Is the Babylon of Revelation Rome or Jerusalem? 381 penalty by sword (13,10b) or by axe (pepelekismevnoi, 20,4), since the Jewish death penalty was by stoning (35). (2) Prostitution. — It is of course true that Israel in the OT is represented as Adonay’s bride and is charged with harlotry, but prostitution (porneiva) is not to be hurriedly identified with adultery (moiceiva), because an unmarried woman can also be a harlot. Furthermore, Tyre (Is 23,17) and Nineveh (Nah 3,4) are accused of harlotry as well. Finally, whereas in the OT Jerusalem is accused of letting itself be corrupted by the idolatry of the nations, in Rev, on the contrary, Babylon is corrupting them with its own idolatry (36). (3) Physical and political geography supposed in Rev 13 and 18. - The Beast of Rev 13, which rises from the sea (v. 1), has authority over, or is adored by “all the earth” (v. 3), “every tribe and people and tongue and nation” (v. 7), and “all the inhabitants of the earth” (v. 8)(37). The Babylon of Rev 17-18 has corrupted, or has enriched, or is mourned by “all the nations” (18,3), “the kings and merchants of the earth” (18,3b.9.11.17), and “all those who had ships at sea” (18,19). Such a sea, that bathes many regions with their many peoples of different languages and cultures, is recognisable as the Mediterranean sea, whereas the multi-ethnic reign and its capital city, are recognisable as the Roman empire and Rome, much more conveniently than as Jerusalem (38). (35) The root pelek- is found around 1,050 times in the Greek literature from the VIII century B.C. to the XV century A.D. Among the Jewish writers, Philo of Alexandria makes use of it only once (Prov. 2,29,6), and Flavius Josephus eighteen times, but mentioning the axe only three times in “Jewish” episodes: two times to say that the golden eagle which Herod placed on the temple was demolished with the strokes of an axe (Ant. iud. 17,155; Bell. iud. 1, 651) and another to say that with an axe a chain was broken. Elsewhere, for Josephus, the axe is the weapon of the bodyguards of the king Artaxerxes in Ant. iud. 11,205, and, in all the remaining occurrences, is always a weapon used by the Romans to put people to death. (36) It is sufficient, for example, to say that one of the texts quoted for the “harlotry” of Jerusalem by Beagley (p. 67) and Lupieri (p. 249) is Ez 23,27 where it is spoken of as a harlotry “which [comes] from the land of Egypt - m’r¶ mi¶rym”. (37) Cf. the chapter on the political geography presupposed in Rev 13 and Rev 18, in G. BIGUZZI, L’Apocalisse e i suoi enigmi (Brescia 2004) 47-62. (38) Cf. W. HADORN, Die Offenbarung des Johannes (Leipzig 1928), 139 (“[‘sea’ in Rev 13,1, being contrasted with ‘land’] wohl geographisch zu verstehen ist und das im Westen befindliche Meer bedeutet”); D. GEORGI, “Die Visionen vom himmlischen Jerusalem in Apok 21 und 22”, Kirche. Fs G. Bornkamm (eds. D. LÜHRMANN ET ALII) (Tübingen 1980) 353 (“seebezogen”, “Welthandelshafen”); H. CONZELMANN – A. LINDEMANN, Arbeitsbuch zum Neuen Testament (Tübingen 199511) 393.