2. Babylon - the woman harlot. The woman harlot or
Babylon, which rides on the beast with 7 heads and 10 horns,
is Rome (Rev 17:3). Note that both the dragon and the first
beast has seven heads and ten horns. The former has seven
crowns set on its seven heads while the latter has ten crowns
set on its ten horns (Rev 17:6). The first is Satan; the second is
the Roman empire, Satan’s representative. Rome is a city with
7 hills and in its early history, was founded by 7 kings, the
first of which was Romulus, founder of Rome. The heads of
the dragon with 7 heads 10 horns and 7 crowns includes the
kingdoms of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia and Greece, which
were the four beasts of Daniel. That this beast is part lion
corresponds to the first beast of Daniel which looked like a
lion, Egypt. The part that is leopard corresponds to Persia and
the part that is a bear corresponds to Mesopotamia. Greece is
the beast with iron teeth. They make up 4 of the 7 heads of the
dragon and/or the first beast. The other 3 heads would be
Rome and its transformations (Dan 8:8, cf: 8:22). The fifth head
then, is early Rome during the kingship, comprising of tribes
(and their territories, e.g. Latium) around Rome that were
united during the time of Rome's first seven kings, first of
whom was Romulus, brother of Remus and founder of Rome.
Rome was its pride and capital city. The sixth head is Rome in
the time of the Republic - known for its democratic processes
and the Roman Senate, their own adaptation of the Greek
Ecclesia – and the Greek concept of the council that ruled the
city-state. Its territory now included most of Italy. Carthage
came under Roman rule after the Punic wars between them.
Spain, Sicily, parts of Gaul, and Alexander’s empire would
come under Roman control during the Republic. All of the
cities that were the pride of the Greek empire as well as those
that Rome had earlier conquered by itself, would now become
Roman possessions. The seventh head is Rome as an empire
which at its height stretched from the British Isles in the West
to Mesopotamia in the east and all of the kingdoms around
the Great Sea. We can now include as leading capital cities:
the city of Constantinople of the Byzantines, Ravenna in
northern Italy which became the seat of the Byzantine empire
in Italy as it asserted its rights to the Western Roman empire,
3. and London (Roman: Londinium) of England which was
founded by the Romans in 63 AD. i The eight head which “is
yet to come” is the Holy Roman empire (Rev 17:11).
We have already a number of candidates for the ten
horns of the dragon or beast, so that if we are to determine
them by the criterion set in Revelation 17:11 and the history
of Europe and of the nations around the Mediterranean, we
will have a general idea of who they are. To be considered one
of the ten leading city-states which comprise the ten horns,
the criterion would include its economic, cultural, social, civil,
political, as well as religious contribution to the empire. By
this time, ten would be the nominal number but, suffice it to
say that the ten leading capital cities during this time would
include the capital city of the first four beasts which are:
Alexandria of Egypt; Babylon of Mesopotamia; Susa,
Persepolis or Ecbatana, or any one of the three of Persia’s;
Athens or Sparta of Greece; and of course, Rome. The main
head is Rome which is also the head with the fatal wound that
was healed. It is the head which everyone thought would die
when the Roman empire fell in 476 AD, over which merchants
lamented for its loss displaced business and the economies of
ancient Europe ruined. However, after its fall, it became the
aspiration of its conquerors, its erstwhile enemies, to acquire
the width and breadth of the kingdom it had toppled. The fall
of the Roman empire was only a foreshadow of the beginning
of the Holy Roman empire, a more baneful beast which made
use of a second beast with two horns like a lamb and spoke
like a dragon - the anti-Christ pope of the Roman Catholic
church. By it, the Roman empire had supposedly become holy
as an entity pre-ordained by G-d. Thus, Revelation 13:3 says
that one of the heads of the beast that received a fatal wound
was healed and everyone was amazed and worshiped the
dragon which gave power to the first beast. The horns of the
pope corresponds to the western Roman Catholic church over
which the bishop of Rome, as the pope is also called, exercises
jurisdiction; and the Byzantine church, also called the Eastern
Orthodox church, to which the Greek Orthodox and Russian
Orthodox churches belong. The Eastern Orthodox church
implicitly acknowledges the supremacy of the Western church
4. (Roman Catholic church) though there are differences
between them that as of late are viewed as no longer
irreconcilable. In the time of King Constantine, the Roman
capital was moved to Byzantium which was renamed
Constantinople. Several Roman emperors followed suit,
foremost among them was Justinian (500 AD). The rivalry
between the bishops of Rome and Constantinople had grave
consequences to the Roman Catholic church as it resulted in a
schism which split the church, however, bishops of the
Eastern Orthodox churches can be seen in attendance when
the bishop of Rome is ordained as pope.
