for the explanation of how the exception works and the alternate path taken nearby in the text material itself.  The bible does explain how the heads and horns come about through the credit by responsibility concept in Revelation 12 and 13 and the explanation of the heads and horns in Revelation 17.  These provide an explanation of the alternate path taken because of the exception.  It does NOT provide any such explanation for the ancient kingdoms hypothesis, which should suggest that this is an invalid hypothesis. 

Here is where the secondary representations of the dragon come into use.  Revelation 12 demonstrates an alternate explanation for the dragon to work through a sequence of visible earthly powers (pagan and Papal Rome) which can only be attributed to the body of the dragon.  It is through one of these (Papal Rome) that the dragon actually gets its heads and horns.  The information indicating that this is given to the dragon through credit by responsibility is an exception statement for the heads and horns, though it is indirectly stated.  This means the dragon can have those heads and horns that represent visible earthly powers as long as it gets them through the mechanism explained in Revelation 12, 13, and 17 and the concept of credit by responsibility, even though it would normally violate the Similarity Principle for them to be visible earthly powers.

Daniel 7 and 8 show us that heads are concurrent with heads, and horns are concurrent with horns (Concurrency Principle).  Concurrency, of course, means things occur together or at the same time.  The idea of the ancient kingdoms hypothesis is that there is a sequence of kingdoms
down through the ages through which the devil has worked and that these are what the heads of the dragon represent.  Using this ancient kingdoms hypothesis means the example in Daniel of concurrent heads or concurrent horns is thrown out.  Is that a valid thing to do? 

Remember that in the list of interpretation rules, there is the Precedence Principle, which says that previously given examples create rules that, once established, should be followed unless there is an exception to the rules indicated in the text of the material under study.  This principle is reasonable given that there are examples where God shows a certain symbol being used, and then uses it elsewhere.  For example, waters in Daniel obviously does represent peoples or nations, and winds refers to the strife or competition for control that nations engage in through warfare.  This same definition of waters is explicitly stated in Revelation 17:15.  So, God continues to use the same definitions and rules as defined earlier.  That puts "skin" on the Precedence Principle.

Consider that there are no other provable examples of sequential heads in Daniel or Revelation, with the exception of what are commonly called heads 6 and 7 of the scarlet beast of Revelation 17.  People ASSUME that because those 2 heads in Revelation 17 are sequential, the remainder of them are sequential, but that is NOT necessarily so.  The very fact that it has to explain to you that they are sequential indicates that a previously existing rule is used for the other heads - the
Concurrency Principle.  The dragon's heads in Revelation 12 are not a provable case of sequential heads, so, do you really want to gamble on it?  It does not say one word about the order in which the heads occur in Revelation 12, so the previously existing rule should be applied to them, which is the Concurrency Principle.  The example we have in Daniel is that heads are always concurrent unless proven otherwise by the text of the bible, and horns are always concurrent.  It seems safer to go with the previously established rule.

These facts combined should tell us that the idea that the heads of the dragon are sequentially occurring powers or kingdoms down through the ages through which the devil has worked is not the best explanation.  We need to look elsewhere for a better explanation.  Why not use the best hypothesis?


Explanation of Reason #2:

Another possible explanation that may motivate those who believe in this hypothesis is that the dragon is a very different beast than either the sea beast or the scarlet beast.  The dragon is primarily a spiritual kingdom (though it does represent, in a secondary sense, both pagan and Papal Rome as demonstrated in the Explanation of the Dragon's Heads and Horns section) which is unlike the sea beast and the scarlet beast that are visible earthly powers.  It is from this difference that, no doubt, some decide that the heads and horns must be different than the sea beast or the scarlet beast.  This is understandable, but does that justify identifying the heads as ancient sequential kingdoms?  Given the interpretation rule violations listed above and below for this theory, it seems rather unsafe that one should rely on this.


Explanation of Reason #3:

Some who believe in the ancient kingdoms hypothesis appear to conclude that one can convert a whole beast from one vision into a head or a horn in a later vision, just the reverse of the conversion from the Daniel 7 talking horn, which was the earlier vision, to the Revelation 13 sea beast, which was the later vision.  What the bible does is valid because the horn converted to a beast in a later vision means that both come from the same power.  Is going the reverse direction the right way to do things?   To answer that, one must go back to what God has actually demonstrated that he has done.  When God shows clearly provable examples of a method of interpretation, then we may say he has established a rule.  The rules already established by God may tell us whether or not this is the right way to interpret the symbols of the vision.  Other aspects of this may also be examined to determine the correctness of this approach.

