211562994

The Great Whore of Babylon in the Vision of Apocalypse 17.
A gender-informed approach bridging the gap between socio-historical and

feminist-critical interpretations.
A Dissertation
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Doctor of Theology
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Tobias Nicklas
Phd Candidate: Maria Hladiuc
Faculty of Roman-Catholic Theology
University of Regensburg
Acknowledgments
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Prof. Dr. Tobias Nicklas, my Doktorvater,
who offered me unconditioned guidance and invaluable support in accomplishing this
endeavour. His propensity for detail set an example for academic consistency, which has
influenced and shaped the current research.
Apart from his professional assistance, I would like to thank Tobias Nicklas for his warm
engagement and the chance to learn from him, despite the linguistic, cultural and
geographical barriers. His understanding and efforts are dearly appreciated.
I gratefully acknowledge the support from Koordinationsstelle Chancengleichheit & Familie

of University Regensburg, in particular Katja Weber-Khan and Kerstin Schlögl-Flierl.
My thanks go to my former colleagues, Augustine Anthony, Tina Hartl and Michael

Sommer, whose significant support and encouragements have helped me in times of great
distress.
I would like to thank my family for their love, patience and belief in me, for their continued
encouragements in all my pursuits. I am deeply appreciative of their existence.
A warm heart-felt thank you for his prayers goes to Fr. Árpád Bodoni, whose discrete
presence and steadfastness are always examples to follow.
Thank you to all the others, who contributed through their discussions to this research!
2
Table of Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................7
Part I: Laying the Theoretical Foundations ..................................................18
1. Delineating the Feminist Horizon .......................................................................................18

1.1 Main criticism to the historical-critical method from a feminist orientation.................................. 19
Provisional Conclusions (1) ....................................................................................................................31
1.2 Approaches from Socio-critical Perspective ................................................................................... 34
1.3 Approaches belonging to Literary Criticism ................................................................................... 47
1.4 Feminist Contribution to understanding of the above mentioned Perspectives ............................ 66
1.5. Delineating feminist perspectives with regard to ‘apocalypse’ and Apocalypse ........................... 73
General Assessment...............................................................................................................................77
2. History of Research ...........................................................................................................88

2.1 Coordinates of the main analyses of feminine imagery in the Apocalypse of John ........................ 89
2.1.1 Gendered images overall in the Apocalypse....................................................................... 89
2.1.2 Some relevant examples of gender-informed analysis of Apocalypse 17.......................... 101
Political focuses on the Great Whore ..................................................................................................105
Literary Readings of the Great Whore .................................................................................................110
Sociological Readings of the Great Whore...........................................................................................118
Mythological Focus ..............................................................................................................................121
Rhetographical Focus...........................................................................................................................123
The Great Whore as constitutive to Slander Discourse .......................................................................125
Assessment..................................................................................................................................128
Part II: The Vision of the Great Whore in Apocalypse 17:1-6......................133
Introduction........................................................................................................................133
i. Identifying the Problem ...............................................................................................137
ii. The Construction of the Gendered Metaphor ...............................................................139
Textual Compositional Elements .........................................................................................................140
Implied Elements .................................................................................................................................142
1. Introduction to Vision: vv. 1-2 ......................................................................................146
3
1.1 Introducing the Protagonists ....................................................................................................... 146
One of the seven angels having the seven bowls ................................................................................148
Spoke to me .........................................................................................................................................149
The judgment of the Great Whore ......................................................................................................152
Seated upon many waters ...................................................................................................................158
1.2 Provisional Assessment (1) .......................................................................................................... 164
1.3 Reasons for Judgment ................................................................................................................. 166
The kings of the earth fornicated with her ..........................................................................................168
The inhabitants of the earth have become inebriated ........................................................................170
The wine of her fornication .................................................................................................................171
1.5 Feminist Substance of Interest .................................................................................................... 174
2. General Overview of the Vision (17:3-6)...........................................................................180

2.1. Preliminary Methodical Considerations and Structural Overview............................................... 180
3. Posture ...........................................................................................................................187
3.1. Setting ........................................................................................................................................ 187
And he carried me away ......................................................................................................................187
In the spirit...........................................................................................................................................189
To a desert ...........................................................................................................................................191
Further associations and contrasts .............................................................................................195
Summary .....................................................................................................................................198
3.2 Description of the Whore and the Beast. Introduction ................................................................ 200
And I saw..............................................................................................................................................201
A woman ..............................................................................................................................................203
Excursus on the apocalyptic use of ‘woman’ and its associations ..............................................204
Seated ..................................................................................................................................................209
Upon a scarlet beast ............................................................................................................................212
Summary .....................................................................................................................................216
Full of blasphemous names .................................................................................................................219
Having seven heads and ten horns ......................................................................................................221
Summary .....................................................................................................................................223
3.3. Provisional Assessment (3) ......................................................................................................... 226
4. Dress and Ornaments ......................................................................................................228

4.1 Preliminary Considerations.......................................................................................................... 228
And the woman has been clothed .......................................................................................................229
Excursus on various attires in the Apocalypse. Implications.......................................................230
Summary .....................................................................................................................................234
With purple and scarlet .......................................................................................................................235
Summary .....................................................................................................................................240
And has been adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls ......................................................240
Summary .....................................................................................................................................245
In her hand, she had a golden cup .......................................................................................................247
Full with abominations and with the impurities of her prostitution ...................................................250
4
Summary .....................................................................................................................................254
5. Titles of Harlotry .............................................................................................................259

Upon her forehead, a name.................................................................................................................260
Summary .....................................................................................................................................264
Has been written..................................................................................................................................265
Summary .....................................................................................................................................267
Mystery ................................................................................................................................................267
Summary .....................................................................................................................................270
Babylon the Great ................................................................................................................................270
Excursus on female images as cities............................................................................................276
Mother of Whores ...............................................................................................................................280
Summary .....................................................................................................................................290
Mother. Further Interpretational Options ..................................................................................292
Summary .....................................................................................................................................295
(Mother) of the Earth’s abominations .................................................................................................296
6. Seer’s reaction to the vision.............................................................................................301

And I saw the woman drunk ................................................................................................................305
Summary .....................................................................................................................................314
With the blood .....................................................................................................................................315
Implications of the metaphor......................................................................................................318
Other implications.......................................................................................................................324
Summary .....................................................................................................................................326
[blood of] the saints and the blood of the witnesses to Jesus.............................................................327
Saints....................................................................................................................................................329
Witnesses of Jesus ...............................................................................................................................332
Summary .....................................................................................................................................335
And I was greatly amazed ....................................................................................................................337
Summary .....................................................................................................................................345
Upon seeing her/this ...........................................................................................................................346
Summary .....................................................................................................................................348
Conclusions ...............................................................................................353
Bibliography .............................................................................................362
5
Abstract
The vision of Apocalypse 17 describes in a judgmental manner the Great Whore. Whereas
nothing in her attire or adornment indicates the justification of such a title, sexual
appellatives permeate her description thus confining her interpretation within certain
boundaries.
This research subjects the vision of the Great Whore to a feminist critique by employing
various interpretative strategies, especially readers’ response in order to overcome the gap
existing between socio-historical (traditional) interpretations of the Great Whore and
feminist-critical (postmodern) ones.
Preoccupied with analyzing the effects the text has on readers, the dissertation is
ultimately a reaction to readings that conceive the Great Whore figuratively, as referring to
a city. For this reason, I embrace the sexuality permeating the description of the Great
Whore.
The thematic approach currently described implies engaging with the vision of the
Apocalypse afresh, by articulating the stand against the androcentric ideology in the text
and inadequate treatment of feminine imagery.
In this attempt, I fully acknowledge the power of the metaphorical expressions contained
in the image of the Great Whore, as well as value the sources identified traditionally in the
construction of this counter-creation of God.
Ultimately, I offer a corrective approach in the textual treatment of the Great Whore,
which is frequently read and interpreted in the light of Apocalypse 18.
Intertextuality and intersubjectivity help maintain a balance while interpreting by
constantly unmasking the ideological effects of Biblical texts, contained in particular
generic expressions
6
Introduction
In terms of exegetical difficulties, Apocalypse 17 is a genuine minefield.

From a gender-informed perspective, the vision of the Great Whore as depicted in
Apocalypse 17:1-6 is a challenging text. It employs derogatory signifiers and accusations
addressed to a gendered textual construction, such as the Great Whore.
The current academic endeavour aims to respond to the dissatisfaction with the treatment
of this image complex, as with the following formulation: “[…] male characters or male-
identified characters in the Apocalypse are also stereotyped, vilified, criticized or idealized.
But they are rarely ‘typed’ with the explicit sexual signifiers used of female characters”.1
As a disclaimer, I acknowledge the fact that the Bible represents for me, the author of this
study a sacred text, capable of inspiring and guiding communities nowadays as previously,
having full authority.
Nevertheless, I acknowledge also the fact that patriarchal thinking was the context in which
the Bible emerged and developed traditionally. My standpoint, informed by feminist critical
issues, revolves on unmasking patriarchal ideology, as interpretation is not innocent.
In general, the feminist critique approaches Biblical texts with suspicion, in order to unravel
their androcentric character. Also this type of exegetical endeavour relies on full
acknowledgement of the texts’ historical conditionedness, biases,2 prejudices, value-
systems. At the same time, the interpreter’s values are overtly subjected to the same
scrutiny, evidencing his/her standpoint, in terms of biases and prejudices.
The analytical lenses provided by a gender-informed perspective with regard to the
analysis of Biblical texts largely encompass questions such as: what and how does a text
refer to women?; in what type of relationship with other characters is the feminine
character portrayed?; does this portrayal contain derogatory concepts that fail to address
women as fully human, especially when placed in the post-modern context?; how are
gendered readers to interpret and relate to such image?
The more I started reading on various interpretations of the Great Whore as depicted in
the vision of Apocalypse 17, the more baffled I became at the academic attempts featured
within the spectre of the historical-critical method. Often, it implied a total rejection of the
1
Pamela Thimmes, Women Reading Women in the Apocalypse: Reading Scenario 1, the Letter to Thyatira
(Rev. 2. 18-29), in: Currents in Biblical Research, 2/2003, 128-144, 129.
2
I understand ‘bias’, ‘biasness’ as the deliberate stance of an author, or interpreted to present a specific
angle of vision. In view of this ‘feminist bias’ is in this case, the theoretical commitment to partake in the
empowerment of women.
7
corporeal dimension of the character in discussion, although the text made specific
reference to the Great Whore as ‘woman’, ‘whore’ and described her in terms belonging to
the feminine dimension.
At the other end of the interpretative spectrum, with postmodern perspectives,
Apocalypse began to be read as fantasy literature, and the ‘whore’ more like whore. This
seemed to be an orientation I was also not able to completely fall for.
Additionally, various stances adopted by the feminist exegetes cover rejection of the
Biblical message contained in Apocalypse 17, or its unnatural positive evaluation.
In other words, the scholarship usually registers nowadays a gap based on the socio-
historical, as well as literary aspects entrenched in the understanding of the ancient
readers (Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza, Barbara Rossing etc.) on the one hand, and on the
other the understanding of post-modern readers, informed by postmodern categories,
among which gender, without considering the ancient ones (Tina Pippin).
To exemplify, with a challenging text at hand, such as the Whore in Apocalypse 17,
elaborating a positive evaluation of the gendered character can be hindered. The way to
salvage the text is to look into its political potential, by placing the character in the larger
context of various expressions of liberation theologies, and by deeming gender as
secondary in importance.3
With the latter’s formulation, gender is brought into the focus at the expense of the text,
for a theological formulation of the Great Whore is adamantly rejected and so, it reinstates
the oppressive patterns concerning women.
The readings above motivated my search for an in-between evaluation. This dissertation
does not describe an ‘either-or’ situation. As a result, exposing the corporeal dimension
evident with the depiction of the Great Whore does not trigger a rejection of the text, nor
does it imply an entirely subjective understanding.
Instead, it shows that a compromise at the level of interpretative options can be achieved.
It envisions collaboration between the two academic orientations presented above.
For this reason, the current perspective takes a moderate standpoint in the feminist debate
with regard to the assessment of the gendered character in question.
It contains valuable contributions from both socio-historical part, as well as the feminist-
critical one. Subsequently, the insufficiency of textual contrastive schemes, major OT
3
Elisabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza, Revelation. Vision of A Just World (Proclamation Commentaries), Minneapolis:
Fortress Press, 1991.
8
traditions carrying a political undertone will be provided with the metaphorical power to
render an image effective, by employing gender.
The scope of my dissertation is the realization that ‘liberation’ from oppressive textual
formulations can be achieved also by exposing the patriarchal biases and androcentric
constructions. Even if the text is surfacing a violent misogynist view, rejecting it is not an
option.
For the reasons above, I formulate the current dissertation as a means of bridging the gap
between the different understandings in reclaiming the Biblical text from a theological
perspective. Finding the balance between various formulations of feminist interpretations
oscillating between accepting and rejecting the text is crucial.
The approach I am currently pursuing is not primarily historical, but theoretical. The
distinction is formulated more clearly, if we consider the former to search for a
correspondence between real historical events and persons and the Biblical narratives,
whereas with the latter approach “events and people are understood and analyzed
through a lens of theory and conjecture”4, in this particular case, gender.
A reading of the Apocalypse from postmodern gender-informed optics reveals that in the
history of the text’s reception, the difference between ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ has often been
blurred, especially when analyzing the concept ‘genre’ historically.
Attention is given to the literary unity between sex –marking biological distinctions
between ‘man’ and ‘woman’ and gender –encapsulating the types of social and cultural
performances relative to particular sex-distinctions in Ancient Greek as well as lack of
issues stemming from this dissociation. That is why, for Ancient readers, certain concepts
of substance for the postmodern gender-informed perspective are most certainly gender-
inclusive.
At the same time, a constructivist approach of gender, respectively, gendered images in