As each head must own a horn, and there are ten
horns of the first beast, one or some of the heads must own
more than one horn. If the seven heads will each have a horn,
there still are 3 more extra horns. Rome itself, may own up to
any of the horns or kingdoms that once was part of the
empire, and there are several. Present day sovereign nations
like Germany (land of the Teutons, eastern part of Gaul, also
formerly known as East Francia), France (western Gaul, West
Francia), Spain (Hispania), Turkey (Anatolia), Tunis
(Carthage), and England (Londinium) were once under the
empire. Greek influence can still be felt in Turkey and the
Hellenized kingdoms in Asia Minor and the Balkans. In fact,
the schism which broke up the empire into the Western
empire (Rome) and the Eastern empire (Constantinople) was
initiated by the desire of some of the emperors to make
Constantinople as the seat of power. The bishop of
Constantinople was also at various times in its history not in
agreement with the bishop of Rome until the doctrine against
icons of the western church gave way to the formation of the
Eastern Orthodox church. As horns are the pride of the head
that wears it, Rome must be the horn of Italy; Alexandria of
Egypt; Babylon of the Mesopotamian states; Susa, Persepolis,
and/or Ecbatana of Persia; and Athens, Sparta, and/or
Byzantium (Constantinople) of Greece.
However, since after the fall of the secular Holy
Roman empire in 1806, many of these horns have since
become sovereign nations no longer politically dependent on
5. Rome except in ecclesiastical matters. By virtue of the
principle in law of the independence of the church and state,
only the pope can dictate on the religious affairs of the Roman
Catholics which comprise approximately half of the
population of Europe. Furthermore, by virtue of the Lateran
Treaty, the Vatican is treated as a separate state, independent
from Italy. There are presently, two other unions, the
European Economic Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) that also binds these horns. However,
the NATO is primarily a military alliance limited to the
western half of Europe and excludes the former membernations of the Soviet Union and Russia. The influence of the
pope on the other hand can extend as far east as the Russian
Orthodox church from Great Britain in the west, where a
minority Catholics exist and a church that has not been
totally weaned from its traditional Catholic roots. The NATO,
on the other hand, it is believed, will eventually become
absorbed or integrated to evolve into the army of the EU.
With the demise of the Soveit Union, the NATO since the
Afghanistan war of 2001 has become embroiled in the Middle
East Conflict. The crowns of the dragon are on the heads and
there are seven crowns but the first beast’s are in the horns
and there are ten crowns – one for each horn. Therefore, as
the crowns are symbols of authority, the authority comes
from the horns, and there are ten of them. However, it appears
that to be significant only in Revelation 17:12 when, for an
hour, it will receive authority as kings with the beast, when
under the same period of time, they will decide to make war
against the Lamb.
Of the seven kings or heads of the beast (Rev 17:10),
“five have fallen”, and they are at the time of the writing by
John of the Book of Revelations which is approximated to be
sometime between 65-90 AD, the following: Egypt,
Mesopotamia, Persia and Greece as the first four heads. ii The
fifth head is Rome during the kingship. These are the five
heads that have fallen. "One is" means that the sixth head is
now (during the time of John's writing) This is also the time of
the Roman Republic. The seventh head - the Empire “is yet to
come”. This will be the time after Julius Caesar, in 27 BC and
6. to last until its fall in 476 A.D. Although strictly speaking,
John's time is already the beginning of Rome as an empire
(the seventh head), or more or less a century old already, its
breadth and width and its crowning glory as an empire are yet
to be achieved. “The glory that was Rome” as we call it today,
lasted 400 more years, even as John is writing his visions. Not
until 112 AD when Roman emperor Trajan annexed Armenia
and Parthia and made Mesopotamia a new province of the
empire was the Roman Empire to its largest extent.iii
Roman Empire Revived. The beast which the harlot
Babylon, the great city of Rome is sitting on, is the dragon,
Satan, which “once was, now is not, and will come up out of the
Abyss and go to his destruction” (Rev 17:8) which beast "will
yet come" and is also an "eight king" belonging to the seven, is
the Roman empire resurrected from out of his detention in the
Abyss, the temporary abode of Satan during the Millennium
(Rev 17:11). The reference is to the beast, but the event could
only refer to the dragon – which is the only beast that will
come out of the Abyss. As an “eight king” its revival will be as
like the Holy Roman empire, the eight head; which it was
before the Millennium. In the future event referred to in
Revelation 20:7 after his release, Satan with the aid of the
beast with two horns like a lamb, will revive the image of the
first beast, again. The "beast that once was” means the ancient
Roman empire from its beginnings, its fall, then its revival as
the Holy Roman empire until 1330 when it broke up with the
Roman Catholic church. "Now is not" because it is locked for a
thousand years in the Abyss beginning the year 1330, “and
will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction”
referring to the end of its incarceration from the Abyss at the
end of the Millenium to gather the kings and their armies for
that great day of the Lord Almighty. The tense here is not
grammatical. Neither is it literal. John is writing about the
future and the phrases are descriptions of the beast.
