PART II
THE IDENTITY OF BABYLON

BABYLON IN THE APOCALYPSE

In concert with a study of the dating of the Revelation, the identity of Babylon in the Apocalypse should also be considered. An incorrect dating of the Apocalypse is often associated with an erroneous identification of this symbolic city which figures so prominently in the apocalyptic visions.

The Revelation designates a city as Babylon the Great, and the language is emphatic and sinister. Babylon is also described as a great whore and the mother of harlots. The word mystery (Gk. musterion, "what is known only to the initiated" - Young) indicates that Babylon would be identified by those to whom the Apocalypse was written, while the identity of the city would be veiled to the Roman authorities.

A comparison of the Rome of John's day with ancient Babylon reveals prominent similarities, and a very good case can be made for the usually accepted conclusion that Rome was indeed the place intended in the term Babylon. Like Rome, ancient Babylon was a great city and much more than a city. It was the center of both political and religious power and influence. Rome and Babylon each held sway in its own time over most of the civilized world, and each exercised a despotic authority that few dared to question.

The comments of many early Jewish and Christian writers indicate that Babylon was often used as a cypher for pagan Rome. Gibbon, speaking of the expectation of early Christians about the end of the world and the glory of the literal reign of the Messiah, says, "Whilst the happiness and glory of a temporal reign were promised to the disciples of Christ, the most dreadful calamities were denounced against an unbelieving world. ... The epithet of Babylon was applied to the city and to the empire of Rome." 1

"As Edom was the name applied to the Roman empire, so Babylon became the mystic name for the city of Rome". So writes Isbon Beckwith, and he cites in support of his statement Jewish and Christian writings from the Roman period.2 One of these sources was the Apocalypse of Baruch, a Jewish work that has survived from the first century. It is a composite of several writings which actually appeared between 50 and 90 A.D.; so it is a book that is contemporaneous with the New Testament writings. It contains several allusions to Rome as Babylon, contrasting downtrodden Zion with the oppressive imperial city.3 A search through early Christian writings reveals that Babylon was a euphemism for Rome. The analogy was commonly applied, and the theme persists for several centuries. Hippolytus, bishop of Portus (born A.D. 155) compares the Apocalypse with Old Testament prophecies and alludes to the spiritual connection between the Babylon of the prophet Daniel and the Rome of the apostle John's day. "Tell me, blessed John," he writes, "Apostle and disciple of our Lord, what didst thou see and hear concerning Babylon? Arise, and speak; for it sent thee also into banishment."4 It was under the authority of Rome that the apostle John was exiled.

Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea in Palestine (born A.D. 262), writes with regard to the use of the term Babylon by the apostle Peter and illustrates that the apostle was understood at that time to be referring to Rome.

"This account is given by Clement, in the sixth book of his Institutions, whose testimony is corroborated also by that of Papias, bishop of Hierapolis. Peter mentions Mark in his first epistle, which they say he composed in Rome itself; and it is said that he indicates this by referring to the city metaphorically as Babylon in these words: 'the church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; as also my son Mark.' 1 Peter v. 13." 5

Mark, mentioned by Peter as being with him in "Babylon", is further associated with the city of Rome in a reference by the apostle Paul. In Rome, Paul sends for Mark in 2 Tim. 4: 11.

Augustine, bishop of Hippo, (born A.D. 354) in his City of God repeatedly alludes to the pagan city of Rome as Babylon. He speaks of "Babylon, the first Rome," and he writes that "Rome plays the role of a second Babylon." 6

The following excerpt from The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia provides a helpful summary.

"There are some striking facts which point to Rome as the city that is designated (in the Apocalypse) as Babylon.

(1) The characteristics ascribed to this Babylon apply to Rome rather than to any other city of that age:

(a) as ruling over the kings of the earth;
(b) as sitting on seven mountains;
(c) as the center of the world's merchandise;
(d) as the corrupter of the nations;
(e) as the persecutor of the saints.

(2) Rome is designated as Babylon in the Sibylline Oracles (5: 143) 7 , and this is perhaps an early Jewish portion of the book. The comparison of Rome to Babylon is common in Jewish apocalyptic literature (see 2 Esdras and the Apocalypse of Baruch).

(3) Rome was regarded by both Jews and Christians as being antagonistic to the kingdom of God, and its downfall was confidently expected. This conception is in accord with the predicted downfall of Babylon (Rev. 14: 8; 18). As Babylon had been the oppressor of Israel, it was natural that this new power, which was oppressing the people of God, should be designated as Babylon."8

1 Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. I, p. 263.

2 Beckwith, Apocalypse of John, p. 656.

3 Apocalypse of Baruch, 11.1 (p. 18), 67.7 (p. 110).

4 Hippolytus, The Writings of Hippolytus, Bishop of Portus, "Treatise on Christ and Antichrist", II, 36.

5 Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book 2, ch. 15.

6 Augustine, The City of God, Book XVIII, Ch. 2 (p. 86).

7 During the Hellenistic age and under the early Roman empire, literary-minded Jews and Christians were impressed by the respect paid to the various sibyls (Greek writings) and they proceeded to create a collection of oracles, written in Greek hexameters, ... The oldest oracle probably found in book 3 (150-100 B.C.), books 4, 5 are Jewish works of the reign of Domitian (81-96 A.D.); 6, 7 are Christian. (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 20, p.464, 1977 edition).

8 International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, "Babylon in the New Testament", Vol. I, p. 358.