I am researching the beast's mark. The number 666 had long been considered as the original. However, if you look into other early manuscripts of the Book of Revelation further, they supplied various numbers. The earliest version of the passage in the Book of Revelation describing the Number of the Beast was found in a fragment of papyrus 115, which was discovered in 2005. Given that it listed the number as 616, it is possible that this was the original (although 665 is also discovered). What does the common consensus show?
55 tc A few MSS (𝔓115 C, along with a few MSS known to Irenaeus {and two minuscule MSS, 5 and 11, no longer extant}), read 616 here, and several other witnesses have other variations. Irenaeus’ mention of MSS that have 616 is balanced by his rejection of such witnesses in this case. As intriguing as the reading 616 is (since the conversion of Nero Caesar’s name in Latin by way of gematria would come out to 616), it must remain suspect because such a reading seems motivated in that it conforms more neatly to Nero’s gematria.