the Apocalypse5 gains contours: I am not basing the thesis on an essentialist perspective,
associated with the first and second wave feminism. This view is fundamentally rooted in
women’s nature, fixed biological attributes, having their liberation as a necessary aim.
4
Judy Diehl, ‘Babylon’: Then, Now and ‘Not Yet’: Anti-Roman Rhetoric in the Book of Revelation, in: Currents
in Biblical Research, 11(2)/2013, 168-195, 172.
5
Jorunn Økland, Sex, Gender and Ancient Greek: A Case Study in Theoretical Misfit, in: Studia Theologica-
Nordic Journal of Theology, 5(2)/2003, 124-147, 131.
9
Instead, a constructivist approach is pursued, which conceives sex, gender, sexuality to be
the result of socio-cultural and historical circumstances, ever changing.6
It is for this reason that the historical-critical method will be useful, for it anchors the text
in the actual contemporary context of John’s times.
Even if I operate within the framework of gender-informed studies, I consider the necessity
of interpretation with the ancient socio-historical background in mind.
It adds a deeper dimension to understanding by critically assessing cultural data and
norms, thus provide the possibility of a more ‘sober’ interpretation.
With the Apocalypse nowadays, being culturally recepted by various groups of people, of
various cultural backgrounds and formation –gender is considered constitutive in the
construction of identity throughout the Apocalypse.7
Postmodern readers and interpretations should also acknowledge the fact that at the time
when the Apocalypse was written a one-sex model operated, so gender issues were not a
concern.
These emerged with the advent of modernism, with the broadening of the spectrum of the
various theoretical models having interdisciplinary nature, which were applied to exegesis,
starting with the second half of the 20th century. The feminist interest shaped all
subsequent feminist critical interpretations of the Apocalypse, however to various degrees.
The theoretical model of feminist exegesis acknowledges the fact that gender is not a
neutral category, but reveals political, cultural and social attitudes that are not
unproblematic.
This effort can be also conceived as a multilayered interdisciplinary approach, where

intertextuality ranks high. The concept of intertextuality is important because it entails
much more than a literary understanding. The embeddedness of the text of the Apocalypse
in other dimensions is valued as well, comprising thus historical, social and rhetorical
formulations. Intertexts enrich our understanding further on certain standardized ancient
literary and theological motifs, called topoi, rotted in the social realities of the 1st century.
As a contextual approach, the feminist orientation is aiming to respond to the following
questions: how is gender biasness represented in this text? How is the meaning of the text
altered if read from a feminist perspective, is there a hope for feminist interpretation of this
text?
6
Økland, Sex, Gender, 129.
7
This is one of the important theses in the article by Hanna Stenström, Is Salvation Only for True Men?, On
Gendered Imagery in the Book of Revelation, in: Michael Labahn, Outi Lehtipuu (eds.), Imagery in the Book of
Revelation, Leuven/Paris/Walpole, MA: Peeters, 2011, 183-198, 193.
10
The current academic enterprise situates itself, in spite of the derogatory resonances of the
object of analysis, respectively, the Great Whore as depicted in the vision of Apocalypse 17
aiming to provide a corrective hermeneutic stance that could possibly correspond, at least
partially to the realities of contemporaneity.
The critical feminist hermeneutics employed keeps theology open for dialogues, asking
questions not only of the Biblical text but also of the Christian community and the world.8
It is for this reason that the text will be closely considered. Since the text is dependent on
the context, its historical and social realities will also be included.
My interpretation acknowledges the intersubjective frame with respect to the history of
the reception of the text.
While considering the often-overlooked corporeal aspect, I am attempting not at a

corporeal reading of the Whore, but at a rhetorical reading.9 Such reading may have the
capacity of shaping conflicting changes in the readers’ behaviour in terms of ethical choices
presented.
Rhetorics formulates its primary concern with the nature and persuasive quality of any
text. For this reason, the text of the Apocalypse needs to be analyzed as a whole.
Additionally, the constitutive elements of the whole are valued in terms of identifying the
strategies used to persuade the readers.
To study a text rhetorically means therefore to analyze the persuasive10 markers capable of
changing the behaviours and attitudes of readers, emphasizing the function as well as the
effects of the text on the readers.
The rhetorical use of the image of the Whore in the Apocalypse deals with John’s use of it.
Given the varieties concerning the interpretations attributed to the Great Whore, with
references to various Biblical and extrabiblical traditions, the following question could be
formulated: how exactly and to what extent does the Whore operate in the plot of the
Apocalypse as a whole?
8
Wiliam David Kirkpatrick, From Biblical Text to Theological Formulation, in: Bruce Corley, Steve Lemke,
nd
Grant Lovejoy (eds.), Biblical Hermeneutics. A Comprehensive Introduction to Interpreting Scripture (2 ed.),
Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2002, 356-373, 358.
9
Cf. the concept of ‘visionary rhetoric’ as per Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza, Visionary Rhetoric and Social
Political Situation (chapter seven), in: eadem, The Book of Revelation. Justice and Judgement, Minneapolis:
Fortress Press, 1998, 187.
10
Greg Carey refers to apocalyptic texts as “acts of persuasion”. Cf. Greg Carey, Introduction: Apocalyptic
Discourse, Apocalyptic Rhetoric, in: G. Carey, L. Gregory Bloomquist (eds.), Vision and Persuasion: Rhetorical
Dimensions of Apocalyptic Discourse, St. Louis: Chalice, 1999, 1-17, 15.
11
The Great Whore purports several titles: whore, woman, mother, but also city. She is
clothed, bejeweled like a woman.
Almost everything in her characterization belongs to the conceptual domain of woman.
Subsequently, I understand the rhetorical force behind such titles, their role in activating a
response from readers, while holding on to the cultural and historical explanations of the
concept ‘woman’.
Formulations such as the above encapsulate ethical values, which are very important for
the Apocalypse. By ‘ethical’, I mean the fact that John establishes and develops throughout
a set of normative truths, by means of argumentation procedures, aiming at formulations
of what is acceptable and what is not acceptable.
In view of the possible misogynist stance as well as the portrayals of violence, the ethical
stances in the Apocalypse are quite problematic in their universal use, therefore should be
confined to the discourse of the Apocalypse.
In linking the two aspects, namely the rhetorical one with the ethical one, I consider the
gendered image of the Great Whore in the Apocalypse a rhetorical construction, which
needs to be analyzed with the context of its appearance, as well as the postmodern context
of its reception.
My contention is that genre is used ‘to think with’ in the effectiveness of the imagery. That
means the fact that the description of the Great Whore appeals to the senses, imaginations
of readers. By doing so, it actually conveys another message, and namely that people from
the audience associating with the sensuous Great Whore may turn out to have her fate.
Incorporating the audience, or the readers in the interpretative scheme, the following
questions can be formulated: is there any message we as modern readers (should) get
beyond the triumph of God in the Apocalypse? And if the triumph of God is all that matters,
how is ‘gender’ to be conceived of? Is ‘gender’ closely and carefully worth delineating, or is
it simply means to an end?
Regarding modern readers, does it make a difference if we read as women, and although
get the main picture, are we not supposed to emotionally involve in the reading process?
Because, if we involve, how is it possible that we can dissociate our feelings for what is
expressed there?
Readers’ values, as well as identity are accomplished by dichotomizing actions into
laudable and despicable. The ones pursuing laudable actions are given privileged positions
in the heavenly court; they have correct worshiping attitudes, and will share in the
12
exultation over the punishment of the wicked, whereas the evildoers will partake in
extensive accounts of the just judgments of God. This is called epideictic rhetoric.11
In what methodological considerations are concerned, an outline of descriptive research
conjoined with evaluative research will be offered.
The argumentation of this thesis revolves around two main parts: one, in which the main
theoretical concepts employed throughout the dissertation, will be discussed, and the
other part, where an exemplification of the theoretical frame delineated previously is
showcased.
The study’s theoretical foundations rest on the assumption that the Apocalypse needs to
be read within feminist orientation.
As such, the gender-informed parametres are formulated in chapter 1.
Within this framework, literary considerations, as well as social that influenced and shaped
the feminist-critical claims were named, and critically evaluated.
In chapter 2, an overview of the main orientations in gender-related interest with the
character of the Great Whore precisely is very important in order to show the variety and
richness of different orientations that coexist within the tradition.
Since there are various feminist responses coexisting even with reference to a single topic,
this study combines various approaches of Biblical exegesis. Socio-historical approaches co-
exist with literary critical and feminist-critical approaches. The dynamics I employ starts
with the Biblical text and extends towards to the text’s contexts, which can be literary,
historical, cultural, social, as well evaluating the text as a powerful rhetorical tool. It also
includes pragmatic perspectives such as rhetorical criticism, or reader’s response that
interprets the text by means of concepts and categories pertaining to contemporaneity. I
value every reading of the apocalyptic text, for each contribute individually to deepening
the Biblical message, to understanding more accurately what was communicated to us so
that we may reach salvation.
Questions regarding the function of gendered characters, depicted negatively resurfaced in
answering the questions of why were these references chosen, and how they functioned,
even more having what type of repercussions on various contemporary readers.
The apocalypse as a literary genre, having characteristics and being comparable to other
literary ancient phenomena is therefore important for its understanding or interpretation.
11
Loren L. Johns, The Lamb Christology of the Apocalypse of John, An Investigation Into Its Origins and
Rhetorical force, (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe, 167), Tübingen: Mohr
Siebeck, 2003, 157.
13
The term άποκάλυψις refers to the self-designation in the NT Apocalypse of John (1:1). It
also denotes a number of related scriptures, though the term is usually not employed as an
original self-designation in these scriptures themselves.12
Subsequently, stemming from the Greek verb ἀποκαλύπτειν, i.e. to uncover, to reveal13,
the title was easily extended to works in which the same theme is at least as preeminent,
respectively works dealing with the unveiling of God’s mysteries and messages.
Apocalypse 1:1 reveals the means by which the divine revelation, respectively ἀποκάλυψις
Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ14 unfolds, namely primarily through visions, visual images, which the author
of the Apocalypse transcribes into words at the heavenly command (cf. 1:11, 1:19).
However, visions and auditions15 are equally revealing as they are cryptically veiling the
meaning. They refer to realities that are difficult to grasp and readers are required to
participate as audience, however in a manner different from John’s, who sometimes
describes what he sees by means of comparative particles such as ὡς (71 times), as well as
adjectives such as ὅμοιον (24 times).16
As a result, language of the Apocalypse is performative creating new meaning(s), for it
permanently evokes associations, thus open to new interpretations.
It is this particular imagery that deeply moves the reader as the act of reading unfolds,
being labelled among others as bizarre17, vivid18, surreal19, weird20 and grotesque.
12
Olsson Tord, The Apocalyptic Activity. The Case of Jāmāsp Nāmag, in: David Hellholm (ed.) Apocalypticism
in the Mediterranean World and the Near East: Proceedings of the International Colloquium on
nd
Apocalypticism, Uppsala, August 12-17, 1979 (2 edition), Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr, 1989, 21-49, 21.
13
Sidnie White Crawford, Art. Apocalypse, in: Freedman, David Noel Allen C. Myers (eds.), Eerdmans
Dictionary of the Bible, Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2000, 72-73, 72.
14
All translations from the Greek New Testament are my own. I employed Barbara Aland, Kurt Aland and
th
Johannes Karavidopoulos (eds.), Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece, (27 ed. revised), Deutsche
Bibelgesellschaft, 2006.
15
John combines involving senses such as seeing and hearing in reporting the various visions, by means of
employing either forms of the verb ὁράω (47 mentionings) or other semantically related verbs, like βλέπω (x
13) etc., or by various forms of the verb ἀκούω (x 43 times).
16
Moises Mayordomo, Gewalt in der Johannesoffenbarung als theologisches Problem, in: Thomas Schmeller
et al. (eds.), Die Offenbarung Johannes. Kommunikation im Konflikt (Quaestiones Disputatae 253), Freiburg:
Herder, 2013, 107-136, 117-118.
17
John Sweet, Revelation, in: John Barclay and John Sweet (eds.), Early Christian Thought in Jewish Context,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, 160-174, 161.
18
Ian Paul, The Book of Revelation: Image, Symbol and Metaphor, in: Steve Moyise, Studies in the Book of
Revelation, Edinburgh/New York: T&T Clark, 2001, 131-147, 131.
19
Giancarlo Biguzzi, A Figurative and and Narrative Language Grammar of Revelation, in: Novum
Testamentum, 45/2003, 382-402, 399.
20 rd
Henry Barclay Swete, Apocalypse of John (3 ed.), London: Macmillan, 1917, cxxxi.
14
Subsequently, the analysis ensued included information concerning the fact that
Apocalypse was not as bizarre, as the modern reader may imagine, but it was one of many
such works.
From a gender-informed perspective, the evaluation of language in the Apocalypse

received a more negative reception, being interpreted as terrifying, sexist, misogynistic,
objectifying, dehumanizing, condescending, disturbing and dangerous.21
It is in the latter category that the vision of the Great Prostitute in Apocalypse 17 is
situated. This vision reports of the culpability of a character, identified as the Great Whore,
being seconded by an angelic emissary that assists the Seer transported in the Spirit in
understanding what unfolds before his eyes.
Because the language describing visions blends literal and figurative references, evidencing
ample examples of metaphors, allegory, personification, metonymy, as well as
comparisons, mostly informed by the textual changes of the situation of the narrator (ἐν
πνεύματι, πνευματικῶς, καὶ εἶδον etc.), exegetes strove to establish guidelines in the
various interpretations, by extending connections of the text of the Apocalypse with other
semantically, or thematically related texts.22
The exegetical analysis follows the steps of the well-established, widely acknowledged
historical-critical method. However, the feminist turn of the current approach lies in the
focus given to the socially and culturally constructed nature of history. Such an assumption
forms a corollary, namely that language is relative, all against the discourse changes
brought about by the second half of the 20th century.
Postmodern orientations focus on the inexactness of the language, on the richness and
plurivalence of interpretations, on the emotional responses triggered by the text from the
readers, on political and social implications of the text as well as on sensitive aspects such
as gender.
By acknowledging the power behind the metaphorical use, I extend the meaning of this
metaphor beyond the historical relevance. What ultimately counts is not that, but the
theological significance assigned to the gendered appearance in the vision of Apocalypse
17.
21
For the various orientations, cf. Miyon Chung, Feminist Interpretations of Apocalyptic Symbols in the
Revelation, in: Torch Trinity Journal, vol. 10 (1)/2007, 107-126, more specifically works by Tina Pippin, and
Susan Garrett, which will be further dealt with in greater detail at a later point in the current dissertation.
22
Cf. Gregory Beale, The Book of Revelation. A Commentary on the Greek Text, Grand Rapids, Michigan:
Eerdmans, 1998, 57; G.B. Caird, The Language and Imagery of the Bible, Pennsylvania: Westminster Press
1980, 186-197.
15
With every reading, therefore, a metaphor’s meaning can change, as the readership
changes, for the readership itself is not atemporal, but context-bound, situated in
permanent intersubjectivity with the previous (‘traditional’) readings and the concepts
modeling the postmodern readers.
With the above mentioned dimension the following questions emerge: How real are
designations? How literal are we to read the text? Alternatively, how symbolic are these?
How far from reality are we willing to go in order to prove a generic irrelevance for a clearly
gender character in the apocalypse?
The second part of the dissertation aims at a practical application of the categories
formulated previously. It is here that the feminist critique is emphasized better. However,
in maintaining the feminist orientation, I will not deter from being occasionally critical to
feminist formulations, which extend beyond the textual references and bring about too
much emotional involvement on the readers’ behalf.
The strategy in interpreting I will be applying consists mainly in literary analysis, paired with
exegetical reflection. It will also include, when needed, supplementary information in the
form of excurses. Tables will occur as a didactic aid assisting the readers in instantiating the
arguments in a clearer manner, by their use of comparison and contrast.
Further, summaries will reiterate the main ideas and concepts discussed. Chapters will be
accompanied individually by provisional assessments. The need for these is given by the
plurality of strategies in appropriating the Great Whore. The concluding comments
function to avoid on the one hand getting lost in the complexity of arguments, on the other
hand, to remain consistent to the main objective of the dissertation that is presenting a
gender-informed analysis on the character of the Great Whore as emerging form the vision
of Apocalypse 17.
I chose to split this part into six chapters, corresponding the three moments of the vision:
the introduction to the vision, the vision and the Seer’s reaction to the vision.
Chapter 1 of Part II deals with the presentation of the setting, the protagonists and the
reasons for the Whore’s judgments. Already with Chapter 2, which provides a general
overview of the core vision, follows the delineation of the Great Whore’s portrait (chapters
3-5). It includes references to her posture (seated), her associate (Beast), dress and
ornaments, including purple and scalet, gold, pearls and precious stones, as well as the
name she wears on her forehead. Chapter 6 describes in detail the impications and
meaning of the Seer’s reaction to the apparition of the Great Whore described previously.
16
In the Conclusions, I will present briefly the results of the evaluative study conducted on
the above-mentioned gendered manifestation.
I enlist my contribution within postmodern approaches to the text of the Apocalypse,

