Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

For other uses, see Four Horsemen.

The "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" is a term used to describe four horsemen that appear in the Christian Bible in chapter six of the Book of Revelation. The verses traditionally describe the four horsemen as Conquest, War, Famine, and Death.

Horses and their riders

Name	Horse	Rider	Power	Original Greek Description
Conquest	White	Carries a bow (old Latin translation is standard)	Is given a Crown, goes forth conquering	ίππος λευκός (híppos leukós), [The] White Horse
War	Red	Carries a sword	To take peace from the earth, and let men kill one another.	ίππος πυρρός (híppos purrós), [The] Red Horse
Famine	Black	Carries a balance (weighing scale)	To bring famine.	ίππος μέλας (híppos mélas), [The] Black Horse
Death	Pale	Death, followed by Hades	Over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.	ίππος χλωρός, θάνατος (híppos khlōrós, thánatos), [The] Pale Horse

The White Horse

See also: White horse (mythology)

Revelation 6:1 - 6:2 - "...When the Lamb had opened the first of the seven seals, I heard the first of the four beasts say with a thundering voice, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a white horse; and he that sat on him had a bow: and there was given unto him a crown, and he departed as conqueror and to conquest."

The white horse of the apocalyptic four may represent polar qualities of evil or righteousness, depending on interpretation. The German-language Lutheran Stuttgarter Erklärungsbibel sees him as civil war and internal strife.

As evil

Some interpret the rider of the white horse to be the anti-christ, or a representation of false prophets, citing differences between the white horse in Revelation 6 and Jesus on the white Horse in Revelation 19. Revelation 19 Jesus has many crowns, but in Revelation 6 the rider has one. In Revelation 19, the rider on the horse is depicted as "The Word of God". The rider of the white horse may represent the second coming of Christ during which the end of the world/judgment day would occur. He may also just represent judgment of the living and the damned.

As righteous

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 Lamb in Revelation 5 shows the triumphant arrival of Jesus in heaven, and the white horseman could represent the sending of the Holy Spirit by Jesus and the advance of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Red Horse

The Second Horseman.

The rider of the second horse is generally held to represent War. The red color of his horse represents blood spilled on the battlefield. He carries a greatsword, which represents battle and fighting.

Revelation 6:4 - "And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword."

Black Horse

The Third rider.

The third horseman, riding the black horse, is called Famine. The black color of the third horse could be a symbol of the dead.

Revelation 6:5 - 6:6 - “And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and a quart of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.’”

Pale (green) Horse

The fourth horseman, usually said to ride on a pale horse, is explicitly named Death. Of all the riders, he is the only one whose name is easily distinguishable. Generally, he is usually followed by Hades (Gravedom).

However, the Greek word interpreted as "pale" is translated elsewhere in the New Testament as "green," leading to some confusion in appearance. The natural colors of horse coats that could be indicated include dun, palomino, buckskin, or one of several color variants with dilution genes. The horse is sometimes translated as "pale," "pale green," or "green." The greenish color of the fourth horse could possibly represent plague, fear, sickness, and/or decay.

Revelation 6:7 - 6:8 - “And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a pale green horse; and he that sat on him was called Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, and that they (the four horsemen) should kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”

Alternative interpretations

One interpretation is that the Four Horsemen are the Four Beasts mentioned in the visions of The Book of Daniel, representing four kings (or kingdoms), the last of which devours the world. The more conventional integration of this portion of Daniel with Revelation, however, is that the eleventh king (arising in the fourth kingdom) is the Antichrist.

Some equate the four horsemen with the angels of the four winds. (See Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel, angels often associated with four cardinal directions)

Some Christian scholars do not interpret Revelation as prophecy of future events so much as a revealing of God's presence in the current events of the first century.

In this sense the white horseman is a symbol for a conquering force from without. This is symbolized using the image of the feared Parthian mounted archer on his white horse and given the crown of a conqueror. The red rider who takes peace from the earth is the civil strife that ended the pax romana. The black rider is the famine that follows anytime there is foreign invasion or civil war. The final rider is the death that accompanies conflict and famine and the pestilence that springs up in the aftermath of these other tragedies.

While these images, and especially the Parthians, are specific to the Roman Empire of the early Christian era, there is a universality about them. Each new century, Christian interpreters see ways in which the horsemen, and Revelation in general, speaks to contemporary events. Some who believe Revelation applies to modern times can interpret the horses based on various ways their colours are used. Red, for example, often represents Communism, Black has been used as a symbol of Capitalism, while Green represents the rise of Islam. Pastor Irvin Baxter Jr. of Endtime Ministries espouses such a belief.

