NOTES

¹ Cf. J.A.T. ROBINSON, Redating the New Testament (London 1976), with bibliography (chap. VIII); K.L. GENTRY, Before Jerusalem Fell. Dating the Book of Revelation. An Exegetical and Historical Argument for a Pre-A.D. 70 Composition (Tyler, TX 1989), with bibliography (17-18, 24-38); R.B. MOBERLY, "When was Revelation Conceived?", Bib 73 (1992) 376-393; J.C. WILSON, "The Problem of the Domitianic Date of Revelation", NTS 39 (1993) 587-605; T.B. SLATER, "Dating the Apocalypse to John", Bib 84 (2003) 252-258.

² In the past the following supported the reinterpretation of Irenaeus: J.M. MACDONALD, The Life and Writings of St. John (London 1877) 169-170; S.H. CHASE. "The Date of the Apocalypse. The Evidence of Irenaeus", JTS 8 (1907) 431-435; G. EDMUNDSON, The Church in Rome in the First Century (London 1913) 164-165, among others. Nowadays, GENTRY, Before, 45-59.

³ Cf. F.W. FARRAR, The Early Days of Christianity (New York 1884) 398; E.C. SELWYN, The Christian Prophets and the Prophetic Apocalypse (London 1900) 125; D. GUTHRIE, New Testament Introduction (Downers Grove, IL ³1970) 17; J. MOFFATT, The Revelation of St. John the Divine, The Expositor’s Greek Testament (ed. W.R. NICOLL) (Grand Rapids 1980) V, 320; MOBERLY, "Revelation", 380-383.

⁴ On Irenaeus as the only source of this tradition, cf. M. STUART, Commentary on the Apocalypse (Andover 1845) I, 281-282; II, 269; M.S. TERRY, Biblical Hermeneutics (Grand Rapids [1883] 1974) 237-239; W.H. SIMCOX, The Revelation of St. John Divine (Cambridge 1898) xiii; C.C. TORREY, The Apocalypse of John (New Haven 1958) 78; B. NEWMAN, "The Fallacy of the Domitian Hypothesis. Critique of the Irenaeus Source as a Witness for the Contemporary-Historical Approach to the Interpretation of the Apocalypse", NTS 10 (1962) 133-139.

⁵ Papias was quoted by Philip of Side (TU, II, 170) and Georgius Hamartolus (Chronicon 3.134). Swete has stated that Papias does not affirm that the brothers suffered martyrdom at the same time. Therefore, John might have died at any date before the last days of Jerusalem. Cf. H.B. SWETE, Commentary on Revelation (Gran Rapids [1911] 1977) clxxix-clxxx.

⁶ Cf. GENTRY, Before, 93-94.

⁷ Cf. GENTRY, Before, 104-105. Recently, M.-É. Boismard has defended the tradition of the early martyrdom of the apostle John, son of Zebedee (Le martyre de Jean l’apôtre [Paris 1996]).

⁸ Cf. GENTRY, Before, 68-83.

⁹ EDMUNDSON, The Church in Rome, 168; G.W. BARKER – W.L. LANE – J.R. MICHAELS, The New Testament Speaks (New York 1969) 368; L.L. THOMPSON, The Book of Revelation. Apocalypse and Empire (Oxford 1990)95-115.

¹⁰ Cf. GENTRY, Before, 97-99.

¹¹ Mark 13,1-2; Matt 24,1-2; Luke 21,5-6.

¹² Mic 3,12 (cf. Jer 26,18); Jer 7,12-15.

¹³ Dan 9,27; 11,31; 12,11.

¹⁴ Mark 13,14; Matt 24,15. Cf. Luke 21,20.

