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www.roleplayer.me/TheFourHorsemen — the four horsemen,™ {BMOTD/MVC}
The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse: Death, War, Strife, Fury, Pestilence and Famine Demonik-Morningstar. We were first on Elite when that site used to be a thing. We are the children of all the BMOTD/MVC Lucifers Demoniks and all the BMOTD/MVC Lilith Demoniks.
--Main: Rider of the White Horse, The White Rider, The Rider of Strife, Jones, The Outlaw, Mayhem, Mercy, Redemption; Strife: Main Playby: Ben Barnes: Other Playbys Using For Character: Steven Strait//Alex Pettyfer//Ian Somerhalder//Jamie Campbell Bower//Hayden Christensen
White Horse
See also: White horse (mythology)
For other uses of the term "White Rider", see White rider.
The first Horseman, Conquest on the White Horse as depicted in the Bamberg Apocalypse (1000–1020).
The first "living creature" (with halo) is seen in the upper right.
Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, "Come." I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.
— Revelation 6:1–2 New American Standard Bible[9]
Based on the above passage, a common translation into English is the rider of the White Horse (sometimes referred to as the White Rider). He is thought to carry a bow (Greek τόξο, toxo) and wear a victor's crown (Greek stephanos).
As infectious disease
Under another interpretation, the first Horseman is called Pestilence, and is associated with infectious disease and plague. It appears at least as early as 1906, when it is mentioned in the Jewish Encyclopedia.[20] This particular interpretation is common in popular culture references to the Four Horsemen.[21]
The origin of this interpretation is unclear. Some translations of the Bible mention "plague" (e.g. the New International Version[22]) or "pestilence" (e.g. the Revised Standard Version[citation needed]) in connection with the riders in the passage following the introduction of the fourth rider; cf. "They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine, plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth." in the NASB.[23] However, it is a matter of debate as to whether this passage refers to the fourth rider only, or to the four riders as a whole.[1]
Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, in his 1916 novel The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (filmed in 1921 and in 1962), provides an early example of this interpretation, writing, "The horseman on the white horse was clad in a showy and barbarous attire... While his horse continued galloping, he was bending his bow in order to spread pestilence abroad. At his back swung the brass quiver filled with poisoned arrows, containing the germs of all diseases."[24]
Music
--Main: Rider of The Black Horse, The Black Rider, The Protector, Rampage, Scorn, Salvation; Fury: Main Playby: Eva Green: Other Playbys Using For Character: Naya Rivera//Blake Lively//Mila Kunis//Alexandra Daddario//Nina Dobrev
Black Horse
The third Horseman, Famine on the Black Horse as depicted in the Angers Apocalypse Tapestry (1372–82)
When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, "Come." I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; but do not damage the oil and the wine."
— Revelation 6:5–6 NASB[35]
The third Horseman rides a black horse and is popularly understood to be Famine, as the Horseman carries a pair of balances or weighing scales (Greek ζυγὸν, zygon), indicating the way that bread would have been weighed during a famine.[4][29] Other authors interpret the third Horseman as the "Lord as a Law-Giver," holding Scales of Justice.[36] In the passage, it is read that the indicated price of grain is about ten times normal (thus the famine interpretation popularity), with an entire day's wages (a denarius) buying enough wheat for only one person (one choenix, about 1.1 litres), or enough of the less nutritious barley for three, so that workers would struggle to feed their families.[4] In the Gospels, the denarius is repeatedly mentioned as a monetary unit, for example the denarius was the pay of a soldier for one day and the day labor of a seasonal worker in the harvesting of grapes is also valued at 1 denarius (Matthew 20:2). Thus, it is probably a fact that with the approach of the Apocalypse, the most necessary food will rise in price greatly and the wages earned per day will be enough only for the minimum subsistence for the same day and nothing more.
