Open Discussion: What is the IMAGE of the Beast??

For the last two millineum there has been a vast debate on the meaning of the many hyperbolic statements and allegorical symbols compiled by John during his exile on the island of Patmos. Almost every generation since has debated and believed a lot of these things to be for the time and era in which they were alive. The Image that the 2nd beast caused the nations to erect in honor of the 1st beast...did it happen already or no? What is this Image?