Not all interpretations agree that the horsemen are associated with contemporary events. One interpretation suggests that the horsemen are each associated with one of the first, four opened seals. The white horse represents the first seal in which the city of Enoch is established in righteous conquest. The red horse represents the second seal in which bloodshed and wickedness reigns. The black horse represents the third seal in which famine, plague, and pestilence take hold of the world. The pale horse represents a time of escalated death and destruction. Further interpretation by scholars suggests that each horse represents a given time: the time of Enoch, the time of Noah, the time of Abraham, and the time of Christ.

Another challenged interpretation is that the white horse represents foreign warfare or conquest ("went forth conquering, and to conquer"), the red represents civil war or domestic strife ("that they should kill one another"), the black represents famine ("A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine"), and the pale represents pestilence or disease in its various forms (" to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth").

Another interpretation is that the rider on the white horse is the Holy Spirit being sent forth into the world after the death of Jesus. That the Fiery Red horse represents the blood shed and the slaying of the Christian martyrs (starting with the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7:54-8:1). The Black horse represents the scattering of the Jewish nation during the time of the Roman Empire, in 70 AD. the Pale, or pale green, horse represents the Islamic nation (with direct correlation between the rider's name being Death and Hell followed with him [Revelation 6:8]).

Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death

This interpretation rearranges the order in which the horsemen arrive to end the world, and a slight change to their personae. Pestilence is portrayed as a distinct entity, separate from Famine, and takes Conquest's normal place in the lineup.

The first horseman to appear is Pestilence, who rides upon a white horse. Pestilence conquers the nations of the world, subjugating them to demonic powers of the world. In the wake of Pestilence comes War, riding a large, wild red horse and wielding a tremendous sword symbolizing continuing war over the domination of the world, killing millions in his path with his sword. In the wake of War, due to immense destruction because of War and Pestilence, is Famine. Famine is portly - riding upon a black, sickly horse - representing gluttony and hunger. And in the wake of Famine, comes the pale rider, Death. His horse is stark pale. He is followed by Hades and carries the remaining souls to their final destinations.

It is this interpretation which is most commonly used as the basis for pop culture's uses of the Four Horsemen concept.

Riders identified as nations

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, by Viktor Vasnetsov (1887).

This interpretation is based on few basic rules and Living Bible Paraphrased was used as a source:

1. The Book of Revelation is about the earth and the happenings on it, unless otherwise specified.
2. Each seal must have a global impact unless otherwise specified.
3. The described events must occur after the revelation was written. Otherwise the prophecy would not actually be a prophecy and then the symbolism would have been meaningless.
4. Symbols must have meanings, ie. horses are symbols of one kind of things and their riders symbolise things of another kind.
5. Since the seals are in order, they must be fulfilled in order.
6. The key is the fourth seal since it is the only seal that gives any indication as to the meaning of a seal.

And now I saw a pale horse, and its rider's name was Death. And there followed after him another horse whose rider's name was Hell. They were given control of one-fourth of the earth, to kill with war and famine and disease and wild animals.

Book of Revelation, 6:8, Living Bible version.

According to the source this particular interpretation was expressed in a table represented below:

COLOR	HORSE Government	RIDER Nation	IMPLEMENTS Abilities	TASK OR CONDITIONS
WHITE	Republic	United States	Leadership, Technology	Win World War II
RED	Autocracy	USSR	World Wide military might	Wars of Liberation, World wide spread of communism
BLACK	Monarchy	Saudi Arabia	World Trade in Oil	World Trade War / mega-inflation, Religious unrest/wars
PALE Red	Oligarchy Oligarchy??	China Russia	(DEATH) (HELL)	World War III Eugenic/dysgenic war

Other Biblical references

Zechariah also sees the Horsemen (Zech 6:1-5). During this, first come the Red, then Black, then White, and finally the "Grisled and Bay" (the Pale Horses by implication). They are referred to as "the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth."

In popular culture

The Four Horsemen were prominently featured in the 2009 film Better than the Devil You Know (directed by Greg Augustine). They symbolize the personal demons that must be defeated by the main characters in order to overcome themselves and resolve their past. The horsemen are sent by a deceased high school friend as she taps into the mind of the main character, to which she causes his dream to become a reality.

According to Terry Pratchett in the Discworld novel Thief of Time there is a fifth horseman: Ronnie Soak (Kaos spelled backwards). He is the fifth member who quit before the group became famous.

In Highlander: The Series, the Four Horsemen are the Immortals Kronos (the leader of the Horsemen), Methos (Duncan McLeod's friend who previously refused to admit to being a Horseman, also claimed himself as Death), Silas, and Caspian.

The final level in the single player roguelike computer game Nethack features the three riders Death, Famine, and Pestilence. The fourth rider, War, is assumed to be the player.

"The Four Horsemen" are the third and final boss encounter in the Military Quarter in Naxxramas, a raid zone in World of Warcraft: Zeliek as the White Rider of Conquest, Rivendare / Mograine as the Red Rider of War, Blaumeux as the Black Rider of Famine, and Korth'azz as the Pale Rider of Death. Naxxramas was originally a level 60 raid, however with the release of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion it was tuned for level 80 players and the original version was removed.