Of the Four Horsemen, the black horse and its rider are the only ones whose appearance is accompanied by a vocalization. John hears a voice, unidentified but coming from among the four living creatures, that speaks of the prices of wheat and barley, also saying "and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine". This suggests that the black horse's famine is to drive up the price of grain but leave oil and wine supplies unaffected (though out of reach of the ordinary worker). One explanation for this is that grain crops would have been more naturally susceptible to famine years or locust plagues than olive trees and grapevines, which root more deeply.[4][29]
The statement might also suggest a continuing abundance of luxuries for the wealthy, while staples, such as bread, are scarce, though not totally depleted;[29] such selective scarcity may result from injustice and the deliberate production of luxury crops for the wealthy over grain, as would have happened during the time Revelation was written.[3][37] Alternatively, the preservation of oil and wine could symbolize the preservation of the Christian faithful, who use oil and wine in their sacraments.[38]
As imperial oppression
This section's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (July 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
According to Edward Bishop Elliott's interpretation, through this third seal, the black horse is unleashed, representing aggravated distress and mourning. The balance in the rider's hand is not associated with a man's weighing out bits of bread in scanty measure for his family's eating, but in association with the buying and selling of corn and other grains. During the time of the apostle John's exile in Patmos, the balance was commonly a symbol of justice, since it was used to weigh out the grains for a set price. The balance of justice held in the hand of the rider of the black horse signified the aggravation of the other previous evil, with the bloodstained red of the Roman aspect morphing into the darker blackness of distress.[39] The black horse rider is instructed not to harm the oil and the wine, which signifies that this scarcity should not fall upon the superfluities, such as oil and wine, which men can live without, but upon the necessities of life—bread.[40]
This interpretation also borrows from Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, which claims the Roman Empire suffered as a result of excessive taxation of its citizens, particularly during the reign of Emperor Caracalla, whom history has largely remembered as a cruel tyrant and as among the worst of the Roman emperors. Under the necessity of gratifying the greed and excessive lifestyle which Caracalla had excited in the army, old as well as new taxes were at the same time levied in the provinces. The land tax, taxes for services and heavy contributions of corn, wine, oil and meat were exacted from the provinces for the use of the court, army and capital. "This noxious weed not totally eradicated again sprang up with the most luxurious growth and going forward darkened the Roman world with its deadly shade".[41]
According to Gibbon, this was exacerbated by the rise to power of the Emperor Maximin, who "attacked the public property at length." Every city of the empire was destined to purchase corn for the multitudes, as well as supply expenses for the games. By the Emperor's authority, the whole mass of wealth was confiscated for use by the Imperial treasury—temples "stripped of their most valuable offerings of gold, silver [and statues] which were melted down and coined into money."[42]
Movies
--Main: Rider of the White Horse, The White Rider, The Rider of Strife, Jones, The Outlaw, Mayhem, Mercy, Redemption; Pestilence: Main Playby: Ben Barnes: Other Playbys Using For Character: Steven Strait//Alex Pettyfer//Ian Somerhalder//Jamie Campbell Bower//Hayden Christensen
White Horse
See also: White horse (mythology)
For other uses of the term "White Rider", see White rider.
The first Horseman, Conquest on the White Horse as depicted in the Bamberg Apocalypse (1000–1020).
The first "living creature" (with halo) is seen in the upper right.
Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, "Come." I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.
— Revelation 6:1–2 New American Standard Bible[9]
Based on the above passage, a common translation into English is the rider of the White Horse (sometimes referred to as the White Rider). He is thought to carry a bow (Greek τόξο, toxo) and wear a victor's crown (Greek stephanos).
As infectious disease
Under another interpretation, the first Horseman is called Pestilence, and is associated with infectious disease and plague. It appears at least as early as 1906, when it is mentioned in the Jewish Encyclopedia.[20] This particular interpretation is common in popular culture references to the Four Horsemen.[21]
The origin of this interpretation is unclear. Some translations of the Bible mention "plague" (e.g. the New International Version[22]) or "pestilence" (e.g. the Revised Standard Version[citation needed]) in connection with the riders in the passage following the introduction of the fourth rider; cf. "They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine, plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth." in the NASB.[23] However, it is a matter of debate as to whether this passage refers to the fourth rider only, or to the four riders as a whole.[1]
Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, in his 1916 novel The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (filmed in 1921 and in 1962), provides an early example of this interpretation, writing, "The horseman on the white horse was clad in a showy and barbarous attire... While his horse continued galloping, he was bending his bow in order to spread pestilence abroad. At his back swung the brass quiver filled with poisoned arrows, containing the germs of all diseases."[24]
Television
--Main: Rider of The Black Horse, The Black Rider, The Protector, Rampage, Scorn, Salvation; Famine: Main Playby: Colin O Donoghue: Other Playbys Using For Character: Steven Strait//Ian Somerhalder//Tom Hiddleston//Tom Ellis
Black Horse
The third Horseman, Famine on the Black Horse as depicted in the Angers Apocalypse Tapestry (1372–82)
When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, "Come." I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; but do not damage the oil and the wine."