¹⁵ During the nineteenth century the following supported this position: F. BLEEK, An Introduction to the New Testament (Edinburgh ²1870) II, 226; MACDONALD, The Life and Writings of St. John, 159; F. DÜSTERDIECK, Critical and Exegetical Handbook to the Revelation of John (New York ³1886) 46-47; B. WEISS, A Manual of Introduction to the New Testament (New York 1889) II, 82. In the twentieth century: TORREY, The Apocalypse, 87; ROBINSON, Redating, 240-242; GENTRY, Before, 165-192; WILSON, "The Problem", 604.

¹⁶ All biblical citations come from the New Revised Standard Version, unless I indicate the contrary.

¹⁷ R.H. CHARLES, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Revelation of St. John (Edinburgh 1920) I, lxii-lxiii, xciii-xciv, 270-271; MOFFATT, The Revelation, 281-295.

¹⁸ Cf. H.B. SWETE, The Apocalypse of St. John (London 1906) 221.

¹⁹ W. MILLIGAN, Discussions on the Apocalypse (London 1893) 95; G.B. CAIRD, A Commentary on the Revelation of St. John the Divine (New York 1966) 132; R.H. MOUNCE, The Book of Revelation (Grand Rapids 1977) 35.

²⁰ C.H. GIBLIN, The Book of Revelation. The Open Book of Prophecy (Collegeville, MN 1991); M. BACHMANN, "Himmlisch: Der ‘Tempel Gottes’ von Apk 11:1", NTS 40 (1994) 474-480.

²¹ According to the Scriptures, God will be the eternal light that will enlight Jerusalem (Isa 60,1-3.19-20). His promise of giving David and his lineage a lamp (1 Kgs 11,36; 15,4; 2 Kgs 8,19; 2 Chr 21,7) was transformed into a messianic prophecy: "There I will cause a horn to sprout up for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed one" (Ps 132,17). God himself declared that His Chosen one would be "light" to the nations (Isa 42,6; 49,6).

²² D. FLUSSER, Judaism and the Origins of Christianity (Jerusalem 1988) 457-459.

²³ FLUSSER, Judaism, 464.

²⁴ Josephus, Bell. Iud. 2-6.

²⁵ Arguments in favor of Rome as Babylon the Great (Rev 17–18) can be found in: J.E. BRUNS, "The Contrasted Woman of Apocalypse 12 and 17", CBQ 26 (1964) 459-463; A.Y. COLLINS, "Revelation 18: Tount-Song or Dirge?", L’Apocalypse johannique et l’Apocalyptique dans le Nouveau Testament (ed. J. LAMBRECHT) (Leuven 1980) 185-204; C.P. THIEDE, "Babylon, der andere Ort: Anmerkungen zu 1 Petr 5,13 und Apg 12,17", Bib 67 (1986) 532-538; R. BERGMEIER, "Die Erzhure und das Tier: Apk 12,18 –13,18 und 17f.: Eine quellen- und redaktionskritische Analyse", ANRW II 25.5 (1988) 3899-3916; MOBERLY, "Revelation", 383-389; R. BAUCKHAM, The Climax of Prophecy. Studies in the Book of Revelation (Edinburgh 1993); A.Y. COLLINS, "Feminine Symbolism in the Book of Revelation", Biblical Interpretation 1 (1993) 20-33; H. GIESEN, "Das Römische Reich im Spiegel der Johannes-Apokalypse", ANRW II 26.3 (1996) 2501-2614; J.N. KRAYBILL, Imperial Cult and Commerce in John’s Apocalypse (Sheffield 1996); D.E. AUNE, Revelation 17–22 (Nashville 1998); G.K. BEALE, The Book of Revelation. A Commentary on the Greek Text (Grand Rapids 1999). Arguments in favor of Jerusalem as Babylon the Great can be found in: J.S. RUSSELL, The Parousia. The New Testament Doctrine of Our Lord’s Second Coming (Grand Rapids [1878] 1999); W. MILLIGAN, Lectures on the Apocalypse (London 1892); J.M. FORD, Revelation (New York 1975); GENTRY, Before; D.K. PRESTON, Who is this Babylon? (Ardmore, OK 1999). But Rev 17,18 is too conclusive to have doubts about Rome as Babylon the Great: "And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth".

