Rome was the great persecutor of Christians at the time that John was exiled to Patmos. Rome was the 4th beast of Daniel. Judeans were subjects of the Roman empire and could not take a life without the consent of Rome (reference Jesus trial and crucifixion). Many Judean religious leaders where the spiritual whores of Rome, but Jerusalem was not the Beast.
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Patmos (
Rev 1:9) is a tiny, volcanic island in the Aegean Sea, 40 miles (64 km) off the coast of Asia Minor. The Roman Empire sent its political prisoners there to live in exile.
John's confinement there shows that he is a partner with the churches' tribulation and patient endurance
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Rome is Babylon
There are two cities in Revelation: Jerusalem and Rome.
Revelation 11:7-10 Sodom/Egypt is Jerusalem.
Revelation 17:1-18 Babylon is Rome because it has 10 horns, just as the 4th Kingdom (Rome) in
Daniel 7:15-28
Revelation 14:8 Babylon previously had conquered Judah. In John's day, Rome was the nation with “dominion over the kings of the earth” (
Revelation 17:18) that oppressed Christ's people (17:6)
Don't forget that Nero martyred many Christians in Rome, including Peter and Paul.
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The Christian persecutions under Nero (after the fire of Rome):
Such indeed were the precautions of human wisdom. The next thing was to seek means of propitiating the gods, and recourse was had to the Sibylline books, by the direction of which prayers were offered to Vulcanus, Ceres, and Proserpina. Juno, too, was entreated by the matrons, first, in the Capitol, then on the nearest part of the coast, whence water was procured to sprinkle the fane and image of the goddess. And there were sacred banquets and nightly vigils celebrated by married women. But all human efforts, all the lavish gifts of the emperor, and the propitiations of the gods, did not banish the sinister belief that the conflagration was the result of an order. Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judća, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.
Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was exhibiting a show in the circus, while he mingled with the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood aloft on a car. Hence, even for criminals who deserved extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose a feeling of compassion; for it was not, as it seemed, for the public good, but to glut one man's cruelty, that they were being destroyed.
Complete Works of Tacitus. Tacitus. Alfred John Church. William Jackson Brodribb. Sara Bryant. edited for Perseus. New York. : Random House, Inc. Random House, Inc. reprinted 1942.
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/...3Achapter%3D44
Tacitus, Tertullian, Eusebius and other sources document the persecutions of Christians under Rome.
Island of Patmos
John is considered to be exiled to Patmos, undergoing a time of persecution under the Roman rule of Domitian.
Revelation 1:9 states: "I, John, both your brother and companion in tribulation ... was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." Adela Yarbro Collins, a biblical scholar at Yale Divinity School, writes:
Early tradition says that John was banished to Patmos by the Roman authorities. This tradition is credible because banishment was a common punishment used during the Imperial period for a number of offenses. Among such offenses were the practices of magic and astrology. Prophecy was viewed by the Romans as belonging to the same category, whether Pagan, Jewish, or Christian. Prophecy with political implications, like that expressed by John in the book of Revelation, would have been perceived as a threat to Roman political power and order. Three of the islands in the Sporades were places where political offenders were banished. (Pliny, Natural History 4.69–70; Tacitus, Annals 4.30)[14]
John was allegedly banished by the Roman authorities to the Greek island of Patmos, where, according to tradition, he wrote the Book of Revelation. According to Tertullian (in The Prescription of Heretics) John was banished (presumably to Patmos) after being plunged into boiling oil in Rome and suffering nothing from it. It is said that all in the audience of Colosseum were converted to Christianity upon witnessing this miracle. This event would have occurred in the late 1st..century, during the reign of the Emperor Domitian, who was known for his persecution of Christians.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Patmos
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