And there are seven kings: five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet arrived, but when he does arrive he must remain a short while.

At the time that this Biblical vision was given, in the first century, the Sixth World Power, Rome, held sway. The seventh had not arrived. The five preceding world powers, that ‘had fallen’ were, in turn, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia and Greece.