precisely those, which consider readers’ responses. Even if the current approach revolves
on the readers’ reception, which is a postmodern preoccupation, a theological
appropriation of the text with academic value should not dismiss the context, the history
behind the text, the anchoring in socio-political realities. However, this acknowledgement
does not mean that the problematic areas are glossed upon. These are revealed,
contextualized.
In this way, I rest on the assumption fact that there is no single valid interpretation to the
Apocalypse. The lines uniting the ‘fixed stars’, or the given data in the Apocalypse are far
from being limited to one single possibility, for apocalyptic language abounds with
metaphorical expressions, reminding thus the reader permanently that “construction of
meaning is neither an objective nor a subjective process: it is both.”23
Whereas the main advantage that a feminist exegesis purports includes mainly widening as
well as deepening the research horizon, I would like to point the fact that this study offers
an alternative interpretation to the multiple interpretations existing already.
Here lies its shortcoming. As a result, no claim for universality, no generalizations can result
from it. It is a mere contextual formulation, deeply informed by generic factors.
This orientation doubled by openness towards the interpreter in the interpretation
process. As such, it lists questions such as to which paradigm adheres the current
dissertation, what type of a feminist scholar is needed, as well as what are the limitations
of a feminist Biblical scholar?
By presenting one feminist interpretation of the Great Whore that values readers’
perceptions anchored in the rhetorical character of the Apocalypse as a whole, I hope to be
able to prove that a feminist outlook is not detrimental to the actual understanding of the
vision of Apocalypse 17. On the contrary, it can be a valuable tool to assess and actualize
the meaning of the text by employing postmodern categories of analysis in a manner which
I consider to be respectful of both ancient and postmodern contexts.
23
David L. Barr, The Story John Told: Reading Revelation for Its Plot, in: David L. Barr (ed.), Reading the Book
of Revelation. A Resource for Students, London/Boston: Brill, 2004, 11-25, 14.
17
Part I: Laying the Theoretical Foundations
1. Delineating the Feminist Horizon
Initiated out of socio-political motivations, as an expression of societal criticism, and drawn

from multiple philosophical, social and cultural traditions, feminist discourse was adopted
in the theological reflection of the second half of the 20th century.
“Feminist theology is a theology conducted by women with a feminist orientation, attempting at the
acknowledgement, naming, criticizing and surpassing of patriarchy in society, church and communal life. In
feminist theology women are at the core of interests; their faith- and life-related experiences of oppression,
silencing and marginalization, as well as experiences of liberation and successful gaining of dignity are
concretized in it, from a theological perspective. Feminist theology is contextual theology, accounting for the
historicity of life situations, as well the limitation of theological statements. It is not a theology of the woman,
which presupposes either an abstract woman essence, or knowledge of something specifically feminine, but
rather calls for the fragility of the feminine identity and tries to overturn the stiff attribution of gender roles. It
24
is a critique and a new draft. It understands itself not as an addition to the traditional theology”.
In the same vein, Pamela Thimmes enumerates the coordinates delineating a feminist
hermeneutics: feminism as a liberation movement, experience, culture,
reading/interpretation (language).
(1) Feminism –is a political category understood and practiced a liberation movement, critiquing the
oppressive structures of society, (2) Experience –is not simply a construct; it also constructs, (3)
Culture (social location) –mediates our experience, and thus our worldview or paradigms, (4)
Reading/Interpretation (Language) –language is more than simply a non-material tool, it is an
expression of a particular understanding of reality. It is in language that social locators (gender, race,
25
class, etc.) are first noticed and first submerged.
24
Catharina J. M. Halkes/ Hedwig Meyer-Wilmes, Art. Feministische Theologie, in: Elizabeth Gössmann,
Elizabeth Moltmann-Wendel et.al (eds.), Wörterbuch der Feministischen Theologie, Gütersloh: Gütersloher
Verlagshaus, 1991, 102-111, 102, as cited in Angela Volkmann, Eva wo bist du? Die Geschlechterperspektive
im Religionsunterricht am Beispiel einer Religionsbuchanalyse zu biblischen Themen, Würzburg: Verlag
Königshausen & Neumann GmbH, 2004, 66, translation mine.
25
Pamela Thimmes, What Makes a Feminist Reading Feminist? Another Perspective, in: Harold C.
Washington, Susan Lochrie Graham and Pamela Thimmes (eds.) Escaping Eden. New Feminist Perspectives on
Bible, New York: New York University Press/ Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999, 132-140, 134, her
italics.
18
Those elements will be presented as my analysis unfolds in an attempt to describe the set
of assumptions that regulate the current gender-informed enterprise.
The current section will also entail a development of the critique to the historical-critical
method, which is to a certain extent the legitimating source for a feminist approach. The
critique will be therefore employed only selectively and only regarding the categories of
feminist approach, which pertain to the scope of the current presentation.
The experience of women occurred as a medium in which the gender-related discourse

grows. Since “theology involves interpreting the tradition in the light of experience, and
vice versa, […] the essential contribution of feminist theology to the life of the Christian
community is to articulate women's experience and ensure that it receives due weight in
understanding and communicating the Christian gospel.”26
As a result, the gender-informed perspective advances in the field of Biblical studies the
claim to offer “an alternative assessment of the Biblical evidence as seen through the eyes
and experience of women readers and theologians.”27
Our existence and experience is multiple palliers of knowledge, therefore, gender-related
Biblical criticism stands in an interdisciplinary relation to feminist history, literary criticism,
anthropology, as well as other feminist theories28 emphasizing the fact that commitment to
feminism is variously understood and expressed.
1.1 Main criticism to the historical-critical method from a feminist

orientation
A gender-critical approach brought about a contribution to a long row of changes meant at

a sophistication of the categories, which pertained to the historical-critical method
enjoying the widest acceptance in the field of Biblical studies.
Although this approach did not cause the shift in paradigm as it will be shown in the
following, the gender-informed approach concurs to the manner in which our perception
about reality changes.
26
Robert Morgan, Feminist Theological Interpretation of the New Testament, in: Janet Martin Soskice (ed.),
After Eve Women, Theology and the Christian Tradition (Women and Religion Series), London: Collins
Publishing Group, 1990, 10-38, 10-11.
27
D. F. Sawyer, Art. Feminist interpretation, in: R. H. Coggins, J.L. Houlden (eds.), A Dictionary of Biblical
Interpretation, London: SCM, 1990, 231-234, 234 .
28
Janice Capel Anderson, Mapping Feminist Biblical Criticism. The American Scene, 1983-1990, in: Eldon Jay
Epp (ed.), Critical Review of Books in Religion, Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1991, 21-44, 22.
19
It also displays the results in a number of new readings in the field of Biblical studies, each
of them laying an emphasis on different aspects, however all related to core feminist
issues.
With Biblical criticism generally, there was a tension between historical criticism and
feminist discourse.
Feminism was reprimanded the lack of scholarly validity, seriousness, objectivity. Its results
were deemed unscientific, ideological, reductionist, as feminists debate with emotions and
basically do nothing, but parrot other feminists in their writings. 29
Oddly enough, some of the accusations above have been turned by the feminists against
the apologists of the historical-criticism. Subsequently, the method was considered
unfeeling, cerebral, irreligious, too philological in its interests, “often restricted to the
experts and not accessible to a general readership.”30 The method was deemed irrelevant
to pastoral praxis. Its lack of objectivity by not addressing women’s questions was highly
criticized as well as the ideological stance displaying a propagation of a type of
interpretation subservient to masculine interests.31
Granted, although feminist exegesis operates largely within the structures pertaining to the
above-mentioned method, it adduces important methodological nuances to it, by
embracing a multiplicity of inputs borrowed and/or adapted from other disciplines, ranging
from literary to social and psychological as well as spiritual.32
The feminist endeavour delineated the growing awareness of the axiom of the
contemporary hermeneutists, namely that interpretation is fundamentally shaped by the
multi-facetted world of the interpreter, including his/her presuppositions and prejudices,
which cannot be acceptable with the historical-critical method.
29
Monika Fander, Historical-Critical Methods, in: Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza (ed.), Searching the Scriptures,
Volume 1: A Feminist Introduction, London: SCM Press Ltd. / New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company,
1993, 204-224, 214.
30
Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza, Wisdom Ways. Introducing Feminist Biblical Interpretation, Maryknoll, New
York: Orbis Books, 2001, 135.
31
Fander, Historical-Critical Methods, 206.
32
Carolyn Osiek, The Feminist and the Bible: Hermeneutical Alternatives, in: Harvard Theological Studies
53(4), 1997, 956-968, also published under the same title in: Adela Yarbro Collins (ed.), Feminist Perspectives
in Biblical Scholarship, (Society for Biblical Literature Centennial Publications 10), Atlanta: Scholars Press,
1985, 94-105. For this reason, the article in Harvard Theological Studies will be abrbreviated as ‘Osiek, The
Feminist and the Bible a’ and the article in Feminist Perspectives in Biblical Scholarship as ‘Osiek, The Feminist
and the Bible b’.
20
As such, the nature and value of certain processes such as ‘reading’, ‘understanding’,
‘interpretation’, ‘competence’ have been broadened by subsequent formulations echoed
from the many disciplines enunciated above.
Whereas the manifold incursions, either historical, sociological, theological, as well literary
shape the coordinates of the feminist movement, such delimitations are exceedingly fluid,
due to the interdisciplinary or pluridisciplinary character of feminist-critical studies.
In what follows, I selectively present the approaches, which pertain to the scope of this
study. They are directly or indirectly the results of the criticism brought to the historical
critical method.
The reason for such an endeavour is to delineate the Christian framework within which the
feminist consciousness is elaborated.
As previously mentioned, the historical-critical method provides the framework, which

legitimates Biblical scholarship.
The feminist approach is historically fostered by the Enlightenment, a movement, which
offered the change in paradigm wherein an alternative worldview emerges, develops and
brings about a totally new understanding of the human beings.
Already starting with the second half of the 19th century, some of the general categories
pertaining to the historical-critical method were taken from the Enlightenment model and
transferred onto contemporary concerns. Objectivity33, validity, trans-temporality and
universality receive intense scrutinisation.
In this framework, objectivity of one opposed subjectivity of the other, value-neutrality
contrasted biasness and interest, the universal opposed the particular, the trans-temporal
interpretation the historically relevant one and the contextual.
The particular categories of androcentrism, patriarchy, asymmetry with respect to gender,
relevance for the contemporary context informed by a feminist critique will be discussed at
a later point in the current study.
A new alternative on viewing history emerged. The new perspective on history prompted
by the postmodern epistemological, sociological, literary theories claim the particular as
norm. This fact resulted into a relativisation of the current paradigm.
Therefore a greater interest on the epistemological character of experience concretized in
the work of Hans Georg Gadamer, who places knowledge and understanding within the
33
Marie-Theres Wacker, Part One: Historical Hermeneutical and Methodological Foundations, in: Luise
Schottroff, Silvia Schroer, Marie-Theres Wacker (eds.), Feminist Interpretation. The Bible in Women’s
Perspective, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998, 3-82, 48.
21
boundaries of the finite situatedness, which one experiences as part of the flow of
history.34 Conditionedness is the main concept he theorizes about.
Even when we ourselves, as historically enlightened thinkers, are fundamentally clear about
the historical conditionedness of all human thinking and hence about our own
conditionedness, we have not ourselves taken an unconditioned stand […]. The
consciousness of the conditionedness does not in any way negate this conditionedness.35
History is therefore understood as a contextual phenomenon, representing the
circumstances informing the questions the interpreter asks and thus sets the focus of the
interpretation.
History continually manifests itself in the reading communities. Though shaped by the
interpretive communities of different eras, it can focus on different issues. In this way, the
historically distant texts gain relevance repeatedly, as per the shift of the focus on the
interpreter, or reader borrowed from the literary studies.
In line with this, Robert W. Funk states, the historical-critical method “failed to take into
account the limitations and the biases of the interpreter”.36 With the addition of the latter,
the argument gains a deeper dimension, displaying the two sidedness of historical
conditioning.37
First, there is the acknowledgement of the historical conditionedness of Biblical texts –
referring to their original context. This observation is doubled by the particularity of the
21st century interpreter –referring to his/her linguistic, epistemological limitations, biases
and interest(s).
Secondly, the historical conditionedness of the Biblical texts and their subsequent
interpretation enroll in a pre-existing chain of interpretations.
The interpreter is also historically conditioned. Although contemporary in terms of

