PART II
THE IDENTITY OF BABYLON

THE SEPTIMONTIUM

"The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth" (Rev. 17: 9).

"Rome is not the only city in the world built on seven hills. Is not the same true of Jerusalem? What expositors very often overlook is the fact that the hills of Rome are hardly hills; they are certainly not mountains, which is the word used in Revelation 17: 9. Indeed, the highest of the seven hills of Rome is a mere 150 feet ... In sharp contrast with Rome, Jerusalem is built on seven mountains. The city stands at an altitude of 2400 feet above sea-level" (Revelation, page 210, H.A.W.).

In John's day, there was a familiar expression which referred to Rome as the Septimontium, the city built on seven hills. This idiom can be found frequently in first century and even more ancient writings. Every Roman knew the phrase - Rome of the seven hills - and the term had become commonplace throughout the empire. The figure of Rome as the seven-hilled capital appears in the works of all the well-known Latin Poets and in the later Sibylline Oracles.1 Ancient Roman literature abounds with references to imperial Rome as the queen-city sitting upon its seven mounts.

"Rome ... the city of the seven hills". 2
(Cicero, c. 76 B.C)

"Rome became of all things the fairest, and with a single city's wall enclosed her seven hills."

"... glorious Rome shall bound her empire with earth, her pride by heaven, and with a single city's wall shall enclose her seven hills." 3
(Virgil, c. 40 B.C.)

"... sing the hymn in honour of the gods who love the Seven Hills. ... ne'er mayest thou be able to view aught greater than the city of Rome!" 4
(Horace, c. 35 B.C.)

"The city high-throned on the seven hills, the queen of all the world ... Rome take thy triumph ..." 5
(Propertius, c. 20 B.C.)

"... Rome, that gazes about from her seven hills upon the whole world, - Rome, the place of empire and the gods". 6
(Ovid, c. 12 B.C.)

"... may you see the seven sovereign hills and take the measure of all Rome..." 7
(Martial, 40-104 A.D.)

Expositors generally agree that there can be no doubt as to the meaning of the apostle's reference, identifying the city-woman who sits upon the seven mountains. The allusion was too obvious to be missed by his readers.

"In the first place they are seven mountains where the woman had her seat in the days when the angel was speaking to John. To him and his readers this could scarcely have any meaning other than the city of Rome. For many centuries there had been held there annually a festival known as the Septimontium (seven mounts) to celebrate the inclusion of the seven hills within the city wall. Rome was known everywhere as THE CITY OF THE SEVEN HILLS ... the woman had her seat in Rome, but the name on her forehead proclaimed a secret connection with another city, Babylon." 8

No atlas, no historian speaks of Jerusalem as being situated on seven hills - or mountains! Usually Jerusalem has been identified with one hill - Zion.

"Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King" (Psa. 48: 2).

Zion is the name that from antiquity has been applied to the site of Jerusalem itself, though actually the height of Zion consists of two elevations, Zion and Moriah. "The mount itself was split into two hills, west and east, by a much shallower valley, scarcely visible today, called the Tyropoeon (Cheesemakers) Valley."9 The Oxford Bible Atlas describes the site of Jerusalem as "an indented rocky plateau, having a slope from north to south, and divided into two unequal ridges by a deep re-entrant valley ..." 10

Josephus described the city as being built upon two hills, divided by a valley,11 a description that accords with other topographical accounts. He goes on to mention five natural subdivisions of these two ridges. They are the Upper City (Zion); the Lower City (Akra); Ophel, the southeastern hill; Moriah, the Temple hill; and Bezetha, the northeastern hill. In the various ancient descriptions of Jerusalem there has been some ambiguity in the names and descriptions of these hills, but the delineation of five hills is consistent.12 So the numbers one, two and five have been found in the various descriptions of the site of Jerusalem - but never the number seven.

"Jerusalem ... is located on a 1, 000 - acre plateau, next to Gihon Spring in the central Judean mountains. It slightly slants toward the southeast and is encircled by the Kedron and Hinnom valleys. A lesser valley known as 'the Tyropoeon' drains central Jerusalem and divides the 'Lower City' from the 'Upper City.' ... Within the walls of Jerusalem are five famous hills - Mount Ophel, Mount Moriah, Mount Zion, the Northwestern Hill and Bezetha." 13

The comparative elevations of the cities of Rome and Jerusalem are simply not relevant. The word oros (hill, mount, mountain - Young) does not necessarily indicate great elevation and is sometimes translated hill (as it is in this particular verse in the RSV). 14

TOPOGRAPHY OF ROME AND JERUSALEM

ROME BEFORE 500 B.C.
1. Circus Maximus
2. Temple of Diana (probable site)
3. Cloaca Maxima
4. Temple of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva
5. Curia (first meeting place of the Senate)
6. Temple of Janus
7. Temple of Vesta
8. Regia (palace of the early kings;
under the republic the residence
of the pontitex maximus)

Ancient Rome with the seven hills delineated. They are the Capitoline, Aventine, Palatine, Quirinal, Viminal, Equiline and Caelian hills. Septimontium, an ancient term for Rome, celebrated the seven mounts within the city wall. (Illustration from Ancient Rome, Robert Payne, American Heritage Press, 1970).

Jerusalem was built on a ridge into which were cut several valleys. The five elevations are indicated. The Mount of Olives is across the Kedron valley, outside the city. The mountains round about Jerusalem are higher yet than the elevations of the city. In the future it will be exalted above the hills which surround it. (Illustration from The Wycliffe Historical Geography of Bible Lands.

1 Cited by Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John, p. 220.

2 Cicero, Letters to Atticus, VI. 5.

3 Virgil, Georgics, II; Aenid, VI.

4 Horace, A Secular Hymn (The Odes and Epodes, p. 351).

5 Propertius, The Elegies, III.xi.

7 Martial, Epigrams, IV.lxiv.

8 Lang, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, p. 267.

9 Jerusalem (Keter Publishing House), p. 648.

10 Oxford Bible Atlas, "Jerusalem in Old Testament Tunes", p. 80.

12 International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, "Jerusalem", Vol. Ill, p. 1600; Simons, Jerusalem in the Old Testament, "The City of Josephus", p. 36; Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, "Jerusalem", p. 460.

13 Owen, The Holy Land, pp. 165-166.

14 "... the seven heads are seven hills on which the woman is seated" (Rev. 17: 9).