Can a whole beast from an earlier vision be converted to a head in a later vision?  The correct answer is no because doing this violates rules of interpretation.  This is probably the reason there are no examples in Daniel or Revelation where this is verifiably done by God.  We really need clear examples where there is no question of this being done and the interpretation is sure so we don't end up simply guessing, and all the while claiming that we have fact to back up our interpretation.  Daniel is the best source because the interpretation is the clearest there.  But as near as the author is able to determine, it violates some of the rules of interpretation, so this is not a valid way of doing things.  In order for it to be valid, God would have had to have presented the beasts in a little different way so as to change the rules of interpretation. 

The author would prefer that God has shown us beforehand that this is how he wants things done.  Then one can be comfortable using that method of interpretation and KNOW FOR SURE THAT IT IS RIGHT.  Otherwise, one is simply guessing that one is right, and nothing more.

Those who propose the ancient kingdoms hypothesis would have you believe that the heads are a sequence of kingdoms.  They believe that this is the only correct explanation for the heads of the dragon in Revelation 12 (some also argue the same for the heads of Revelation 17) because, according to them, there is no better alternative explanation.  The author disagrees because a better, stronger, bible based explanation is available.  Those believing in the ancient kingdoms hypotheses assume that the heads are a sequence of ancient kingdoms.  While some assumptions always underlie all proofs, it would seem better to reduce the number of assumptions to a minimum.  The worst of it is that there is no need for an assumption about this. 

To define the identity of the 7 heads of the dragon, they may point to the beasts of Daniel 7 and claim that this defines four of the heads.  Of course, then they have to invent the remaining heads, since the beasts of Daniel only account for 4 of the heads and there are a total of 7 heads.  If they use ancient Egypt and Assyria as two more of the heads, then there remains only one head to invent. How can they possibly be sure they genuinely have the right answer to any of the heads that they invent? 

One person did come up with an inventive solution for the identity of the dragon heads by using the beasts of Daniel 7, and the 3 beasts of Revelation 13, which are the sea beast, the 2-horned beast, and image beast for the 3 remaining heads.  What it boiled down to is that all of this person's dragon heads were prophetic beasts.   This certainly is preferable to inventing heads that were never originally beasts. 

A little better explanation the author has run into is that the dragon's heads are the heads of the beasts of Daniel 7, using each and every head present there, for a total of 7 heads.  This at least has the advantage of transferring heads for heads rather than some other more speculative conversions, and also accounts for all the heads based on a common criteria.  There is no biblical precedent for doing this, but it does seem a little more logical because at least they are putting heads for heads, rather than beasts as heads.  But, again, it suffers from the same basic problem - the heads are supposed to be sequentially occurring earthly kingdoms or powers.  Strangely, this person seems to ignore the fact that 4 of those heads are concurrent - the Greek kingdom heads were concurrent.

Any beast converted to a head MUST conform to the rules of interpretation laid down in Daniel.  If it violates the rules of interpretation laid down in Daniel and there is no clear exception showing that the rule(s) can be violated, then one must reject what then clearly becomes an invalid interpretation method.  So, we must turn to the rules of interpretation to see if they are violated, and if so, then we must conclude that a beast cannot be converted to a head. 

So, how do we know if the heads are the ancient kingdoms?  Now, the usual hypothesis is that the ancient kingdoms, which the heads on the dragon are proposed to represent, begin with ancient Egypt, with the next head in the sequence being ancient Assyria.  This seems logical based on the way God spoke against both of these ancient kingdoms in the bible.  But, what is interesting is that neither of these ancient powers was ever represented in the visions of Daniel, Revelation, or anywhere else in scripture as a prophetic beast in which the future is portrayed.  So, how can they be converted to a head on a beast in a later vision when they were never a beast in the first place?  The author thinks this is a very reasonable question.  Would not doing this be something akin to "adding words to this prophecy" (Revelation 22:18)?  Something to think about at least.  This is, after all, not all that unlike adding 2 more beasts to the vision of Daniel as recorded in Daniel 7.