historical context, the interpreter stands within a given tradition of interpretations as part
of the reception of any text.
34
Anthony C. Thiselton, New Horizons in Hermeneutics: The Theory and Practice of Transforming Biblical
Readings, London: HarperCollins/Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992, 6.
35 nd
Hans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method, (trans. Joel Weinsheimer and Donald G. Marshall), (2 ed.),
London/New York: Continuum, 2004, 424.
36
Robert W. Funk, Language, Hermeneutic and the Word of God. The Problem of Language in New Testament
and Contemporary Theology, New York: Harper & Row, 1966, 10.
37
Anthony C. Thiselton, The Two Horizons. New Testament Hermeneutics and Philosophical Description with
Special Reference to Heidegger, Bultmann, Gadamer and Wittgenstein, Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1980, 11.
22
In the field of the New Testament, feminist criticism rose awareness to the fact Biblical
writings are rooted in specific times and places. These also correspond to particular
historical situations and even more, the history to which they refer is a patriarchal
history.38
Ensuingly, Biblical writings are not in the first sense historical documents, but human
statements of faith. As such, their ‘historicity’ is limited to being “formulated against the
background of a different time and an alien image of the world”.39
Therefore a feminist critique is both aware of the distant socio-historical context of the
writings, namely a patriarchal culture, and lays an emphasis on gender-critical, or related
matters.
The feminist print keeps the social focus alive, by re-evaluating the current delineation of
the issue concerning the validity of past realities for contemporary women, while at the
same time, examining the validity of interpretation for the current context.
Academic objectivity is, in the weak sense, opposed to ‘subjectivity’. In the more moderate
sense, it means ‘unbiased’, ‘disinterested’. The second meaning is very much relevant for
the current analysis, while the first serves the interests of a socio-pragmatic type of
exegesis, as it will be shown at a later phase.
Applying a narrow understanding of ‘objectivity’ can result into petrifying the text, and as a
result making its interpretation irrelevant for the present context.
Subsequently, a growing recognition of the fact that any interpretation of texts entails
certain presuppositions was expressed, and as such, by its very nature, interpretation is
largely, a subjective endeavour.
To account for such a perspective, the concept of the hermeneutical circle was advanced,40
in which understanding and interpretation(s) are connected in a circular fashion.
In order to understand the whole, one must engage in understanding the individual. At the
same time, understanding the parts ensues in comprehension of the whole.
Prior to arriving to full understanding, one notes a stage called pre-understanding, or
preliminary understanding41. This type of understanding is only provisional,42 for it can be
modified by a later understanding, in view of obtaining the fuller (not final!) understanding
38
Maretha M. Jacobs, The Work of Daphne Hampson: The God-talk of one Feminist Theologian, in: Harvard
Theological Studies 63(1)/2007, 231-259, 236.
39
40
Friedrich Schleiermacher, Hermeneutics: The Hand Written Manuscripts, Heinz Kimmerle (ed.), James Duke,
Jack Forstman (transl.), Missoula: Scholar’s Press, 1977, 99-100, 110, 112-127.
41
This reference one attributes to Schleiermacher’s Vorverständnis. For details cf. Anthony C. Thiselton,
Hermeneutics. An Introduction, Grand Rapids, Michigan/ Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing
Company, 2009, 13.
42
Thiselton, The Two Horizons, 323.
23
of the text. As such, the fuller understanding stems from our historical and cultural
anchoring propagated in a tradition of interpretations.
A very important concept was introduced, namely that of horizon, what in a metaphorical
use aims “to denote the limits of thought as dictated by a given viewpoint or
perspective.”43 As a result, when we interpret, we bring in our own prejudices (Vorurteile),
therefore the interpretation is nothing but the “fusion of horizons”
(Horizontverschmelzung),44 namely of the horizon of the text with that of the interpreter,45
whose end result must be open and adequate for the contemporaneity of the interpreters.
Not occasionally only, but always, the meaning of a text goes beyond its author. That is
why understanding is not merely a reproductive, but always a productive attitude as well.46
Some have referred to the hermeneutical circle as to a hermeneutical spiral.47 A two-
movement process occurs: on the one hand, there is a constant reformation of the original
pre-understanding, with a focus on the small parts, on the other hand, in the light of the
transformation, it influences the larger picture, the focus being here not the small parts,
but rather on the fuller meaning expressed by the compound parts.
Therefore, the final understanding attained by the hermeneutical circle or spiral is always a
provisional understanding, since understanding is always context dependent and the
context varies as informed by interests, focus etc.
The negotiation of meaning, like knowledge “cannot ever be wholly objective or
subjective”48, but mutual, ‘intersubjective’.
With intersubjectivity, the context becomes as important as the text, the former referring
to the particular situation of either one or a specific community. It is not only time and
space-bound, but also community-bound.
The fusion of horizons can only take place if we relate understanding to our tradition, as
“we can understand only in terms of tradition”.49 The latter is used in order to set the
framework of our interpretation, as well as the reference and the limit for the latter.
Without subjectivity being continuously analyzed against tradition, any subsequent
interpretation would drift in arbitrariness.
43
Thiselton, The Two Horizons, xix.
44
For a thorough explanation of the concept cf. Gadamer, Truth and Method, 286-290.
45
Charles H. Scobie, The Ways of Our God. An Approach to Biblical Theology, Grand Rapids,
Michigan/Cambridge, UK: Eerdmans, 2003, 32.
46
Cf. Gadamer, Truth and Method, 296.
47
Cf. Grant Osborne, The Hermeneutical Spiral: A Comprehensive Introduction to Biblical Interpretation,
Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1991, as cited in Thiselton, Hermeneutics. An Introduction, 14.
48
David L. Barr, Conclusion. Choosing Between Readings: Questions and Criteria, in: David L. Barr (ed.),
Reading the Book of Revelation. A Resource for Students, Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2004, 163-172, 168.
49
Thiselton, The Two Horizons, 326.
24
Tradition has two dimensions worth naming: on the one hand, it entails elements which
are part of the theological discourse, namely the reflection on the revelation of God, on the
other hand, such discourse is always set within the parametres of human experience.
Ensuingly, tradition deposits the series of experience, while at the same time allows the
new, deeper dimensions to unfold.
The category of tradition has been also principial with the engagement of feminists with
the Bible. The latter is neither to be perceived as a “storehouse in antiquity” or a
“repository of historical facts”50 having an unquestionable authority, nor as addressing
modern day problems in particular, as some fundamentalist Biblicist51 readings tend to
show.
Tradition offers a common system of symbols, which enables an analytical pursuit.
It also provides the locus of divinity-based experience translated in the same corpus of
symbols.
As a result, for feminists, tradition is not “that which happened”, but rather “that which is
remembered”52, something to which Lone Fatum also concedes: “tradition is not history as
it actually happened” 53 and with this perspective, historical judgments –in Schüssler-
Fiorenza’s formulation –become “intersubjectively understandable and intersubjectively
verifiable”.54
However, just like with previous categories analyzed, there are some limits: when assuming
subjectivity, or biasness in interpreting a Biblical text without reporting the text to a
tradition of interpretations, there is always the danger of diminishing one’s analytical
judgment.
The hermeneutical circle forming with a gender-informed interpretation is marked by
provisioness, as it stands in relation to a tradition of other interpretations.
50
Schüssler-Fiorenza, Wisdom Ways, 45.
51
With the term ‘biblicist’ applied to a feminist approach, I follow Lone Fatum’s remark: “(…) that feminist
theological insight and experience of spirituality have to be authorized by Scripture, legitimated if not by
canon then at least by a canon within a canon” (see Lone Fatum, Women, Symbolic Universe and Structures
of Silence. Challenges and Possibilities in Androcentric Texts, in: Studia Theologica, 43/1989, 61-80, 63), or
when applied to interpreters: “those who think that every text must be fitted to their Christian framework”,
also see Morgan, Feminist Theological Interpretation of the New Testament, 17.
52
Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza, Bread Not Stone: The Challenge of Feminist Biblical Interpretations, Boston:
Beacon Press, 1984, 93-115.
53
Fatum, Women, Symbolic Universe and Structures of Silence, 64.
54
Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza, Remembering the Past in Creating the Future. Historical-Critical Scholarship
and Feminist Biblical Interpretation, in: Adela Yarbro Collins (ed.), Feminist Perspectives in Biblical
Scholarship, (Society for Biblical Literature Centennial Publications 10), Atlanta: Scholars Press, 43-64, 53, also
published in: eadem, Bread not Stone, 93-116.
25
Feminist Biblical scholars should not disregard the existing Christian tradition of text’s
interpretations, even if, culturally and historically, this tradition is deeply patriarchal and
androcentric.
Without cross-checking the historical approach with tradition, escalates the danger of
provoking a high level of arbitrariness, which in turn may transform descriptive texts into
prescriptive ones.55 Such a deviant understanding lies on the fact that all texts are created
equal, or all texts have an equal revelatory character. However, we know this is not the
case and a distinction between the prescriptive and the descriptive material is imposed.
Such an attribute as value-neutrality is highly inadequate for Biblical criticism.
Nevertheless, Edgar McKnight salvages the above-mentioned notion for this particular
domain, by ascribing it literary undertones. He maintains that validity has other
coordinates than those propagated in the earlier Era, and as such it “is a result of the
reading’s connecting not with the author of the original text but with a community of
readers.”56
Additionally, once we acknowledge the existence of historical-conditionedness we can no
longer speak of ‘unbiased’ interpretation.
As previously shown, our own historical situatedness shapes our pre-understanding which
makes the condition for approaching a text for interpretation. Moreover, the historicity of
the interpreter, his/her social status as well as personal perspective influence the type of
approach one undertakes when applying a hermeneutical analysis on any given Biblical
text.
Accepting the particularity of the interpreter in its entirety and of his/her interpretation
underlines also the fact that the gender-related approach is one option among the many.57
Furthermore, such an approach acknowledges that feminist interpretation is part of a chain
of interpretations, all informed by the contemporary social and historical context of the
interpreters and shaped to a certain extent by our theological questions.
55
Fatum, Women, Symbolic Universe and Structures of Silence, 64, cf. Fander, Historical-Critical Methods,
220.
56
Edgar V. McKnight, A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing: An Option in Contemporary New Testament Hermeneutics,
in: Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, Edgar V. McKnight (eds.), The New Literary Criticism and The New Testament,
(Journal for the Study of the New Testament, Supplement Series 109), Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press,
1994, 326-347, 344.
57
Since the scope of the current analysis revolves on naming and delineating several orientations displayed
by the feminist biblical scholarship, situated at the confluence between historical, literary, social and
theological insights, I consider that an extensive analysis of the term exceeds the scope of my dissertation.
However, for more information on feminist standpoint theories, as subsumed to feminist epistemology, along
with feminist empiricism and feminist postmodernism cf. Anderson, Mapping Feminist Biblical Criticism, 25 as
well as the references elaborated in the footnote section of the article concerning this issue.
26
The specific categories of feminist discourse stem from the “asymmetric gender relations”
as shaped by patriarchy and imbued with androcentrism. While patriarchy is defined
among the feminists as “a complex system of male dominance […] involving religious,
political, economic and other factors” situated at “the intersection of age, race, religion,
class and gender”58, the latter term, coined by Schüssler-Fiorenza59 denotes the
academically accepted masculine point of view of both Biblical textual redaction and its
subsequent interpretation.
There are several hypotheses as to explicate gender asymmetry or inequality as societal
phenomenon.
Following a historical method, Schüssler-Fiorenza’s theory rests on the assumption that the
inquality we perceive is not a result of Jesus Movement, but rather it crystalized along the
centuries in the tradition of interpretation, which in turn legitimates the structures of
oppression, by advancing the patriarchal interests and preferences,60 which regulate the
concept of ‘normality’.
Without any doubt, the Church tradition with regard to Biblical interpretation is
androcentric. Feminist practice is praxis-oriented, because Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza
locates the starting point outside the text itself. The text’s interpretations are androcentric
and subservient to patriarchal interests. In the Jesus Movement, women played equal
roles, active leaders.61
However, a critical distance is imposed. As a result, one should keep in mind the fact that
the 21st century readers have nothing but the text as the main medium of recorded 1st
century practice.
In this way, such an explanation as Schüssler-Fiorenza’s may be an oversimplification of the
conditions existing in Antiquity. Careful attention to cultural, social environment and
practice may provide useful insights into ancient societal generic asymmetry.
58
Anderson, Mapping Feminist Biblical Criticism, 23. Male dominance is not tantamount with women being
devoid of “rights, influence and resources, but holds that it is usually men who wield power in all important
institution of society”, and this is a nuance one needs to acknowledge, cf: Eryl Wynn Davies, The Dissenting
Reader. Feminist Approaches to the Hebrew Bible, Ashgate: UK, 2003, 15, (ft.26).
59
Cf. Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza, Der Beitrag der Frau zur urchristlichen Bewegung. Kritische Überlegungen
zur Rekonstruktion urchristlicher Geschichte, in: W. Schottroff, W. Stegemann (eds.), Traditionen der
Befreiung. Sozialgeschichtliche Bibelauslegungen II (Frauen in der Bibel), Chr. Kaiser Verlag:
München/Burckhardthaus-Laetare Verlag: Berlin, 1980, 60-90, eadem: Brott statt Steine, 2-8, 15-18.
60
Cf. Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza, In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian
th
Origins, (10 edition) New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1994.
61
The egalitarian character of the Jesus Movement received ample criticism, starting with the fact that if one
starts from the premise that all texts are androcentric and patriarchal, one could seriously doubt the
authenticity of the egalitarian occasional emphases on the discipleship of women present in some of the
writings of the NT. For further information cf. Anderson, Mapping Feminist Biblical Criticism, 32.
27
As stated above, the pressing problem of feminists was that the interpretation of the
sacred texts was responsible for having perverted the equal rights of women.
Any interpretative endeavour along the centuries that is denying neutrality and objectivity
is qualified as ‘gendered’: “the result of process whereby the text is interpreted through
the lens of readers’ experience, and if the readers of the text are male, then the
interpretation which is arrived at will likely be masculinist”.62
To the above mentioned critique adds another one: the Bible, born and bred in a
patriarchal culture, proves the biasness of its writings, incentifying the feminist approach
to question these texts’ normative authority. Such a rationalization allows for alternative
readings and interpretations to emerge.
“A ‘feminist’ reading […] must, time and again rearticulate its categories and focus its
lenses of interpretation in particular historical situations and social contexts. It may not
subscribe to a single method of analysis, nor adopt a single hermeneutical perspective or
mode of approach. It also may not restrict itself to one single reading community or
audience. Rather, it must search for appropriate theoretical frameworks and practical ways
of interpretation that can make visible oppressive as well as liberative traces inscribed in
ancient Jewish and Christian Scriptures […].”63
Issues such as historicity, particularity or contextuality, social orientation, aiming at a
liberation theology reoccur when delineating the claims of feminist hermeneutics.
Subsequently, meaning can never be decontextualized and this argument is used to
diminish the strength of the feminist claim concerning the androcentrism with the Bible.
Although I concur to the generalized assumption that the Bible is an androcentric text, one
should bear in mind, it is not less androcentric than any other text, since the cultural
conditioning of any text is something indelible.64
Related to the above, another category relevant for a gender-related analysis is a