The Ninth Crusade was the last Crusade and further
crusades to Jerusalem were halted after Acre, the last
Crusader fort in the Holy Land, fell in the year 1291 AD. The
first Armageddon as the Crusades were all about is aptly
7. described in Revelation 19:19-21. The beast (Holy Roman
empire) was captured and together with the false prophet are
thrown into the lake of burning sulfur alive (Rev 19:20) by the
rider in the white horse called ‘Faithful and True’ (Rev 19:11)
also called the ‘Word of G-d’ (Rev 19:13) and ‘King of kings and
Lord of lords’ (Rev 19:16). Captured means they were also
defeated and the faiths founded on them are exposed for what
they are by the rider on the white horse. Almost forty (39)
years later, the death in January 13, 1330 AD of Frederick the
Fair, the pro-pope contender to the Holy Roman empire,
forever separated the church and state. These two events,
marked the beginning of the Millenium when the dragon or
Satan would be bound by the angel Abaddon (Gr.: Apollyon) in
chain and locked in the Abyss for a thousand years (Rev 20:3).
The second beast, not being mentioned, is presumed neither in
the Abyss nor in the lake of burning sulfur, but remained on
earth and continue to sow deception until his master, Satan is
released from the Abyss. The meaning of Revelation 17:8
could not possibly mean the first revival of the Roman empire
in the Holy Roman empire of the Franconian king,
Charlemagne in 800 AD because the Abyss where the beast is
locked will endure for a thousand years. It is only 324 years
from 476 AD (fall of the Roman empire), 486 years until Otto I
of Germany’s Holy Roman empire, 1330 years until Napoleon
Bonaparte (476 years from 1330), and 1,463 years until Adolf
Hitler’s Third Reich (609 years from 1330). The Holy Roman
empire is a mere image of the first beast, the Roman empire
(Rev 13:14-15), whose authority comes from Satan who is
depicted as the dragon. The second beast, who created the
image, is still free. When the Millennium is over, Satan shall
cause the revival of the Roman empire in 40 years before the
temple is reconsecrated in 2370 AD, at the instance of the
second beast (pope). Already, four revivals of the Roman
empire have occurred. They are forewarnings of the pattern of
events the final revival will follow, in order to guide the elect.
First, in 800 AD, under the initiative of the pope,
Charlemagne, the Franconian king, was crowned as the first
Holy Roman Emperor. Second, Otto I of Germany in 962 AD
aspired to become and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor of
the German Nation. The third was Napoleon Bonaparte, who
8. caused the fall of the Holy Roman empire in 1806, yet sought
the pope for the crown after securing religious freedom for
all, including Jews in the Concordat of 1801. Fourth was
Hitler’s Third Reich (1939-1945), as the third in line in
succession to the Holy Roman Empire after Bismarck’s
empire. Hitler was not crowned by the pope, though many
stories circulate of Hitler's seeking the pope for such purpose.
In the time of its final revival, after Satan’s release from the
Abyss after the thousand years are over (in 2330 AD), the
pope will breathe life into the new image of the Roman
empire - an European Union dominated by Roman Catholics.
European Union. Of existing European associations
with an aim to unite all the countries that were formerly
territories of ancient Rome, only the European Union (EU) has
evolved in possession of the elements (motive and history) for
reviving the empire described by the prophets Daniel and
John. In 1951, in the aftermath of the Second World War, the
Treaty of Paris was signed, creating the European Coal and
Steel Community (ECSC), an international community based
on supra-nationalism and international law, designed to help
the war ravaged economy of Europe and prevent future war
by federating its members into two communities: a European
Defense Community (EDC) and a European Political
Community (EPC). After the French protested its political
basis and proposed an alternative based on economics, the
Messina Conference in 1955 came out with a customs union
which became the cornerstone of the 1956 Inter-governmental
Conference on the Common Market and European Atomic
Energy Community (Euratom) and the basis for the two
Treaties of Rome signed on 25 March 1957, establishing a
European Economic Community (EEC), an extension of the
ECSC, and establishing the Euratom. The six countries who
signed them were: Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands and West Germany. The updated Treaty of Rome
is now called the Treaty on the Functioning of the European
Union. In 1967 the Merger Treaty created a single set of
institutions for the three communities, which were
collectively referred to as the European Community (EC).
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Date accessed 08/17/2009.