In the video game City of Heroes, players must defeat the four Riders in the second mission of The Lady Grey Task Force. These Riders are said to be among the alien Rikti race's most fearsome warriors and have the names Rider: War, Rider: Famine, Rider: Pestilence, and Rider: Death. In this high level (45-50) task force, a team of both heroes and villains can work together to defeat these enemies as they appear repeatedly throughout the mission. The mission culminates in a battle against all four Riders at once and allows players to continue onward in their drive to save the world from total war and invasion by the alien forces of the Rikti.

There is a song called The Four Horsemen on the Metallica album Kill 'Em All (originally called The Mechanix) that directly references the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Coldplay's 2008 album Viva La Vida (subtitled "Death and all his friends") is a reference to The Four Horsemen; quoting the last line of the last song, "I don't want to follow Death and all of his friends." The song "The Four Horsemen" on the 2008 Judas Priest album Nostradamus directly references the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

The lyrics to "Cattle and the Creeping Things" by The Hold Steady refer to the Four Horsemen (among several other Biblical references) - "They got to the part with the cattle and the creeping things. They said I'm pretty sure we've heard this one before. Don't it all end up in some revelation? With four guys on horses, and violent red visions? Famine, and death, and pestilence and war? I'm pretty sure I heard this one before."

In the series The Wayfarer Redemption by Sara Douglass, the demonic antagonists each represent the four horsemen and have similar appearances and abilities.

The lyrics to "Revelations" by DragonForce feature a veiled reference to the Four Horsemen; quoting the latter part of the chorus, "And the Horsemen shall come, they will judge all your lives, Revelations will now be unveiled."

The Four Horsemen of Notre Dame was a group of football players at the University of Notre Dame under coach Knute Rockne in 1924. They were Harry Stuhldreher, Don Miller, Jim Crowley, and Elmer Layden. A US Stamp was issued in their honor in 1998 bearing a black and white image of the four players all on dark horses.

In the X-Men animated series, Apocalypse captured and changed four beings into his Horsemen, giving them the names War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death, each of them containing abilities that their given name implies.

The Horsemen are also referenced in Charmed (season 2) in the episode "Apocalypse Not." These horseman are actually well dressed demons who have to try and bring about the apocalypse by a certain time or they are killed by the Source of all Evil.

Three of the Four Horsemen appear near the end of the 1991 film The Rapture.

In an episode of "Robot Chicken" the Four Horsemen were referenced in a sketch called Apocalypse Ponies, parodying both My Little Ponies and the Four Horsemen.

In the protests at the Bank of England on the opening day of the G-20 summit, 2009, the four different protest groups represented themselves with the Four Horsemen. The Red Horse represented War, the Silver Financial Crime, the Green represented The Environment and Climate Change, and the Black horse represented Homeless, amongst other issues related to land and homes.

In the Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne video game (Maniax version) the protagonist must defeat the Four Horsemen. They present themselves in challenging boss battles.

The upcoming video game "Darksiders: Wrath of War" (8/25/2009), features the horseman "War" as the player, as well as his horse, exclusively named "Ruin", as War embarks on a journey to exact vengeance upon conspiring forces of heaven and hell, whose betrayal of the Four Horsemen by implicating the premature destruction of Earth, has caused War to be confined to the mortal world and stripped of his power.

The popular online role playing game Runescape also refers to the four horsemen in the "Stronghold of Security", except the names War, Famine, Disease and Death are applied to Dungeon Levels as opposed to actual characters. At the end of every level, a finishing reward of an opposing nature to the dungeon is awarded. The rewards are "The Gift Of Peace", "The Grain of Plenty", "The Box Of Health" and "The Cradle Of Life" respectively.

In Call of Duty 4, there are a group of four antagonists that call themselves the Four Horsemen.

In Digimon Adventure 01, the final enemies the Digidestined face are the four Dark Masters (MetalSeadramon, Machinedramon, Puppetmon, and Piedmon), followed by Apocalymon.

The punk band Gallows reference the four horsemen in their song Death Voices.

Also mentioned in the Fever book series, By Karen Marie Moning, to be four Unseelie Princes escaped from the Seelie Queen's prison on Halloween.

In "The Knowing" With Nicolas Cage the "Whispering People" may be a reference to the Four Horsemen considering there was 4 of them and they did bring about the Apocalypse

See also

• Antichrist
• Apocalypse
• Armageddon
• Book of Revelation
• Eschatology
• Horsemen of Apocalypse (comics)
• Summary of Christian eschatological differences
• The book with seven seals (oratorio)
• The Four Horsemen (song)
• Good Omens
• Thief of Time
• Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse

External links

Media related to Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse at Wikimedia Commons