revolutionary intellectual focus on ‘man’.
Accordingly, Schüssler-Fiorenza observes that ‘man’ was par excellence the subject to
which scientific knowledge was measured and the interpretation was subsequently shaped
in an androcentric theoretical paradigm.65
62
Victoria S. Harrison, Modern Women, Traditional Abrahamic Religions and Interpreting Sacred Texts, in:
Feminist Theology: The Journal of the Britain & Ireland School of Feminist Theology, 15(2)/2007, 145-159, 156.
63
Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza, Introduction: Transforming the Legacy of The Woman’s Bible, in: Elizabeth
Schüssler-Fiorenza (ed.), Searching the Scriptures, Volume 1, 1-27, 18.
64
Phyllis Bird, The Authority of the Bible, in: Leander E. Keck et al. (eds.), The New Interpreter’s Bible, (vol. 1),
Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994, 33-64.
65
Schüssler-Fiorenza, Remembering the Past in Creating the Future, 55.
28
As a result, women were objectified. By the reconceptualization of language and the
paradigmatic shift in interpretation, feminist theologians hope to envision a status change
of women from objects to subjects.
Moreover, feminists envision in the academic interest from the Enlightenment onwards a
generic anchoring of the categories of man/woman in the male/female ones.
In other words, differentiating between the biological sex (male/female) and the socio-
cultural identity (man/woman) is not only important but also necessary.
The feminist theory in its sociological substratum claims that neither man, nor male can be
equated with the whole of humanity.66
Therefore, androcentric experience, its arguments and historical development do not
describe adequately reality in its completeness.
It is within this framework that the gendered category of woman emerges and develops,
having subsequently the concept’s cognates reexamined and revalued. Of these,
experience becomes highly important.
Since experience functions on more than one pallier, or level, all of which are relevant for a
gender-informed perspective, I will discuss it in the following subsections both from a
sociological and a literary perspective.
The means of action pertaining to the feminist strategy dealing with patriarchy and
androcentrism include the application of a hermeneutics of suspicion67 to the texts of the
Bible, more exactly to “the rhetorical constructions of the Bible”68, which prompted the
importance of the understanding of the historical context in which particular texts occurred
and as a result de-patriachalizing them.
The concept of hermeneutics of suspicion, was originally introduced by Paul Ricoeur,69
whose work is very important for the proper understanding of a gendered-informed
perspective, will be dealt with at large in the upcoming subsection concerning the socio-
literary influences on the feminist approach.
With feminists in particular, hermeneutics of suspicion is a tool used to investigate and
scrutinize Biblical texts for their possible androcentric assumptions and positions70, as well
66
Cf. Schüssler-Fiorenza, Der Beitrag der Frau zur urchristlichen Bewegung, 62-63 .
67
The current formulation bearing relevance for the gender-informed perspective belongs to and was
explained by Schüssler-Fiorenza, In Memory of Her, 2-95, also eadem, Bread not Stone, 15-18.
68
Marie-Theres Wacker, Feminist Criticism and Related Aspects, in: J. W. Rogerson and Judith M. Lieu (eds.),
Oxford Handbook of Biblical Studies, New York: Oxford University Press, 2006, 634-654, 641.
69
Paul Ricoeur, Freud and Philosophy: An Essay on Interpretation, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1970, 27:
“Hermeneutics seems to me to be animated by this double motivation: willingness to suspect, willingness to
listen; vow of rigor, vow of obedience.”
70
Schüssler-Fiorenza, Bread Not Stone, 15.
29
as unarticulated interests of contemporary Biblical interpretations71 revolving around texts’
“ideological functions in the interest of domination”.72 It is also “concerned with the
distorted ways in which women’s presences and practices are constructed and represented
in and through kyriocentric language and media.”73
Additionally, a hermeneutics of suspicion scrutinizes the presupposition and interests of
interpreters and those of Biblical commentators,74 evoking here as well, just like previously,
the double conditionedness of this strategy.
Even if in case of feminist approaches, the above-mentioned concept refers not necessarily
to the philosophy or theory of language, but entails rather societal and patriarchal
velleities, such undertones become even more relevant with the in-depth analysis of the
exclusions exercised by the patriarchal system. A hermeneutics of suspicion “does not
presuppose the feminist authority and truth of the Bible, but takes as its starting point the
assumption that Biblical texts and their interpretations are androcentric and serve
patriarchal functions.”75
Its novelty for the feminist approach relies in the fact that it activates awareness regarding
‘gender’, ‘race’, ‘class’, ‘prejudices’ and ‘biases’, inscribed in the Biblical discourse, for a
betterment of self-knowledge, as well as their functions in everyday life.
The scopes of hermeneutics of suspicion unfold critically: when we read texts such as the
Bible, we rapport ourselves to the Christian tradition, while bearing in mind that the
‘familiar’ either represented or transmitted can become different. This may occur once we
point out origins and biases and ask questions about the author(s), audience(s), and finally
expose the ethical values of good and bad handed down as ‘givens’ along centuries.
Therefore, what feminists try to disclose is precisely the gender biases, which were at the
very core both of writing the text in question, but also of the subsequent interpretations of
Biblical texts.
Very often Schüssler-Fiorenza pairs the concept with that of ‘historical reconstruction’,
while opposing it at the theoretical level with the hermeneutics of respect, acceptance,
consent and obedience dictated by the Biblical text.76
Just like her, feminist hermeneutical commentators are not simply satisfied with only
unmasking patriarchy, but go on to mention that a hermeneutics of reconstruction through
remembrance77 is required.
71
72
73
74
Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza, Art. Feminist Hermeneutics, in: David Noel Freedman (ed.), Anchor Bible
Dictionary (vol. 2), New York: Doubleday, 1992, 783-791, 790.
75
76
30
A hermeneutics of remembrance reclaims the past suffering of women and of all persons
subjugated through enslavement, exile, and maltreatment78 and presents theoretical
models for historical reconstructions, in which women are placed at the centre of Biblical
community and theology.
There are also voices, Lone Fatum included, who doubt the accommodation of the double
claim by the feminist projects of reading the Scriptures, namely of exposing the suppressive
character of the texts with regard to women and at the same time reconstructing the
Biblical material by seeking an affirmation of women, all of which accomplished by using
one analytical process.79 It would be suffice to say that a deconstruction, or simply
exposing a patriarchal construction80 fully meet the demands of relevant gender-informed
critique.
Neglecting this aspect transforms the text fundamentally, as per the agenda of some
feminists, ‘blinded by apologetics’.81
A derailment of the aboce mentioned process of deconstruction could potentially result
into the forceful and artificial transformation of a descriptive text into a prescriptive one,
by overviewing the textual evidence, either by performing a selective analysis, or by
explaining away the difficult passages.
Consequently, the fundamentalist feminist interpreters read what they want to read,
serving the interests of the feminist apologetics they represent.
This sad occurrence would be in Eco’s terms a crass misuse of the text.82
Provisional Conclusions (1)
The dissatisfaction of the feminists with various expressions of the historical-critical

