"And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads."
(Revelation 13:1)
Without exception, the imagery of the sea monster is used throughout the OT to represent evil kingdoms which persecute God's people. The same Daniel imagery of horns and heads applied to the dragon in (Rev. 12:3-4) is applied here to another sea beast to depict the dragon's earthly minion.
That the Dragon had diadems on his heads and the beast has them on his horns shows that the dragon has the ultimate rule and mandates his will through the beast, who arises from the watery, dark home of the dragon. The dragon stations himself by the sea, spewing out floods after the church, the beast comes out of the sea, and the harlot "sits on many waters" (Rev. 17:1), thus indicating that the sea is pictured symbolically as the dwelling place of evil. The dark realm of evil encompasses unbelieving people, so that the beast may also be seen as having its earthly origin from the mass of an unregenerate humanity.
The diadems symbolize the beast's false claims of sovereign, universal authority which are in opposition to the true "King of kings and Lord of lords", who also wears "many diadem's". The blasphemous names written on the beast's heads represent blasphemous claims to earthly, divine kingship by the beast in feeble imitation of Christ's true kingship.
(G.K. Beale)
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