Roman Imperial Texts: A Sourcebook

19. Introduction: The Eternal City and its Hold on the World

19 Introduction The Eternal City and its Hold on the World This section of the sourcebook is devoted to understanding the city of Rome itself, and the ways in which it kept the world in its grip. It influenced the world through war, commerce, games, and emperors. If you are studying the book of Revelation, this is the section of the sourcebook with which to begin. The book of Revelation relates the evil beast to a city on seven hills (see Rev. 17:7-18), a reference that in the first century ce indicated the city of Rome. And just as Babylon stands for Rome in 1 Pet. 5:13 and in 4 Ezra (also called 2 Esdras), which was written by a Jew around the year 100 ce, it is almost certain that the first hearers of Revelation would have thought of Rome when they heard the book’s various descriptions of Babylon. But as indicated in the introduction to this sourcebook, it is not my goal to convince my readers that the author of Revelation intended for all readers to think of Rome when they read the book’s descriptions of Babylon. It is rather simply to argue that since we seek to read the books of the Bible in the contexts in which they were written and first heard, we should consider ways in which the book of Revelation may reflect the military, commercial, athletic, and imperial dimensions of the Roman Principate. 175 ...