method finds legitimation in the different theoretical nuances it adduces from the
historical, social and literary sources. This feminist endeavour rests on the assumption that
“the Biblical message transcends the particularity of its context and becomes part of our
world today and can therefore speak to the present.”83
77
78
Schüssler-Fiorenza, Bread Not Stone, 17, 19.
79
80
81
82
Cf. Umberto Eco, Limits of Interpretation, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991.
83
Justin Ukpong, Reading the Bible in the Global Village: Issues and Challenges from African Readings, in: J.
Ukpong, M. W. Dube, and G. O. West (eds.), Reading the Bible in the Global Village, Atlanta: Society for
Biblical Literature, 2002, 9-40, 17.
31
Just like the historical-critical method, feminist critique rests on the acknowledgement that
Biblical texts carry a sacred message and as such their formulation is human, historically
and culturally conditioned. However, as such they bear a patriarchal imprint, which
becomes the main critical category of any analytical feminist endeavour.
Moreover, the historical conditioning informs our competences, affects our reading,
evaluation and understanding. The notion of the hermeneutical circle as setting the
framework of our analysis84 is very much important for the feminist Biblical exegesis from
the perspective of historical study, for its results are continuously changing.
The legitimation for a historical scholarly enterprise for the study of the New Testament is
given by the fact that there is a gap between our contemporary world and the ancient
context of the New Testament, which can be bridged only by the expertise of the
historically working scholar.85
Regarding the main distinction between a historian and a theologian, Schüssler-Fiorenza
notes: “the Biblical exegete and theologian, in contrast with the historian of Antiquity,
never searches solely for the historical meaning of a passage, but also raises the question
of the Bible’s meaning and authority for today”.86
The anchorage in reality, furthermore informed by hermeneutical circle is actually
conducted by a hermeneutics of suspicion aiming to expose biases and to legitimate the
contextual approach of a gender-informed method. For this, the formation and functions
of a hermeneutical circle is a prerequisite.
Besides the fact that the hermeneutical circle forms and functions as I described above,
gender-critical analysis holds it relevant by the fact the socio-historical, as well as cultural
context of women engaged with feminist exegesis inform their understanding(s).
Therefore the fragmentation, which is noticeable today in the larger feminist discourse is
due precisely to the fact that understanding(s) and interests for exegesis are contextual.
Moreover the hermeneutical circle formed by applying the hermeneutic of suspicion is
rooted in gendered experience. Nevertheless, the hermeneutics of suspicion has its
limitations.
When using it as a positivist historical hermeneutic approach, it results in a loss of its
theological relevance and sensitivity for postmodern context, moreover for pastoral use.
However, it cannot be overlooked that a complete elimination of the historical-critical
method in hermeneutics would lead to a misappropriation of the Biblical texts, manifested
in a one-sided type of reading, which does not address either the context of redaction, or
84
85
A. K. M. Adam, Faithful Interpretation. Reading the Bible in a Postmodern World, Minneapolis: Fortress
Press, 2006, 12.
86
32
the contemporary relevance of the text. It would be just to serve certain agendas of some
feminist scholars, without much textual support, as the nature of its arguments could be
precritical, or uncritical, or retrodictive.87
The historical-critical method and implicitly, the acknowledgement of the importance of
historical context pertaining to Biblical redaction and reception offer a counterpoint to the
gender-informed perspective. Without it, the danger of projecting our contemporary
interpretation onto the Biblical text is too great.
Further, lacking the historical understanding of the texts regarding the multiple traditions
evidenced in the Bible tantamount to one easily ascribing a revelatory character to all
Biblical statements.
This could in turn lead to misogynist, at times conflicting interpretations.88
Furthermore, an overly biased historical study cannot adequately discern the existing
conditions in Antiquity.89
What belongs to the transmission of the Biblical text is always to be analyzed against the
tradition in which the text grows, develops its meanings and such a fact is made possible by
the employment of the historical-critical method. Biblicist and fundamentalist
interpretations can become traps that an educated reader must avoid.
In a concluding positive key, there are at least two preconditions from the historical-critical
method that any feminist should value, namely that the Bible evidentiates multiple
traditions and God has spoken via human beings (Dei Verbum II). Also, it helps us
differentiate between the redaction and tradition of a text interpretation.
From the analysis above, one can also notice that a pure employment of the historical-
critical method is not enough for present exegesis. Even if the socio-historical context in
which some texts originated is crucial for their theological grasping, the new perspective on
history reshapes our understanding on the situation the original text might have
addressed.
87
For a clarification of this terminology cf. the social perspective informing the gendered approach as present
in the current analysis.
88
89
Wacker, Part One: Historical Hermeneutical and Methodological Foundations, 46.
33
1.2 Approaches from Socio-critical Perspective
From a historical approach we move into a more concrete and particular expression of
historical conditioning, namely that of individual life.
There is a certain degree of timelessness pertaining to sociological theory, very often
associated with universality.
“Sociology looks for what is general or typical in any given society and seeks to find similar
models elsewhere,” […] resting on the assumption “that all societies function in more or
less similar ways.” 90
Nevertheless, such an observation finds itself only apparently in an incompatible
relationship with the category discussed in the previous subsection, for history insists “on
the uniqueness of any given society’s development.” 91
Something that sociologists do not agree upon is the universal validity of a model of
anything materialized in a standard for everything.92
This is why a rigid understanding of timelessness in delineating the sociological approach is
rejected.
There is actually a special type of temporality describing human existence. Such existence
resides at the confluence of historical, cultural as well biological conditioning.
It is never universal, and although the external factors may be found in all societies, the
manner in which every human being relates to these factors is individual, personal, and
even unique.
Subsequently, historical conditionedness does not solely involve a historical character per
se, but also a cultural dimension informed by a gendered existence, and those three
coordinates are extremely relevant for a gender-informed approach.
Because the existential and epistemological coordinates of the historical dimension have
been mentioned above, and the description of the cultural one will be postponed for a
later analysis in this subsection, I will refer to gender in what follows.
As previously mentioned, the social orientation, starting with the mid 1970’s adduces
gender, as social identity and construction, more precisely “an understanding of gender as
performative and thus socially constructed, and conversely, as socially constructed and
90
Gerald Lewis Bray, Biblical Interpretation: Past and Present, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1996, 511.
91
Bray, Biblical Interpretation: Past and Present, 512.
92
Bray, Biblical Interpretation: Past and Present, 512. Bray gives the following example to strengthen his
argument: “If Israel was unique […], it is hard to see how or why it should serve as a model for Christians
now”.
34
thus performative”93 to the critique of the historical-critical method.94 As category, the
cultural construction which interests any feminist approach, i.e. gender never appears
alone in any discourse but always with its theoretical corollary, including parametres such
as ‘race’, ‘class’ and ‘ethnicity’.
It is important to note that for feminism, the roots of such a legitimation of gender go as
far back as the incipient stages of the Women’s Movement, initially a social movement
preoccupied with an increasing involvement of women in society, materialized in gaining
political representativeness and visibility as expressed in the suffragist rights and militating
further for educational and economical rights.
The political dimension acts as a catalyst in the societal expression of women because the
‘personal’ is ‘political’. 95 Therefore, gender has political implications and gender power is
tantamount to class power. Gender is not merely “a matter of difference, but a matter of
power”.96
As per the socio-critical perspective, the social and political relevance became the criteria
for the gender-informed approach.
Since the Bible is a foundational document of our culture, Biblical interpretation is
considered to incorporate a dynamic on-going process by which people consciously and
critically appropriate the Holy Writ and its message from within the perspectives and with
the resources of their cultures.97
In general, reading is considered a social activity,98 texts have a political function and
interpreting the Bible has implications, as well as impact on both ecclesial and cultural
93
Angela Bauer, Jeremiah as Female Impersonator: Roles of Difference in Gender Perception and Gender
Perceptivity, in: Harold C. Washington, Susan Lochrie Graham and Pamela Thimmes (eds.), Escaping Eden.
New Feminist Perspectives on Bible, Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999, 199-207, 202.
94
Mary Ann Tolbert, Social, Sociological and Anthropological Methods, in: Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza (ed.),
Searching the Scriptures, Volume 1, 255-271, 255.
95
Herlinde Pissarek-Hudelist, Mann und Frau in der Sicht der feministischen Theologie, in: Theodor Schneider
(ed.), Mann und Frau –Grundproblem Theologischer Anthropologie, (Quaestiones disputatae 121), Freiburg,
Basel, Wien: Herder, 1989, 73-123, 76.
96
Danna Nolan Fewell, Reading the Bible Ideologically. Feminist Criticism, in: Steven L. McKenzie, Stephen R.
Haynes (eds.), An Introduction to Biblical Criticism and Their Application. To Each its Own Meaning, Louisville:
John Knox Press, 1999, 268- 282, 275.
97
Justin S. Ukpong, Inculturation as Decolonization of Biblical Studies in Africa, in: S. O. Abogunrin (ed.)
Decolonization of Biblical Interpretation in Africa, Ibadan, Nigeria: Nigeria Association of Biblical Studies,
2005, 35.
98
Thimmes, What Makes a Feminist Reading Feminist? Another Perspective, 136.
35
institutions.99 The Bible is viewed as a text that is anchored in the socio-historical settings
of its authors, and yet plurivalent enough to speak meaningfully to different emvironments
across space and time and by doing so, it gains the character of a political act.
Just like any societal expressions, texts (Biblical texts included) are permeated by
ideological stances wherein ideology is defined as “an integrated system of beliefs,
assumptions and values, not necessarily true or false, which reflect the needs and interests
of a group, or a class at a particular time in history”.100
Subsequently, a dialectic of liberation presupposes a critique of androcentric or patriarchal
ideology.101
Ideology is embedded in discourse, i.e. “special languages used by social groups”,102 it is
also found in the feminist discourse.
This reality points to the fact that ideology is not necessarily items which can be located in
the text, but that it is evident as a characteristic of relationships existing in our society.
Since the reality wherein we live is patriarchal, we can only perceive from our patriarchal
context,103 that there are certain ways of reading and interpreting a priori, which serve to
confirm and legitimate prejudices, traditions, attitudes, social relationships.
The economic component of patriarchy also played an important role in turning to and
keeping women in a state of dependence in relation to men a practice that was not
particularly empowering throughout the centuries for women in general.
Feminist theorists attempt at unmasking the androcentrism –and its correlates sexism and
misogyny –existing in contemporary society, as well as at depatriachalizing the textual
interpretations in the theological discourse.
From this perspective, readers are socially conditioned entities. They are not ideal, abstract
textual constructions. They are human beings, who can be often placed under various
oppressive political systems, manifested in the sustained humiliation of a group, based on
various factors deemed unfavourable by the leading forces.
99
Pamela Thimmes, Making Boundaries Inside and Outside: The Ongoing Task of Feminist Hermeneutics, in:
Harold C. Washington, Susan Lochrie Graham and Pamela Thimmes (eds.), Escaping Eden. New Feminist
Perspectives on Bible, Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999, 279-282, 280-281.
100
David Brian Davis, The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution 1770-1823, Ithaca, NY: Cornell
University Press, 1975, 14, cf. Vernon K. Robbins, Socio- Rhetorical Criticism: Mary, Elizabeth and the
Magnificat as a Test Case, in: Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, Edgar V. McKnight (eds.), The New Literary Criticism
and The New Testament, 164-209, 194.
101
Thiselton, New Horizons in Hermeneutics, 385f.
102
Anderson, Mapping Feminist Biblical Criticism, 26.
103
Margaret B. Adam, This is My Story, This is My Song…: A Feminist Claim on the Scripture, Ideology and
Interpretation, in: Harold C. Washington, Susan Lochrie Graham and Pamela Thimmes (eds.): Escaping Eden.
New Feminist Perspectives on Bible, Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999, 218-232, 220.
36
To certain extent, by virtue of their response as well as contemporary anchoring in social
realities, readers or interpreters hold authority over the Biblical text, for the interpretive
community is the one, “who experience God’s presence in their struggle for liberation.”104
Such changes could not have been adopted in the theological field, or even come into
effect, had it not been for the more pregnant academic interest in liberation theology.
It is defined as a theological expression, which makes “a preferential option for the
oppressed; it tries to look at society from the standpoint of what will help in their
liberation, and through their eyes”.105 For liberation theologians, there is a strong
anchoring in the social realities.
Thus the formulations of liberation theologies are initiated in Latin America “as a response
to the extreme social injustice in that part of the world”.106
An important point is that the relationship between hermeneutics and praxis, which was
always crucial for the gender-informed approach, stems from the very transformative
character of liberation theologies.107 The latter does not just simply stop at criticizing the
socio-political character of the oppression and marginalization, but offers theoretical
models which aim at transformation.108 It is within the framework provided by the
liberation theologies that the term concientización, translated as ‘constientization’, or
‘consciousness-raising’ emerged. It arose in the context where the pedagogue Paulo Freire
104
Alice Ogden Bellis, Feminist Biblical Scholarship, in: Carol Meyers, Toni Craven, Ross S. Kraemer (eds.),
Women in Scripture. A Dictionary of the Unnamed Women in the Hebrew Bible, the
Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books and the New Testament, Grand Rapids, Michigan/ Cambridge, UK:
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 24-32, 27.
105
Leonardo Boff, What are Third World Theologies? In: Concilium, 199(5)/1988, 3-13, 11.
106
Bray, Biblical Interpretation: Past and Present, 516.
107
There are different articulations of the interests with liberation theologies. Besides the unmasking of
patriarchy and androcentrism evident with the feminist approach, one can also notice the insistence of the
Asian theologians on reading the Bible in the context informed by postcolonialism, or the womanist pursuit to
point at the racial motifs of the Bible etc. Leaving aside the ethnical dimension of these approaches, the Bible
is also questioned with regard to its teachings, as perceived from the perspective of less economically
favoured, i.e. the poor, or the culturally preferred, i.e. the oppressed. For further reading cf. R. S.
Sugirtharajah (ed.) Voices from the Margin: Interpreting the Bible in the Third World, Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis,
1991 or Norman K. Gottwald and Richard A. Horsley (eds.) The Bible and Liberation: Political and Social
Hermeneutics, Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1983.
108
On the transformative effect feminist approach has, cf. Thimmes, What makes A Feminist Reading
Feminist? Another Perspective, 135; Patrocinio P. Schweickart, Toward a Feminist Theory of Reading, in:
Elizabeth A. Flynn and Patrocinio P. Schweickart (eds.) Gender and Reading: Essays on Readers, Texts and
Contexts, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986, 31-62, 9; Schüssler-Fiorenza, Transforming the
Legacy of the Women’s Bible, 18.
37
activated.109 Socio-critical inquiry and critique is part of the consciousness-raising process,
advocated so much by feminist theorists.
Aiming at concietización, liberation theologies contain a subjective orientation, besides a
societal one: among other, they attempt liberation from projections, from negative self-
images, from hierarchical thought-models.110 With the gender-informed approach,
subjectivity bears a double orientation: one it stems from experience, the other is
associated to women’s experience. That is why feminist writers do not write not as women,
or not only as outsiders in defense of “the oppressed”, but as insiders who are concerned
with oppression in terms of gender.
The understanding of the concept of ‘tradition’ is relevant to the feminist approach. It
mainly refers to the fact that Biblical texts have been read and interpreted along the
centuries in a certain way, which is neither innocent, nor empowering for women. Au
contraire, there has been a systematic disregard concerning women’s experience of
marginalization and oppression.
Oppression of women, as social materializes in an endless mater an “endless variety and
monotonous similarity, cross-culturally and throughout history.”111 In the feminists’
understanding, women are oppressed either because of biological insufficiencies, or
because of their precarious economic or social status.
Marginalization is both cause and result of the invisibility of women in societal discourse. It
is either achieved by stereotyping, or by conceiving women as men, as well as by
anonymity. In case of textual representativeness, marginalization is achieved limiting itself
at presenting women’s issues as isolated accounts, more accurately perceived as accidents
rather than real issues.
As shown above, from a sociological point of view with generic relevance, ‘gender’ locks in
itself women’s experience of marginalization and oppression. Such experience does not
remain unique in its own, but bears cultural and societal reverberations having an
alienating role for women.
Every society is permeated by unjust structures. Securing superior positions in a society