— Revelation 6:5–6 NASB[35]
The third Horseman rides a black horse and is popularly understood to be Famine, as the Horseman carries a pair of balances or weighing scales (Greek ζυγὸν, zygon), indicating the way that bread would have been weighed during a famine.[4][29] Other authors interpret the third Horseman as the "Lord as a Law-Giver," holding Scales of Justice.[36] In the passage, it is read that the indicated price of grain is about ten times normal (thus the famine interpretation popularity), with an entire day's wages (a denarius) buying enough wheat for only one person (one choenix, about 1.1 litres), or enough of the less nutritious barley for three, so that workers would struggle to feed their families.[4] In the Gospels, the denarius is repeatedly mentioned as a monetary unit, for example the denarius was the pay of a soldier for one day and the day labor of a seasonal worker in the harvesting of grapes is also valued at 1 denarius (Matthew 20:2). Thus, it is probably a fact that with the approach of the Apocalypse, the most necessary food will rise in price greatly and the wages earned per day will be enough only for the minimum subsistence for the same day and nothing more.
Of the Four Horsemen, the black horse and its rider are the only ones whose appearance is accompanied by a vocalization. John hears a voice, unidentified but coming from among the four living creatures, that speaks of the prices of wheat and barley, also saying "and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine". This suggests that the black horse's famine is to drive up the price of grain but leave oil and wine supplies unaffected (though out of reach of the ordinary worker). One explanation for this is that grain crops would have been more naturally susceptible to famine years or locust plagues than olive trees and grapevines, which root more deeply.[4][29]
The statement might also suggest a continuing abundance of luxuries for the wealthy, while staples, such as bread, are scarce, though not totally depleted;[29] such selective scarcity may result from injustice and the deliberate production of luxury crops for the wealthy over grain, as would have happened during the time Revelation was written.[3][37] Alternatively, the preservation of oil and wine could symbolize the preservation of the Christian faithful, who use oil and wine in their sacraments.[38]
As imperial oppression
This section's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (July 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
According to Edward Bishop Elliott's interpretation, through this third seal, the black horse is unleashed, representing aggravated distress and mourning. The balance in the rider's hand is not associated with a man's weighing out bits of bread in scanty measure for his family's eating, but in association with the buying and selling of corn and other grains. During the time of the apostle John's exile in Patmos, the balance was commonly a symbol of justice, since it was used to weigh out the grains for a set price. The balance of justice held in the hand of the rider of the black horse signified the aggravation of the other previous evil, with the bloodstained red of the Roman aspect morphing into the darker blackness of distress.[39] The black horse rider is instructed not to harm the oil and the wine, which signifies that this scarcity should not fall upon the superfluities, such as oil and wine, which men can live without, but upon the necessities of life—bread.[40]
This interpretation also borrows from Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, which claims the Roman Empire suffered as a result of excessive taxation of its citizens, particularly during the reign of Emperor Caracalla, whom history has largely remembered as a cruel tyrant and as among the worst of the Roman emperors. Under the necessity of gratifying the greed and excessive lifestyle which Caracalla had excited in the army, old as well as new taxes were at the same time levied in the provinces. The land tax, taxes for services and heavy contributions of corn, wine, oil and meat were exacted from the provinces for the use of the court, army and capital. "This noxious weed not totally eradicated again sprang up with the most luxurious growth and going forward darkened the Roman world with its deadly shade".[41]
According to Gibbon, this was exacerbated by the rise to power of the Emperor Maximin, who "attacked the public property at length." Every city of the empire was destined to purchase corn for the multitudes, as well as supply expenses for the games. By the Emperor's authority, the whole mass of wealth was confiscated for use by the Imperial treasury—temples "stripped of their most valuable offerings of gold, silver [and statues] which were melted down and coined into money."[42]
— the four horsemen,™ {BMOTD/MVC}'s Details
Characters:
The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse - Death, War, Strife, Fury, Pestilence and Famine Demonik-Mornin
Verses:
Darksiders. SPN. Lucifer TV Show. Dragon Age. Lord Of The Rings. Shadow And Bone. GOT.
