Babylon the great. The Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth.
(6) "And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her I wondered with a great admiration."
Here follows an interpretation of the vision unintelligible
to us, from which we can only emphasize the point
that the seven heads[11] of the dragon means the seven
hills upon which the woman sits. This is probably a distinct
allusion to Rome, the city whose temporal power
oppressed the world at the time of the Revelation. The
waters upon which the woman "the mother" sits are
"peoples and throngs and nations and tongues." This
also seems to refer to Rome, for she is the mother of
peoples and possessed all lands. Just as in common
speech, for example, colonies are called daughters, so
the people subject to Rome are like members of a family
subject to the mother. In another version of the picture,
the kings of the people, namely, the fathers, commit
fornication with this mother. Revelation continues
(xviii: 2):
(2) "And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon
the Great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of
devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every
unclean and hateful bird.
(3) "For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication."
Thus this mother does not only become the mother of
all abominations, but also in truth the receptacle of all
that is wicked and unclean. The birds are images of