with a patriarchal structure is implemented very often by stereotyping the roles, in this
case, gender-roles.
109
Thiselton, New Horizons in Hermeneutics, 416.
110
C. M. J. Halkes, Gott hat nicht nur starke Söhne. Grundzüge einer feministischen Theologie, Gütersloh:
Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 1980, 25.
111
Gayle Rubin, The Traffic in Women: Notes on the ‘Political Economy’ of Sex, in: Rayna Reiter (ed.), Toward
and Anthropology of Women, New York: Monthly Review Press, 1975, 157-210, 160.
38
Because of the high degree of stereotyping, feminist approaches draw attention to the fact
that Biblical images of women have shaped cultural understanding.
In response, it advances the idea of reading Biblical texts, whilst displaying sensitivity to
gender issues, even if some of these were not particularly flattering for women in general
as they entered our present cultural understanding. Therefore, it is enough to name a
whole set of information and associations are created should one be called for example
Jezebel, Delilah, Eve or Deborah, Ruth etc.
Even more so, another cultural stereotype very relevant in the current discussion for its
generic undertones is the ‘human body’. In its gendered existence, lie the rationales
accounting for the marginalization and oppression of women. Without reiterating the
struggle between essentialists and constructionists,112 female body was ascribed passivity,
weakness, seduction113, being subsequently acknowledged as universal historical reality by
the patriarchal society.
In recent studies, feminism of the third wave gravitates towards the inseparability of
nature and culture: body is not purely social or cultural.114 It is indeed a product of culture,
but not entirely a passive recipient of cultural inscription. Additionally, “the body has its
biological limits, its sex specificity and its own integrity.”115
As I will show later, body very much associates with the gendered images in a creative
fashion by employing metaphors, especially in the Biblical account of interest for the
current enterprise, respectively Apocalypse 17.
From a feminist point of view, women’s experience is also informed by social location,
being an indicator of our culture, and bearing an imprint on the type of interpretation we
conduct. Our worldview is a constructed reality drawn from more than one social context,
since “most of us (though not all) have multiple perspectives from which we may interpret
texts.”116
112
Cf. Wioleta Polinska, Dangerous Bodies: Women’s Nakedness and Theology, in: Journal of Feminist Studies
in Religion, 16(1)/2000, 45-62, 54. In short, this view is deeply entrenched in the dichotomous battle nature
vs. culture, wherein “essentialism maintains that woman’s nature has been repressed by the social order […]
constructionism […] holds that woman’s biology is generated by the social order.” As a result, any difference
between the sexes is based on conventional roles, rather than physiology.
113
Wioleta Polinska, Dangerous Bodies, 57.
114
Elizabeth Grosz, Volatile Bodies: Toward a Corporeal Feminism, Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
1994, 21, 187; cf. Moira Gatens, Power, Bodies and Difference, in: Michele Barrett and Anne Phillips (eds.),
Destabilizing Theory, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992, 120-137, 128-130.
115
Polinska, Dangerous Bodies, 54-55, in reference to Elizabeth Grosz, Volatile Bodies, 21, 187.
116
Mary Ann Tolbert, Reading For Liberation, in: Fernando F. Segovia and Mary Ann Tolbert (eds.), Reading
from this Place: Social Location and Biblical Interpretation in the United States, Minneapolis: Fortress Press,
1995, 263-277, 274.
39
The social reality in which we live, namely patriarchy creates a false consciousness117 by
denying the historical and cultural conditionedness of both author and interpreter of
Biblical texts. It propagates dualisms, which evidentiate social hierarchical constructions,
legitimizing thus the need of one group to dominate over the other. Patriarchy is oblivious
to the reality of diversity, which feminist approach embraces.
Socio-critical hermeneutics therefore offers the theoretical tool, as well as provides the
framework for liberation or emancipatory hermeneutics, 118 otherwise hindered if one does
not succeed in unmasking the ideologies, which bear social determinations, subservient to
external and established interests, in this case, patriarchal or androcentric ones.
More radically expressed, patriarchy was for centuries displaying a monism, rather than a
dualism between the male and the female: in this respect, “there are not two distinct and
opposed elements, but only one and its negative projection of itself onto the other. The
other is defined as lack, atrophy, or diminution of the dominant element, not as an entirety
with its own integrity, specificity and value.”119
Either considering its dualist, or its monist character, patriarchy is common for all cultures.
From a theological perspective, patriarchy has one “fundamental flaw: it does not treat all
human as equals”120, which for the modern world is quite of a problem.
Uncovering androcentrism points at a theoretical shift from the paradigm of domination to
one of equality that stands at the base of the Christian profession,121 wherein the former’s
existence is nothing but a perversion of the latter. One should however keep in mind that
especially with Biblical texts, equality between the sexes is a very modern concept and
analytical lens. It more accurately circumscribes the understanding prevailing in our
society, rather than realities of Biblical times.
The actual manner, in which ideology is uncovered and resisted to, is by employing
ideology critique to the text having two other correlates in mind: one, the hermeneutics of
suspicion, that in this case acts against preserving a certain social and cultural status quo;
and second, the application of the hermeneutical circle, both of which rest on the
acknowledgement of contextuality. This concept in particular is of crucial understanding for
117
The formulation was retrieved from Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza, Feminist theology and the New
Testament Interpretation, in: Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 22/1982, 32- 46, 34.
118
119
Mary Ann Tolbert, Reading Bible with Authority: Feminist Interrogation of the Canon, in: Harold C.
Washington, Susan Lochrie Graham and Pamela Thimmes (eds.), Escaping Eden. New Feminist Perspectives on
Bible, Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999, 141- 162, 159-160.
120
Tikva Frymer-Kensky, The Bible and Women’s Studies, in: eadem, Studies in Bible and Feminist Criticism,
Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2006, 159-183, 161.
121
Morgan, Feminist Theological Interpretation of the New Testament, 23.
40
theology, because basically every theology is a contextual theology, which means that it
starts and develops from a particular horizon of experience.122
If we accept the shift in paradigm towards historical-conditionedness, contextuality and
particularity, the manner in which the interpretation of socio-political situation in terms of
oppression and marginalization based on gender copes with salvation history becomes
principial.
Since both concepts of hermeneutics of suspicion and hermeneutical circle are by now not
new ones, I will in the following delineate the fashion in which these associate and function
with different expressions of liberation theologies among which feminism enlists.
The ‘hermeneutical circle’ presents itself as one of the key elements of liberation
theologians’ interpretation of the Bible and tradition. Instead of the individual personal
dimension given by the historical conditionedness, and explained in the earlier subsection,
Juan Luis Segundo, the hermeneutical theorist insists on the existence of a pattern
informed by the external factors. “The continuing change in our interpretation of the Bible
is dictated by the continuing changes in our present-day reality, both individual and
societal”; as a result, “each new reality obliges to interpret the word of God afresh, to
change reality accordingly, and then to go back and reinterpret the word of God again, and
so on.”123
In a more accurate description of how this concept actually operates, Segundo identifies
four steps:
“Firstly there is our way of experiencing reality, which leads us to ideological suspicion.
Secondly, there is application of our ideological suspicion to the whole ideological
superstructure in general and to theology in particular. Thirdly, there comes a new way of
experiencing theological reality that leads us to exegetical suspicion, that is, to the
suspicion that the prevailing interpretation of the Bible has not taken important pieces of
data into account. Fourthly we have our new hermeneutic, that is, our new way of
interpreting the fountainhead of our faith (i.e. Scripture) with the new elements at our
disposal.”124
Suspicion emerges from the outside, from external realities and is projected back or carried
into the text. It always aims toward a new creation, deeper than the previous, relying and
informed by the data which opened up this new perspective. This is how Biblical message
remained in actuality throughout the centuries, because in the interpretation of Bible, the
hermeneutical circle, especially its ideology critique is adopted by most liberation
theologians.
122
Pissarek-Hudelist, Mann und Frau in der Sicht der feministischen Theologie, 78.
123
Luis Segundo, Liberation of Theology, Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1976, 8.
124
Segundo, Liberation of Theology, 9.
41
Such a valid observation applies in the case of feminist approach, where a consciously
assumed acknowledgment of the gender(ed) categories play an important role in the
process of interpretation.
As presented by Segundo, entering any hermeneutical circle, while interpreting resides on
the hermeneutics of suspicion.
Applying the above mentioned concepts implies a reading strategy in which the reader
becomes aware of how certain biases with regard to race, class, gender, religion and
economic systems are not only presented by a text, but also either confirmed or infirmed.
As a result, the particular reading is critical, the text is questioned, and imaginary value-
clashes between text and contemporary reader may occur.
To the historical and social parametres of reading, a socio-critical perspective includes the
notion of interest even more so because of its rootedness in our experience.
This concept encompasses other coordinates, which are interesting for a gender-informed
approach.
Among these, intersubjectivity was previously mentioned, as well as a certain amount or
degree of biasness. Intersubjectivity and biasness inform our hermeneutical circle in an
attempt to unmask current patriarchal ideologies. As a consequence, interest becomes
very especially relevant for its practical relevance.
For the field of Biblical studies, interest is found on one hand as serving the Biblical
authors’ theological-pastoral intentions. Alternatively, readers’ interest is evident in the
process of selection, as interpretive communities hold keys to interpretations. This
particular double conditionedness coordinates very well with the one of the hermeneutical
enterprise mentioned at the beginning of this section, as a whole.
One should note, however, that this claim should not in any case be confused with serving
the agenda of either authors or interpretive communities of the Biblical texts, but from a
gender-related concern, it claims to be pointing at a “type of injustice it seeks to eliminate.
Nothing could more clearly serve to distinguish socio-critical category and practices from
socio-pragmatic theory and practice” (her italics).125
Just like the previous citation conspicuously validates, the sociological approach with a
hermeneutical relevance for the gender-informed approach pendulates between two main
extremes: on the one end of its swing there are the contextual-relative socio-pragmatic
type of approaches, on the other end, one enlists the metacritical and socio-critical
hermeneutics.
125
Janet Radcliffe Richards, The Skeptical Feminist, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1980, 17,18; cf. Thiselton, New
Horizons, 443; idem, Hermeneutics, 293.
42
By applying a critique of ideology, social and praxis bring about an emancipatory result. In
other words, this type of hermeneutics empowers and engages emancipatory as well as
autonomous actions.
In case of Biblical texts, the acknowledgement and expression of the transcendental
coordinate remains crucial. In this respect, there is a main danger associated with the
liberation theologies, or more correctly, with overemphasizing the societal aspect of the
gender-informed inquiry, namely that by over anchoring the experience of women centred
on injustice, oppression, and marginalization too deep in the social order, transcendence of
the salvific act loses importance. And salvation is a major event for theology.
With socio-pragmatic approaches, selectivity of the material ranks high, precisely because
of the need to supply textual references to support the political agenda of certain
feminists. Arbitrarity points to a reversal, yet not diminishing of the roles of oppressors and
oppressed by arguing in their interests, the oppressed become oppressors126 and the very
nature of the critique is not changed, only the identity of who are in charge with providing
the exegesis of any Biblical text.
A socio-pragmatic exegesis can never claim rightness for its scope is too narrow, and
experience is too subjective, too focused.127
Other caution steps with the socio-critical approach are to be taken when analyzing the
significance of the critical encounter between the text’s socio-historical context and the
reader’s socio-cultural world. By the mere fact that we are embedded in contemporary
realities, one could very easily fall in a Biblicist trap, if disregarding the historical character
of the Biblical world to the point that it forces the latter to fit into the contemporary socio-
cultural mold. Such mistake would result in a precritical, or uncritical retrodictive utilization
of a contemporary cultural worldview to interpret an ancient text following the dictum:
“since we know how things turned out, that information can be used as a check on the
theories”. A causal reading on “how things turned out” “may rest on any number of totally
unpredictable factors, including chance human psychopathology, or iconoclasm; thus the
present can never function as a check on earlier social dynamics.”128
Another observation resulting into the same type of precritical judgment would be
pertaining to the so-called tabloid129 readers of the Bible, who generate, authorize, favour
126
127
Thiselton, New Horizons in Hermeneutics, 451. I will refer again to the implications of radicalizing the
contextual as definitory for a socio-pragmatic interpretation when dealing with the literary aspects of how
contemporary notions of interpretation and interpreters need to be understood, as part of the influences of
the literary theories on the gender-informed approach.
128
Tolbert, Social, Sociological and Anthropological Methods, 2.
129
Cf. Adam, Faithful Interpretation. Reading the Bible in a Postmodern World, 59-61, (ft. 4).
43
one interpretation over the others based on the conventions that only a group shares,
which are in fact not at all be accepted in a context of academic scholarship.
Moreover, an analysis based solely on ideological discourse containing gender
discrimination can only propagate the negative cultural stereotypes and thus work against
the very liberating nature of feminist studies. In doing so, it grants patriarchy and
androcentric tradition in relation to oppression and marginalization of women an
“undisputed heritage, […] also a certain inevitability that relieves each successive
generation of its moral responsibility for the particular choices that encouraged the
evolution of the pattern.”130 In contrast, other orientations are preoccupied with
understanding the context of Biblical negative or so-called misogynist stories, and thus
minimalize their relevance for the present context.
Related to the issue, I would like to add another observation, namely that with regard to
reading gender constructions in a postmodern environment. Especially relevant when
interpreting, one should bear in mind the major distinction between the contemporary
constructions and the Ancient Near Eastern ones. What we gain from our hermeneutical
horizon is informed by modern presuppositions. As a result, interpretation is delivered
primarily for the relevant contemporary questions by the accurate decoding of ancient
system of gender roles encoded in the ‘original’, historical context.
Additionally, a distance is imposed because “the information on gender divisions that can
be found in the New Testament or other Graeco-Roman writings should be read as
symbolic accounts and not as depictions of actual day-to-day social relations”.131
Nonetheless, I shall point in the upcoming subsection that the rhetorical power of text lies
precisely in these symbolic accounts, which have a ‘realistic’ basis.
Incursions in the sociological approaches are without doubt broadening our perspective on
feminist Biblical scholarship.
As presented above, it is clear why the feminist theological approach related some of its
themes and concerns to liberation theology. As Letty M. Russell formulates, from a positive
view the feminist theological approach aims at the freedom of the children of God, while
130
131
44
negatively, it diagnoses the corruption of society and Church via sexism, androcentrism and
patriarchy. 132
The main distinction between the two is regarding the scope: the gender-informed
perspective entails an ecumenical endeavour, as it operates at more than one level,
transgressing the ethnical boundaries. It embraces women of all classes, races, and
cultures, oppressed along the centuries by the patriarchy, showing radicalism and
universality133 in contrast with the different expressions of liberation theology, which
remained anchored in the contextual.
Gender is an analytical category very important for the sociological analysis. Since it never
appears in isolation but informed by ‘race’, ‘class’, ‘ethnicity’, ‘social location’, it has a
political function. Given its enmeshedness in the ideological discourse of any society
informed primarily in the current case by an emancipatory analysis of ‘interest’, gender
provides thus liberation from androcentric, patriarchal structures resulting from the
ideological critique.
The alienating experience of women is a crucial critical principle in examining the
ideological character of the feminist approach.134 In its experience lies the historical
inscriptions of marginality and oppression conducted against women. These are matters of
fact and not of opinion for the feminist writers. Cui bono becomes one of the key questions
for the gender-related perspective, considering amendable those who wish to profit from
the propagation of unjust structures as surfacing from the androcentric discourse
emphases.
Having as a starting point the anchoring in the social contemporary experience, the
message of the Bible is continuously reformulated, and new dimensions are always
unfolding resulting in a type of approach named socio-critical, that is totally opposed to the
socio-pragmatic dimension.
By evidencing its social character, the feminist approach adopts a stance requiring more
than mere theorizing, respectively taking action, transforming by questioning the existing
ideologies, which limit the representativeness of marginalized and/or oppressed groups,
among which women enlist.
132
Letty M. Russell, Sprachveränderung und Kirchenreform, in: Letty M. Russell (ed.), Als Mann und Frau ruft
er runs. Von nicht-sexistischen Gebrauch der Bibel, München: J. Pfeiffer, 1979, 80-84.
133
Cf. Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza, Für eine befreite und befreiende Theologie, in: Concilium 14/1978, 287-
294, 291. One should consider however, that universality present in the present claim is an ideal of the liberal
orientation pertaining to second wave feminism. Such an expression was made irrelevant by the third wave
feminism, when it was acknowledged that political and social circumstances are not universal, allowing
therefore for multiple contextual formulations.
134
Thiselton, New Horizons in Hermeneutics, 434-435, 439.
45
The activism is also clear with Biblical hermeneutics, where the reconstructionist approach
revolving around gender gained popularity. This gained immensely by considering the
sociological and anthropological data for additional information on the role and status of
women in ancient cultures.
In spite of interpreting societal patterns in terms of roles, unaltered by the temporal
component that seems to substantiate the universal claim of sociological studies, one
should however bear in mind that while generic roles remained the same, their
understanding has been changed with the passing of time.
Subsequently, when discussing the level of congeniality between contemporary and
societal generic patterns, the danger of reading back retrodictively emerges, as we project
our contemporary understanding of various social roles, attitudes, values etc. into ancient
categories. And this would affect the validity of any serious exegetical research.
In the same line of ideas, an overfocus on the social aspect in Biblical exegesis can be
