Through Bible prophecy it seems that the beast of Revelation is the Roman Pope. It should be noted that the Pope Benedict XVI was not of the ten nations listed as from the former Roman Empire. It is evident that these ten nations will indeed be European as all being of the former Roman Empire. But, interestingly, it appears the beast himself will NOT BE OF THE TEN; but he will be "diverse from the first" (Daniel 7:24) meaning he will be an elected Pope not out of any of those ten European nations. Actually, Germany does qualify as NOT being of the Roman Empire, but the thinking is that it will be the Pope after Benedict XVI who will be the inherit beast, maybe not European and NOT OF THE TEN. And of course the following Pope was Francis from Argentina which also qualifies as NOT being from one of the ten nations. These ten nations are listed on this website on the page named: Ten Nations. This also taking aside that the beast could be a political leader of a reformatted European Union. But the implication is that the beast will be religious in nature, and being that the Pontiff has embraced all the world's religions makes it suspect. In addition, the diverseness of the beast could possibly be referring to "alien" bloodline as in Genesis chapter six as a subsequence of not being of the ten nations, however, Revelation 13:18 specifically states he will be "a man".
Also to note, the False Prophet is to be "the Assyrian" as in Micah chapter five. The False Prophet being the second beast of Revelation who proposes the "abomination of desolation" which is the "image of the beast" (Revelation 13:15) at the start of the three and one-half year Great Tribulation. And it is presumed that this False Prophet with all his "signs and wonders" is a counter to Elijah the prophet, and that he will be relatively young while the beast will be older. The place of reign for the False Prophet eventually being "between the seas" in Israel, and the beast being in Rome then he moves to Babylon.