“Revelation was written around 96AD...”
Revelation was written no later than 68 AD, and here’s why:
“This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while. Revelation 17:9-10
Jerusalem, kike Rome, is a city built on seven hills. But that’s not really relevant to the dating of the book. This, however, is:
“They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while.”
The progression of the Roman Caesars is as follows:
1. Julius
2. Augustus
3. Tiberias
4. Caligula
5. Claudius
6. Nero (under whom Christians were first persecuted by Rome)
7. Galba (whose reign lasted only 7 months and 7 days.)
John wrote that the “sixth is”, meaning that Nero was still alive: the same Nero who had Paul beheaded and Peter crucified upside down.
Now, some will argue that John was on Patmos under Domitian’s reign. Robert Young, cited below, argues otherwise.
Robert Young, author of Young’s Analytical Concordance, wrote a commentary on Revelation published prior to 1885 wherein he makes the following statement: “It was written in Patmos about A.D. 68, whither John had been banished by Domitius Nero, as stated in the title of the Syriac version of the book; and with this concurs the express statement of Irenaeus in A.D. 175, who says it happened in the reign of Domitianou - i.e., Domitius (Nero). Sulpicius, Orosius, etc., stupidly mistaking Dimitianou for Domitianikos, supposed Irenaeus to refer to Domitian, A.D. 95, and most succeeding writers have fallen into the same blunder. The internal testimony is wholly in favor of the early date.”
http://www.preteristcentral.com/Dating%20the%20Book%20of%20Revelation.html
Now, what was Nero’s given name?
Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, the future Nero, was born on 15 December 37 in Antium (modern Anzio and Nettuno[11]), near Rome.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero
The belief that Domitian placed John on Patmos in the mid-90’s ultimately boils down to the similarity between the names Domitious and Domitian, and a typo. Nero placed John there.