386 G. Biguzzi that two such interventions in two such strategic spots of the Ephesian urban structure provoked the writing of Rev. The composition of the Johannine Apocalypse can be historically explained, even if Domitian did not increase significantly the emperor cult in Asia or elsewhere. Experiencing the imperial “idolatry” in Ephesus with his own eyes and ears, and without being intimidated by the most powerful man on earth, John dared to define him as “the Beast”, and directed against him one of the most aggressive books ever written (49). * ** In conclusion, the hypothesis that Rev’s Babylon is Jerusalem is not free from difficulties, while, on the contrary, the traditional interpretation of Babylon as Rome explains, as no other is able to do, both the details of Rev and its narrative plot. The third Evangelist, then, was right when he wrote: “No one after drinking old wine desires new. For he says, ‘The old is good’ ” (Lk 5,39). The old wine, in our case, is that one of Victorinus of Poetovio. Pontificia Università Urbaniana G. BIGUZZI Via Urbano VIII, 16 I-00165 Roma SUMMARY The Babylon of Revelation 17–18 has been interpreted as imperial Rome since antiquity, but some twenty interpreters have rejected such a solution in recent centuries and have held that Babylon instead should be Jerusalem. This is not a minor question since it changes the interpretation of the whole book, because Rev would become all of a sudden an anti-Jewish libel, after having been an anti- Roman one. This article discusses the pros and cons of the two interpretations and concludes that the traditional one matches both the details and the plot of the book much more than any other. (49) On the Ephesian temple and sports complex cf. especially FRIESEN, Twice Neokoros; ID., “Ephesus, Key to a Vision in Revelation”, BAR 19 (3, 1993) 24-37; ID., “The Cult of the Roman Emperors in Ephesus. Temple Wardens, City Titles, and the Interpretation of the Revelation of John”, Ephesos, Metropolis of Asia. An Interdisciplinary Approach to its Archaeology, Religion, and Culture (ed. H. KOESTER) (Harvard Theological Studies 41; Valley Forge, PA 1995) 229-236; and BIGUZZI, “Ephesus, its Artemision, its Temple to the Flavian Emperors, and Idolatry in Revelation”, 283-284.