The next 4 sequential heads typically proposed appear more logical because, under the ancient kingdoms hypothesis, four of them usually appear as separate beasts in Daniel 7.  So, with Egypt and Assyria and the 4 beasts of Daniel, you have a total of 6 heads.  Where is the last one to come from?  Here there are divergences, depending on the interpreter.  The Catholic Church simply labels it as a future antichrist.  There are Protestants who label it as Papal Rome, the sea beast of Revelation 13.  There are a few other interpretations that place other powers for the last head. 

Rule Violation of Explanation #3

In Daniel, each beast represented a power that had its days of dominance and then the next beast took over.  This means the heads/horns completed their time before the next took over.  This is the Succession Principle in action.  This happens only from one beast to the next because each beast is considered as one kingdom or power (Daniel 7:17 -  "These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.").  This is the Singularity Principle in action, which says that each beast represents one and only one power or kingdom.  What this means is that heads cannot be separate kingdoms that arise independently of one another.  They must arise from the same common kingdom so that they can be considered all one kingdom.  Further, because heads are always concurrent with heads (except for heads 6 and 7 of Revelation 17), and horns are always concurrent with horns, this means that heads cannot occur sequentially where each head completes it's time before the next head starts.  That just does not happen because they all must occur together according to the Concurrency Principle.

There is one other item of note here.  Under the ancient kingdoms hypothesis, one of the sequential heads on the dragon is usually interpreted to be the Papacy.  The Papacy appears as the talking horn in Daniel 7 on the 4th or dreadful beast, and as the sea or sea beast of Revelation 13.  Typically, this head of the dragon is explained to be the sea beast, but protagonists of this hypothesis seem to forget that the Papacy also appears as the talking horn on the dreadful beast of Daniel 7.  If the sequential ancient kingdoms hypothesis for the heads is correct, then does this mean the dreadful beast of Daniel 7 itself becomes a head on the dragon (for Pagan Rome) and the talking horn on the same dreadful beast becomes another head on the dragon (for Papal Rome)?  Allow a restatement of that idea: one of the heads on the dragon is supposed to be ancient Rome, which means the dreadful beast itself becomes a head, and the horn on the dreadful beast becomes another head because it is the same as the sea beast which they say is one of the heads.  Isn't that just a little strange as there are no examples of that in Daniel? 

Consider that further for a moment, will you please?  The dreadful beast is Rome and has the talking horn on it that is Papal Rome.  In Daniel, each whole beast included all heads and horns as one kingdom (Daniel 7:17 -  "These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth".) according to the angel who explained this to Daniel.  This is another way of stating the Singularity Principle, which says each beast represents one and only one power.  Now, on the dragon, the protagonists of the sequential ancient kingdoms hypothesis are placing the dreadful beast (as pagan Rome) as one head next to the talking horn (Papal Rome) as another head.  Consider that the dreadful beast represents a sequence of events beginning with pagan Rome and ending with the Papacy, the whole beast of which is represented in Daniel 7 as one kingdom or power (the dreadful beast) and is supposed to last until the end of the world.  Now, if these are sequential kingdoms, where is there room in time before the end of the world for the head representing the papacy to follow the beast that represents Rome?  The head that represents Rome contains Rome and all that follows it because each beast is considered as one kingdom or king in Daniel 7.  This means it contains the Papacy and its entire time period that lasts until the end of the world.  There is a separate head for the Papacy on the dragon that is supposed to follow the head for Rome.  Remember the heads are supposed to occur in sequence.  But the head that is Rome really should last until the end of the world as all its heads and horns must complete their time before the next beast takes over.  So, where is there time before the end of the world for the head that represents the leopard beast to fill in?  There is no time left, so how can it fit in?  Hence, there is a real problem with the sequential ancient kingdoms theory because of glaring contradictions present in that hypothesis.

Now, where else in the bible is there a provable example of this being done?  I have yet to find any other example of this being done.  Some would get around this by saying that they use only the body of the dreadful beast and not the horns.  Fine.  But now there is a problem because there are now time gaps between heads.  For example, the leopard beast had 4 heads, and if one omits them, there is a several hundred year gap between the leopard (Greece) and the dreadful beast (Rome).  That should not be.  Further, that is not the way the beasts are presented.  The leopard beast HAS 4 heads and the dreadful beast HAS 10 horns at the beginning, gains another, which in turn removes 3 others.  Further there is the statement in Daniel 7:17 which says "These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth."  This makes it pretty clear that the beasts and all "extras" are considered as one kingdom.  After all, the leopard is thereby said to be a king, yet it included 4 kings that would arise after Alexander the Great's empire.  So, it seems the protagonists of the sequential ancient kingdoms hypothesis have some explaining to do....