²⁶ According to Eusebius, the Jewish-Christians went to Pella "before the war", because God ordered it through a revelation received by "approved men" (Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 3.5). However, it is very probable that this escape had taken place after the disastrous retreat of Cestius, when "many of the most eminent of the Jews swam away from the city, as from a ship when it was going to sink" (Josephus, Bell. Iud. 2.20.1).

²⁷ According to this patristic tradition, Peter and Paul died in the same year, the fourteenth year of Nero’s reign (Eusebius, Chronicon 2.211; Hist. eccl. 2.25; Jerome, De viris ill. 5;12), that is to say, between October of 67 and June of 68.

²⁸ Eusebius and Jerome affirmed that Peter and Paul died in the same year. But some Fathers used to present their lives as parallel lives. Irenaeus, for example, assured his readers that Peter and Paul founded the church of Rome. Cf. C.P. THIEDE, Simon Peter. From Galilee to Rome (Grand Rapids 1988) 157, 190-191. In my opinion, Peter was probably crucified in 64, during the repression that took place as a consequence of the fire in Rome, three years before the death of Paul in 67.

²⁹ W.M. RAMSAY, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia and their place in the plan of the Apocalypse (Grand Rapids [1904] 1963) chap. 29.

³⁰ Tacitus, Ann. 14.27.

³¹ Cf. F.O. PARKER, "‘Our Lord and God’ in Rev 4,11: Evidence for the Late Date of Revelation?", Bib 82 (2001) 209-217, 219-220, 224-226.

³² This hypothesis has been proposed by WILSON, "The Problem", 597-604.

³³ Cf. GENTRY, Before, 261-276, 279.

³⁴ Cf. MOBERLY, "Revelation", 377-379, 389; SLATER, "Dating", 254.

³⁵ FARRAR, The Early Days, 471; D.R. HILLERS, "Revelation 13:18 and A Scroll from Murabba’at", BASOR 170 (1963) 65; GENTRY, Before, 193-212; WILSON, "The Problem", 598.

³⁶ Cf. note 25. On a coin (or medallion) of Vespasian, Rome is represented as a woman seated on seven hills. Cf. E. STAUFFER, Christ and the Caesars. Historical Sketches (Philadelphia ³1955) 173.

³⁷ A.Y. COLLINS, New Jerome Biblical Commentary (London 1989) 998-999; THOMPSON, The Book, 14.

³⁸ Cf. note 9.

³⁹ Cf. F.J.A. HORT, The Apocalypse of St. John (London 1908) I, xxvi; GENTRY, Before, 285-299.

⁴⁰ I follow the traditional interpretation of considering the emperors already dead as "fallen". Cf. Moberly and his hypothesis that the five "fallen" kings are five emperors who died a violent death (Julius Caesar, Gaius, Nero, Galba, Otho). MOBERLY, "Revelation", 377, 383, n. 22, 385.

⁴¹ Tacitus, Hist. 1.2; 2.8-9; Suetonius, Nero 57; Zonaras, Ann. 11.15-18.

⁴² Cf. GENTRY, Before, 74-77, 300-307.

⁴³ Tacitus, Ann. 4.34; Suetonius, Iulius 76; Josephus, Ant. Iud. 18.2.2; 18.6.10; 4 Ezra 11-12; Or. Sib. 5.12-15. Cf. A.Y. COLLINS, Crisis and Catharsis. The Power of the Apocalypse (Philadelphia 1984) 60-62; GENTRY, Before, 154-159.

⁴⁴ Mark 13,19; Matt 24,21.

⁴⁵ Mark 13,14; Matt 24,15. Cf. Luke 21,20.

⁴⁶ 1 Macc 1,54; 9,27; Dan 9,27; 11,31; 12,1.11.

⁴⁷ Josephus, Ant. Iud. 18.8.2.