Playbys:
Ian Somerhalder, Steven Strait, Ben Barnes, Colin O Donoghue and Eva Green
About me: The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse:
--Main: Rider of the Pale Horse, The Pale Rider, Rider of Death, Kinslayer, Executioner, The Reaper, Despair, Dust, The Harvester, Death Comes For All & More; Death: Main Playby: Ian Somerhalder : Other Playbys Using For Character: Steven Strait//Cam Gigandet//Channing Tatum//Tyler Hoechlin//Colton Haynes//Chace Crawford//Robert Pattinson
Pale Horse
The fourth Horseman, Death on the Pale Horse.
Engraving by Gustave Doré (1865).
When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, "Come." I looked, and behold, a pale horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.
— Revelation 6:7–8 (New American Standard Bible)[43]
The fourth and final Horseman is named Death. Known as Θάνατος (Thanatos),[44] of all the riders, he is the only one to whom the text itself explicitly gives a name. Unlike the other three, he is not described carrying a weapon or other object, instead he is followed by Hades (the resting place of the dead). However, illustrations commonly depict him carrying a scythe (like the Grim Reaper), sword,[45] or other implement.
The color of Death's horse is written as khlōros (χλωρός) in the original Koine Greek,[46] which can mean either green/greenish-yellow or pale/pallid.[47] The color is often translated as "pale", though "ashen", "pale green", and "yellowish green"[29] are other possible interpretations (the Greek word is the root of "chlorophyll" and "chlorine"). Based on uses of the word in ancient Greek medical literature, several scholars suggest that the color reflects the sickly pallor of a corpse.[4][48] In some modern artistic depictions, the horse is distinctly green.[49][50][51]
The verse beginning "they were given power over a fourth of the earth" is generally taken as referring to Death and Hades,[29][52] although some commentators see it as applying to all four horsemen.[1]
Destroying an empire
See also: Crisis of the Third Century
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (by Arnaldo dell'Ira, neo-roman project of mosaic, 1939–1940.
This fourth, pale horse, was the personification of Death, with Hades following him, jaws open and receiving the victims slain by Death. Death's commission was to kill upon the Roman Earth with all of the four judgements of God—with sword, famine, pestilence and wild beasts. The deadly pale and livid appearance displays a hue symptomatic of approaching empire dissolution. According to Edward Bishop Elliott, an era in Roman history commencing within about 15 years after the death of Severus Alexander (in 235 AD[53]) strongly marks every point of this terrible emblem.[54]
Edward Gibbon speaks of a period from the celebration of the great secular games by the Emperor Philip to the death of Gallienus (in 268 AD[55]) as the 20 years of shame and misfortune, of confusion and calamity, as a time when the ruined empire approached the last and fatal moment of its dissolution. Every instant of time in every province of the Roman world was afflicted by military tyrants and barbarous invaders—the sword from within and without.[56][57]
According to Elliott, famine, the inevitable consequence of carnage and oppression, which demolished the present crop as well as the hope of future harvests, produced the environment for an epidemic of diseases, the effects of scanty and unwholesome food. That furious plague (the Plague of Cyprian), which raged from the year 250 to the year 265, continued without interruption in every province, city and almost every family in the empire. During a portion of this time, 5000 people died daily in Rome; and many towns that had escaped the attacks of barbarians were entirely depopulated.[58]
For a time in the late 260s, the strength of Aurelian crushed the enemies of Rome, yet after his assassination certain of them revived.[59] While the Goths had been destroyed for almost a century and the Empire reunited, the Sassanid Persians were uncowed in the East and, during the following year, hosts of central Asian Alani spread themselves over Pontus, Cappadocia, Cilicia and Galatia, etching their course by the flames of cities and villages they pillaged.[60]
As for the wild beasts of the earth, according to Elliott, it is a well-known law of nature that they quickly occupy the scenes of waste and depopulation—where the reign of man fails and the reign of beasts begins. After the reign of Gallienus and 20 or 30 years had passed, the multiplication of the animals had risen to such an extent in parts of the empire that they made it a crying evil.[61]