At the risk of redundancy, given the fact that each of the 4 beasts of Daniel finished their days of dominance to completion before the next beast took over, where is there room after the dreadful beast (Roman beast) for any further beasts?  There are only 4 beasts shown and the 4th dreadful beast was to last to the end of the world.  Consequently, Papal Rome is, after all, a continuance of Rome itself.  So, the last head on that dragon should represent Pagan Rome.  There is no more time after that head.  Something to think about. 

Hopefully this helps make clear that putting heads on top of other beasts creates real problems.  There is a simpler explanation that does not create time problems and does not violate any rules of interpretation, so is it not better to go with the simpler interpretation that does not create these types of problem?

Explanation of Reason #4

This reason is the follow the herd type of thinking.  The author cannot imagine that there are any rule violations from Daniel 7 for following the bigger guys on the block, so we won't go there.  However, following the herd in biblical matters is not necessarily going to lead to truth.  Sometimes they have a political ax to grind or some other entirely different reason, or may even simply fail to understand the chapters or issue in question, but however it happens, this can be misleading.  Consequently it is important to study this issue for yourself to ascertain what the truth of this matter really is.


Explanation of Reason #5

This idea is that the 6th head was in existence at the time of John because of what the angel says to him in Revelation 17:10.  But this requires a literal time frame for the vision.  What if the vision is actually set in the future and the angel is explaining what John was seeing in front of him at that moment, which was something that was actually future?  Then the statement would be understandable in terms of present tense while discussing something in the future.  It turns out that if one properly understands the vision, this statement is clearly talking about a future event that John was seeing and yet it was spoken of as if it was in the present.  Hence, the vision is set in the time frame of Pope Paul VI, far in the future from John's time.  Consequently, one need not interpret the vision as requiring that the 6th head exist in the time of John.

What About the Heads and Horns of Revelation 13 and 17?

The sea beast of Revelation 13 and the scarlet beast of Revelation 17 are synonymous with one another, so can be considered together.  The important points are these: (1) the Miller Principle must be followed because these beasts show a body-heads-horns pattern like that which is found in Daniel 7, (2) the Similarity Principle is followed as there is no exception found for this rule, (3) the Difference Principle is followed as there is no exception found for this rule, (4) the Concurrency Principle is followed, with one exception as explained about Revelation 17 for heads 6 and 7, with heads 1-6 being concurrent. 

The one notable exception stated for the heads and horns of Revelation 13 is that one of the heads receives a near deadly wound that heals.  This wound is not shown on the heads and horns of Revelation 12 and Revelation 17, probably because, although the heads and horns are identical, there is a shifting emphasis on the details of what happens with each of these chapters.  Only one explanation of that is needed to give the historical details of what it represents.  This does not change the Concurrency Principle applicability to the heads and horns of Revelation 13 or 17.  Something similar happens with the crowns found on the horns of the sea beast in Revelation 13.  In Revelation 17, there are no crowns upon those horns, but it is stated that these horns are kings, so it is a given that they represent kingly powers, just as the crowns upon the horns represent kingly power in Revelation 13.

There is only one concurrency exception stated for the heads of Revelation 17, which has to do with only two of the heads.  In Revelation 17, six of the heads exist concurrently with one another, but there is one that does not, which is an exception to the rule.  Since the heads and horns represent the same power for all 3 beasts, this exception applies to all three beasts for the same corresponding heads. 
Click here to read how to understand the concurrency of the heads of the beast of Revelation 17Click here to read how to understand the exception to the rule that the heads are concurrent in Revelation 17.  This still does not change the fact that the Concurrency Principle applies to the remaining heads of the scarlet beast of Revelation 17. 

In summary, the best explanation is that the heads and horns represent the same power for all 3 beasts.  This creates the least discrepancies and no rule violations.  Thus, it is much more likely to be the correct interpretation.