Revelation refers to the region of the ME.
"Jerusalem
The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem, by
David Roberts (1850)
Alan James Beagley,
David Chilton, J. Massyngberde Ford, Peter Gaskell,
Kenneth Gentry,
Edmondo Lupieri, Bruce Malina, Iain Provan, J. Stuart Russell, Milton S. Terry
[25] point out that although Rome was the prevailing
pagan power in the 1st century, when the Book of Revelation was written, the symbolism of the whore of Babylon refers not to an invading
infidel or foreign power. It refers to an
apostate false
queen, a former "
bride" who has been
unfaithful and who, even though she has been
divorced and cast out because of unfaithfulness, continues to falsely claim to be the "queen" of the spiritual realm.
[26][27][28] This symbolism did not fit the case of Rome at the time. Proponents of this view suggest that the "seven mountains" in Rev 17:9 are the seven hills on which Jerusalem stands and the "fall of Babylon" in Rev 18 is the fall and
destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
[29]
Several
Old Testament prophets referred to Jerusalem as being a spiritual harlot and a mother of such harlotry (
Isaiah 1:21;
Jeremiah 2:20; 3:1–11;
Ezekiel 16:1–43; 23,
as well as Epistle to the Galatians 4:25). Some of these Old Testament prophecies, as well as the warnings in the New Testament concerning Jerusalem, are in fact very close to the text concerning Babylon in Revelation. This suggests that
John of Patmos may well have actually been citing those prophecies in his description of Babylon.
[30]
For example, in
Matthew 23:34–37 and
Luke 11:47–51,
Jesus himself assigned all of the
bloodguilt for the killing of the prophets and of the saints (of all time) to the
Pharisees of Jerusalem. In Revelation 17:6 and 18:20,24, almost identical phrasing is used in charging that very same bloodguilt to Babylon. This is also bolstered by Jesus' statement that "it's not possible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem." (Luke 13:33).
[31]
Revelation 11:8 indicates that only Jerusalem is being referenced allegorically as “Sodom” and “Egypt”; “Where indeed their lord was crucified”, corroborated therewith Jesus Christ's statement in Luke 13:33. Moreover, Revelation 21:9–27 refers to “The New Jerusalem”, whereas Revelation 21:22 states, “And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it." This contrasts with “The
Synagogue of Satan” in Revelation 3:9. This coincides with St. Stephen's charge against the Sanhedrin, in Acts 7:43, “Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.”
en.wikipedia.org
The above premise fits the book a lot better than than the 'Rome' speculations do.
'Purple and red' are dyes from the ME, and also a part of the merchandise available in Babylon. The '10 horns' are a reference to the Greek Decopolis cities. '7 hills' is Jerusalem, and the center of the Babylonian Jews' temple cult. John was Jewish, probably a former Pharisee like Paul; Rome was not the center of the universe for Jews, the ME was, and where most of the diaspora was.
The chiastic structure of the book gives other clues.
John was already in exile, and wouldn't have given a rat's ass about hiding anything from the Romans, and the Christians certainly wouldn't have by that point in time either. The 'seven churches;' were likely still synagogues when it was written, and therefore 'Babylonian' as well. The final break didn't come until the Pharisees' last revolt under Kokhba, when they openly started murdering 'Galileans' along with Romans and the Pharisees started up a new cult after losing again, built around a fake 'oral Torah'.
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