Four Horsemen of Apocalypse (c1498). Woodcut. 39 x 28. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are described in the last book of the New Testament of the Bible, the Book of Revelation by John of Patmos, at 6:1-8, according to the main exegetical stream since the Reformation. The chapter tells of a book or scroll in God's right hand that is sealed with seven seals. The Lamb of God opens the first four of the seven seals, which summons four beings that ride out on white, red, black, and pale horses. Before the Reformation it was generally thought that there was only one Horseman, riding successively these four horses. According to the main modern interpretation, this prophecy describes a period of time when a quarter of the population of the earth would be killed by a combination of wars, famine and disease. The prophecy describes the causes as 1 a conquering people whose weapon was the bow I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest, 2 as people engaged in constant war Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword, 3 high food prices leading to famine before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine! and 4 disease I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. These four are then summed up as follows They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by the sword, famine, and plague and by the wild beasts of the earth. Though theologians and popular culture differ on the first Horseman, the four riders are often seen as symbolizing Conquest or Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death. The Christian apocalyptic vision is that the Four Horsemen are to set a divine apocalypse upon the world as harbingers of the Last Judgment. That the number of horsemen are four is important: four is the number associated with creation or the earth in the Book of Revelation. On the significance of fours in Revelation see Biblical numerology. 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 Based on the above passage, a common translation into English, the rider of the White Horse He carries a bow, and wears a victor's crown. Irenaeus, an influential Christian theologian of the 2nd century, was among the first to interpret this Horseman as Christ himself, his white horse representing the successful spread of the gospel. Various scholars have since supported this notion, citing the later appearance, in Revelation 19, of Christ mounted on a white horse, appearing as The Word of God. Furthermore, earlier in the New Testament, the Book of Mark indicates that the advance of the gospel may indeed precede and foretell the apocalypse. The color white also tends to represent righteousness in the Bible, and Christ is in other instances portrayed as a conqueror. Besides Christ, the Horseman could represent the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was understood to have come upon the Apostles at Pentecost after Jesus' departure from Earth. The appearance of the Lion in Revelation 5 shows the triumphant arrival of Jesus in Heaven, and the first Horseman could represent the sending of the Holy Spirit by Jesus and the advance of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Other interpretations relying on comparative religious research ascribe the first Horseman as guiding for the right path; Mahabharata Lord Krishna was a charioteer to Arjuna by riding on white horses, while Arjuna himself was an archer. While for nearly nineteen centuries Christians had thought that the first horseman was a positive figure representing either Christ or the Gospel, a completely different interpretation of this character emerged in 1866 when C.F. Wimpel defended the first the hypothesis that he was the Antichrist.