One notable point of apparent difference between the prophecy and history might seem to be expressly limited to the fourth part of the Roman Earth, but in the history of the period the devastations of the pale horse extended over all. The fourth seal prophecy seems to mark the malignant climax of the evils of the two preceding seals, to which no such limitation is attached. Turning to a reading in Jerome's Latin Vulgate which reads "over the four parts of the earth,"[62][63] it requires that the Roman empire should have some kind of quadripartition. Dividing from the central or Italian fourth, three great divisions of the Empire separated into the West, East and Illyricum under Posthumus, Aureolus and Zenobia respectively—divisions that were later legitimized by Diocletian.[64]
Diocletian ended this long period of anarchy, but the succession of civil wars and invasions caused much suffering, disorder and crime, which brought the empire into a state of moral lethargy from which it never recovered.[65] After the plague had abated, the empire suffered from general distress, and its condition was very much like that which followed after the Black Death of the Middle Ages. Talent and art had become extinct in proportion to the desolation of the world.[66]
Who I'd like to meet:
--Main: Rider of the Red Horse, The Red Rider, The Conqueror, Ruin, The Watcher; War: Main Playby: Steven Strait: Other Playbys Using For Character: Ian Somerhalder//Tyler Hoechlin//Colton Haynes//Chace Crawford
Red Horse
The second Horseman, War on the Red Horse as depicted in a thirteenth-century Apocalypse manuscript.
When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, "Come." And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from Earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.
— Revelation 6:3–4NASB[25]
The rider of the second horse is often taken to represent War[3] (he is often pictured holding a sword upwards as though ready for battle[26]) or mass slaughter.[1][8][27] His horse's color is red (πυρρός, pyrrhos from πῦρ, fire); and in some translations, the color is specifically a "fiery" red. The color red, as well as the rider's possession of a great sword (μάχαιρα, machaira), suggests blood that is to be spilled.[4] The sword held upward by the second Horseman may represent war or a declaration of war, as seen in heraldry. In military symbolism, swords held upward, especially crossed swords held upward, signify war and entering into battle.[28] (See, for example, the historical and modern images, as well as the coat of arms, of Joan of Arc.)
The second Horseman represents civil war as opposed to the war of conquest that the first Horseman is said to bring.[4][29] Other commentators have suggested that it might also represent the persecution of Christians.[30][31][full citation needed]
As empire division
Death on the Pale Horse, Benjamin West, 1817
According to Edward Bishop Elliott's interpretation of the Four Horsemen as symbolic prophecy of the history of the Roman Empire, the second seal is opened and the Roman nation that experienced joy, prosperity and triumph is made subject to the red horse which depicts war and bloodshed—civil war. Peace left the Roman Earth, resulting in the killing of one another as insurrection crept into and permeated the Empire, beginning shortly into the reign of the Emperor Commodus.[32]
Elliott points out that Commodus, who had nothing to wish for and everything to enjoy, that beloved son of Marcus Aurelius who ascended the throne with neither competitor to remove nor enemies to punish, became the slave of his attendants who gradually corrupted his mind. His cruelty degenerated into habit and became the ruling passion of his soul.[33]
Elliott further recites that, after the death of Commodus, a most turbulent period lasting 92 years unfolded, during which time 32 emperors and 27 pretenders to the Empire hurled each other from the throne by incessant civil warfare. The sword was a natural universal badge, among the Romans, of the military profession. The apocalyptic figure armed with a great sword indicated an undue authority and unnatural use of it. Military men in power, whose vocation was war and weapon the sword, rose by it and also fell. The unrestrained military, no longer subject to the Senate, transformed the Empire into a system of pure military despotism.[34]
