Before Jerusalem Fell

Th Identi~ of th Sixth King 149
requires wisdom is due to the fact that the visual representation being
elucidated has a two-fold referent: “The seven heads are [1] seven
mountains on which the woman sits, and they are [2] seven kings”
(w. 9-10a). This feature would doubtless escape the interpreter without
the angelic explication. It would appear, then, that the expression
“here is the mind which has wisdom” is introducing the interpretation
of a vision so that he who follows the angelic interpretation has
wisdom. To argue that the following statements become more difficult
would go contrary to the stated purpose of the angelic explanation.
This leads us to our next consideration, which gives us important
information for the determination of the date of Revelation.
The Seven Hills
The first aspect of the historical allusion to note in these expositional
verses is the reference to the place where the woman sits. The
text unambiguously states: “The seven heads are seven mountains on
which the woman sits.” Here is an area described geographically as
having “seven mountains.” Perhaps no point is more obvious in
Revelation than this one: Rome is symbolized here by the seven
mountains. Rome is the one city in history that has been distinguished
for and universally recognizable by its seven hills. The famous seven
hills are the Palatine, Aventine, Caelian, Esquiline, Viminal, Quirinal,
and Capitoline hills.3
Suetonius and Plutarch record for us that in the time of Domitian
the festival of Se@montium (“the feast of the seven hilled city”) was
held annually in December to celebrate the seven hills enclosing
Rome. 4
Archaeologists have discovered the Coin (or Medallion) of
Vespasian that exhibits a picture of the goddess Roma as a woman
seated on seven hills.5 The famed seven hills are frequently mentioned
among ancient writers; see Ovid, Claudian, Statius, Pliny, Virgil,
Horace, Properties, Martial, Cicero, Sibylline Oracles, Tertullian, and
3. William Smith, Dictionay of Greek arsd Roman Geography, vol. 2 (Boston: Little,
Brown, 1870), pp. 719-721.
4. Suetonius, Domztian 4.
5. Ethelbert Stauffer, Chrirt and the Caesars: Historical Sketdzss, 3rd cd., trans. K. and
R. Gregor Smith (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1955), p. 173. Fausset, in Robert Jamieson,
A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, A Comm.entQV, Critical and Explanatory on the Old and New
Testamenk, 2 vols. (Hartford: Scranton, n.d.) 2:591 (at Rev. 17:9).