6. TIME OF COMPOSITION.

The most important sections of the book, that concerning Jerusalem, and those about the return of Nero from the underworld, date therefore in all probability from the years 68-70. None of the others indicates so clearly the date at which it came into existence. We ask therefore at once when the whole book may be supposed to have been put together. And here Irenaeus tells us that the Apocalypse was revealed and written down at the end of the reign of the Emperor Domitian, that is to say, in the year 95 or 96. We have already seen (p. 194 f.) how little we can rely on Irenaeus in such matters. But in this case we have no definite reason to dispute that the date he fixes for the composition of the Apocalypse is appropriate enough for the putting together of the whole book.