rendered reductionist, due to its speculative nature.
This fact stems from the lack of data dealing with ancient world categories135 and so it
cannot substantiate the claim for a precise historical reconstruction of the civil structures in
ancient society.
Therefore, it is for this reason that I will not venture myself into a reconstructive type of
exegesis with regard to Apocalypse 17.
Even more so, the association of feminist critique with liberation could not be, on second
thought as auspicious as one may think for liberation theology reduces faith to politics as
well as overstresses human activity in the process of liberation, and uses selectively the
texts of the Bible as to accommodate their agenda. 136
Maintaining a delicate balance between a metacritical exegesis and a socio-pragmatic one
while at the same time remaining truthful to analyzing ancient categories are not the only
challenges when discussing the feminist approach from a sociological perspective.
Selectivity, an overfocus on contextual, also understood as ethnocentrism –“the
interpretation of different cultures and peoples in terms of one’s own culture and views”137
–can be also very destabilizing factors for the feminist discourse viewed diachronically,
respectively with the third wave feminism.
135
Bray, Biblical Interpretation: Past and Present, 512; for a similar view cf. Tolbert, Social, Sociological and
Anthropological Methods, 266f.
136
Bray, Biblical Interpretation: Past and Present, 517f.
137
46
1.3 Approaches belonging to Literary Criticism
As it was presented in the earlier subsections, context –with social, cultural, economic,
geographical etc. coordinates –becomes part of the text, creating thus a type of
indivisibility bearing important repercussions on the interpretative act.
Texts per se are the object of hermeneutics. The etymology of the word138 portrays the
unity at the level of linguistic units, realized by applying a set of semantic and syntactic
principles. It also denotes the ‘meaningful web’ attained by coherence –an inner text
attribute –provided by certain motif clusters, which are repeated, opposed, referred to at
the textual level.
Texts are “sign-carriers in a communicative process”. 139 In other words, any text can be
defined as any situational communication fixed in written form.
Literary methods are not at all new with the study of Biblical texts. They offer valuable
insight and depth in the exegetical study.
Bearing resemblance with the perspective offered by the historical-critical method, the text
is shaped by the interplay of historical and cultural forces.
Unlike the historical-critical method, which does not take the literal text as its starting
point, the literary criticism focuses on the text, as part of a web of texts, having inner
coherence. The method does not consider the Biblical texts primarily as a source of
information for real history, but rather deems their linguistic thesaurus, structure, and
rhetorical literary artifices as crucial for the interpretation.
Additionally, in the Introduction of The New Literary Criticism and the New Testament,
Elizabeth Struthers Malbon and Edgar V. McKnight contend that the literary criticism of the
New Testament does not disregard history altogether, just that history is no longer
perceived as the ‘originating case of literary texts’ but it is conceived in literary terms.140
“Literary criticism has been liberating to New Testament studies by opening dimensions of
meaning that were obscured by the narrowly historical approach that dominated the
138
The word comes from the Latin textus or texere, which means “texture”, or “to weave”. As such it entails
several levels of formation.
139
Barbara Schmitz, Prophetie und Königtum. Eine narratologisch- historische Methodologie entwickelt an den
Königsbüchern, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008, 18.
140
Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, Edgar V. McKnight, Introduction, in: Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, Edgar V.
McKnight (eds.), The New Literary Criticism and The New Testament, 15-26, 18.
47
discipline for so long”,141 since it is common accepted that text-oriented approaches
revolve around the concept of meaning.
Moreover, literary approaches focus on the triad author-text-reader when dealing with any
text (also Biblical!).
Biblical scholarship accepts generally that the text is the creation of an author who shapes
it to reflect his or her worldview: “the author’s worldview is an amalgamation of personal
insights and the views of the surrounding society […] the literary expression of the
worldview is the result of the author’s creative use of the society’s language and literary
conventions […] the reader brings to the text a personal view of the world and specific
linguistic and literary conventions that are socially conditioned.”142
Reading is thus an active process in which readers engage in a continuous negotiation
followed by an expansion of their own horizons as the text’s deeper levels of meaning
unfold.
I mentioned in the previous subsections how multiple factors and circumstances ranging
from historical to social, as well as interest shape our understanding of a text, and also the
manner in which we make sense out of it.
Subsequently, meaning no longer precedes the reading act, it is not static, trans-temporal,
but rather ever-changing, depending when (temporal flow) and if (conditions) the reader
engages with the text.143 Moreover, meaning of a 1st century text was different when read
in its ‘original’ context, than when read nowadays. This difference refers to setting,
interest, beliefs of the readers, but also their cultural background for which certain images
are relevant.
Besides the fact that reading is bound to time in creating a temporal experience, it is also
dialogical by nature, in that it requests a reader.
There is an interaction between the reader and the text, in which both parts are influencing
each other. The reader is actively involved with ‘producing’ meaning. In doing so, the
reader introduces a more subjective, personal dimension in view of his/her experience.
This is why, when considering the historical dimension of the reading act, one should keep
in mind that literary levels of the text are to be distinguished from the historical ones:
while the literary ones point to the situational environment of the text redaction, the
historical ones, as we have seen, prevent the fundamentalist, or Biblicist interpretation.
141
William A. Beardslee: What Is It About? Reference in the New Testament Literary Criticism, in: Elizabeth
Struthers Malbon, Edgar V. McKnight (eds.), The New Literary Criticism and The New Testament, 367-386,
384.
142
Robert R. Wilson, Sociological Approaches to the Old Testament, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984, 4, 6.
143
Robert M. Fowler, Figuring Mark’s Reader, in: Janice Capel Anderson and Stephen D. Moore (eds.), Mark
nd
and Method. New Approaches in Biblical Studies (2 ed.), Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2008, 59-95.
48
The reevaluation of language as objectives of literary criticism proved to be extremely
insightful for Biblical exegesis as a whole.
Multiple observations on the ‘nature’, ‘function’ and ‘type of language’ need to be
adduced.
Primarily, because the texts of the Bible are written in Hebrew and Greek, language –its
nature, as well as its capacity of decoding everyday life by reflecting to a certain extent
reality as such –becomes important.
There are two classical, universally acknowledged functional understanding of language
with relevance for the understanding of Biblical texts.
In the first model, language has a transmissive function. It fits a communicative situation,
containing an encoded message, where the readers, or receivers are engaged in decoding
or translating this message. Since language has a cognitive component, and so “culturally
stored knowledge”144 is passed on.
Pertaining to Biblical texts, such a decoding happens when a literalist understanding of the
Bible occurs, namely when “it involves the translation (or “encoding”) of an idea (the
revelatory Word) into a signal (Bible) by a sender (G*d), the transmission of this signal to a
receiver (Biblical readers and interpreters), and the decoding of the signal into a message
(religion, dogma, history, ethics, etc.) by the receiver.”145
This option argues among others for the existence of one univocal and authoritative
message, which cannot be modified by any new context(s). Since nowadays such an
understanding can no longer accommodate the extent to which linguistic categories have
changed.
With the gradual consideration for a greater liberty of readers and a more permissive
understanding of the written text, one registers a shift from this understanding toward the
dialogical model, the second option noted by the theorists. According to them, language is
much more than mediating the message between the sender and receiver; it “has the
function of generating new meanings […] that are created by the multiplicity and
heterogeneity of Biblical voices and their “counterwords”, produced in Biblical
interpretation.”146
Words never communicate fully and in a perfect manner their meaning, especially when
integrating in a complex depiction of an image referring to a transcendent reality, such as a
144
Jürgen Habermas, The Theory of Communicative Action (trans. Thomas McCarthy), vol. 2, Boston: Beacon
Press, 1987, 150.
145
Schüssler-Fiorenza, Wisdom Ways, 29, inverted commas in original.
146
Schüssler-Fiorenza, Wisdom Ways, 29, inverted commas in original.
49
vision, for example. They often rely on figures of speech, be they comparisons, metaphors
etc., which address the senses, in their entirety, giving a hint “at what things are like.”147
Metaphors are found at the confluence of historical with literary criticism. Such a reason is
that on the one hand, the understanding of the original and contemporary context of a
text– the objective of a historical approach– informs the assumptions regarding the
metaphorical nature of a textual image –something, which can be achieved only with
literary tools. The rhetorical value of such an image can only be achieved by combining the
two approaches.
Exploring in depth the Freudian category of suspicion, Paul Ricoeur rehabilitates the
creative component of language –as the medium of revelation –especially by the use of
metaphors. For him metaphor is the key concept, tensive by nature, impossible to be fully
translated into words. This means of expression is very pregnant with meanings, it both
discloses and conceals so when reading the focus has a twofold essence: a personal and a
textual one.
The preference for this particular understanding goes as far as 1978, in The Rule of the
Metaphor148, where Ricoeur already notes a schism in the manner of appropriating a
metaphor: on the one hand there is the possibility offered by a substitutionary approach,
or substitution theory –in the case of Biblical exegesis, is very well represented by the
historical-critical method –where a metaphor can be entirely translated in other literal
terms, “without any substantial loss in meaning.”149 Via metaphors, language is merely
decorative and as such, a substitution for a more literal word or phrase should not pose
any major problem.150 Such a translation would entail the comparative particle ‘like’ either
stated or unstated, by underlying the qualitative features of the translated word.
In such an approach, the word as the unit of reference par excellence is merely substituted
for another word, respectively the same word in any preceding or following instance,
without considering the context where it functions, one can merely fathom the extent to
which this endeavour actually is reductionist.
On the other hand, the quintessence of a metaphor can never be fully diluted by
translation, being a stance that the cognitive approach takes. Such an understanding stems
from the assumptions that language is active and as such is always capable of creating new
meaning. A metaphor can never be ascribed a single dennotational code, but rather shows
147
Fowler, Figuring Mark’s Reader, 55.
148
Paul Ricoeur, The Rule of the Metaphor: Multi-disciplinary Studies of the Creation of Meaning in Language,
(trans. R. Czerny, K. McLaughlin, J. Costello), London: Routledge, 1978, 4.
149
Max Black, Metaphor, in: Models and Metaphors: Studies in Language and Philosophy, New York: Cornell
University Press, 1962, 25-47, 31.
150
Sharon Moughtin-Mumby, Sexual and Marital Metaphors in Hosea, Jeremiah, Isaiah and Ezekiel, Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2008, 3.
50
always plurality in its connotative sense. The moment a metaphor is translated in terms of
another word, is loses its cognitive content.151
Metaphors are important for the Biblical studies on the one hand, because of their
persuasive power in the larger acceptance of the word ‘discourse’ but their use is not only
limited to that. Some scholars who take the stand of a more traditionalist view in doing
exegesis, discard the latent potency of the metaphors, but simply reducing them to ‘just a
metaphor’-type-of-expression, and not allowing them to be of use for the feminist studies.
These contrasting views reflect conflicting understandings of the function of metaphors as
rhetorical devices.
Metaphors, more precisely gendered metaphors are very much embraced by feminist
scholars because they represent “tension, dialectic, openness, change, growth and
relativity.”152
Feminist critique functions in two ways: by emphasizing the poetic aspect of language, it
triggers the activation of a complex web of relations residing in one’s imagination.
Additionally, such metaphors are actualized in contemporary contexts. As such, their
function in the ancient environment where they originated needs to examined, but also
various traditions of interpretation of the metaphor, especially when contexts and
meanings recepted are reflected in their contemporaneous value. “To study hidden
meanings, metaphors, or symbolic structures as isolated entities makes for barren
interpretations. They must be studied in their context –in the living and working experience
for those to whom the symbols have meaning in the first place. ”153
Often, feminists understand metaphor to simply reinstate the negative stereotypes of the
patriarchal society reflected in the texts of the 1st century CE, which include views on
women’s sexuality: always adopting a negative interpretation of feminine imagery leads to
the propagation of negative sexual connotations by the feminist themselves, which is, in
essence, highly counterproductive.
Besides looking into the creative power of language, given by the use of metaphors,
reevaluating language in particular for the gender-informed perspective is an important
task in the depatriachalizing any text in the theological discourse.154 Feminist criticism
interprets literature, including the New Testament against the dominant context of
androcentrism, manifested in translations, interpretations, also interpreters and writers.155
151
Black , Metaphor, 46 as cited in Moughtin-Mumby, Sexual and Marital Metaphors, 4.
152
Sallie McFague, Metaphorical Theology: Models of God in Religious Language, Philadelphia: Fortress, 1982,
64.
153
Tordis Borchgrevink, Marit Melhuus, Text as Reality – Reality as Text, in: Studia Theologica 43/1989, 35-59,
39.
154
155
McKnight, A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing: An Option in Contemporary New Testament Hermeneutics, 340.
51
A gender-informed approach has a communal character. It must always have the interests
of the community stated. That means the fact that a reading should always be performed
‘against the grain’ of a dominant reading, that is against a reading that universalizes to the
point it is considered obvious.
Once any ‘reading against the grain’ occurs, its character is always provisional; it is always a
starting point in any discourse. Interpreters are thus required a higher degree of
participation in decoding the message and the result is not only that we are dealing with
Bible as an open text, but also that the possibilities of interpretation rise proportionally
with contemporary readers’ activation of the cultural encyclopaedia.
The philological approach pertaining to feminist study finds further legitimation as follows:
“because many of the stories of the Biblical characters are probably a mixture of history
and fiction, most feminist scholars do not attempt at the reconstruction of historical
persons”[…] but restrict themselves to “role and characterization of women in the Biblical
text”156, by “studying the stories from a literary perspective, with more or less reference to
what is known of the history and culture of the period.”157
Additionally, gender-related imagery needs to be re-examined also in pragmatic terms, to
avoid situations where imagery functions “as an optional vehicle which sets up favourable
resonances for the readers”,158 i.e. gendered ones.
Generic imagery in the Bible viewed in ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ terms is not at all a
constructive endeavour. The rationale behind this claim is the following: the textual
evidence calls for the presence of the image and likeness of God in both sexes (equally!)
and as a result any gender-exclusive attribution of the above mentioned qualifications
would violate the very nature of the divine image.159 There are scholars who opt for the
revival of the concept of “gender unity”, which “fits well with a religious system in which
humans are the image and counterpart of God and there is only one God”.160
A differentiated perspective could be perceived when analyzing gendered images as
‘accidents of language’. Corporeal references to gendered images of both New and Old
Testament are glided over by supporters of the historical-critical method. Feminists,
156
Nolan Fewell, Reading the Bible Ideologically: Feminist Criticism, 275.
157 nd
Alice Ogden Bellis, Helpmates, Harlots and Heroes. Women’s Stories in the Hebrew Bible (2 ed.), London,
Louisville: John Knox Press, 2007, 24.
158
Cf. Elizabeth Achtemeier, Female Language for God: Should the Church Adopt It? In: Donald G. Miller (ed.),
The Hermeneutical Quest: Essays in the Honor of James Luther Mays (Princeton Theological Monograph 4),
Allison Park, PA: Pickwick Press, 1986, 97-114.
159
The preoccupation with recovering the paradigm of the (radical) equality between the two sexes is much
nd
more popular with feminism of the 2 wave, cf. Thiselton, New Horizons in Hermeneutics, 455.
160
Tikva Frymer-Kensky, The Ideology of Gender in the Bible and the Ancient Near East, in: eadem, Studies in
Bible and Feminist Criticism, 185-193, 193.
52
especially those ‘Biblicists’ who take the text literally insist on their thorough analysis. The
following arguments supporting the two standpoints are worth mentioning.
On the one side of the spectrum, James Barr161 warns of confusing Biblical gendered
images (i.e. the accidents of language) with the distinctive role of men and women.
“No one would suppose that the Turks, because they nowhere distinguish gender in their
language, not even in personal pronouns […] are deficient in the concept of sexual
difference; nor would we agree that the French have extended their legendary erotic
interests into the linguistic realm by forcing every noun to be either masculine or
feminine”.162
Texts do not have a feminist substance because they present women, or at least corporeal
depictions of women, but they are so, because the language used to depict such images is
deeply faulty, considering the power of the metaphors, for example. Gendered images
present inscribed in the Biblical texts give away the asymmetrical gender relationships.163
Asserting a correct/wrong value to readings has been performed according to the dictum:
“Readings that are idiosyncratic to the point of neglecting other readings are probably
wrong.”164
However, I hope that so far I have successfully shown that Biblical texts are basically
rhetorical texts, having rhetorical power supported by the metaphorical force of language.
Antoinette Clark Wire writes that “in classical times, language was understood as a form of
power to affect behaviour.”165
Without social anchoring, ancient texts would not speak in any way to contemporary
audiences. In particular, rhetorical images such as that of the Great Whore were written to
accommodate particular historical struggles pertaining to concrete particular situations,
bearing gender as inscribed in the religious discourse.
The sophistication we encounter when presenting the characteristics of literary categories
pertaining to Biblical texts was developed over a historical span contained in the literary
criticism. This marks several turning points, deemed valuable for their reverberations in the
field of Biblical studies. Traditionally, the process started with an emphasis on the author of
a literary work.
161
Thiselton, Hermeneutics, 292.
162
James Barr, The Semantics of Biblical Language, London: Oxford University Press, 1961, 39, as quoted in
Thiselton, Hermeneutics, 292-293.
163
164
Barr, Conclusion. Choosing Between Readings: Questions and Criteria, 171.
165
Antoinette Clark Wire, Since God is One: Rhetoric as Theology and History in Paul’s Romans, in: Elizabeth
Struthers Malbon, Edgar V. McKnight (eds.), The New Literary Criticism and The New Testament, 210-227,
210.
53
The author’s social and cultural enmeshment was considered enough for grasping the
meaning of a text. Therefore, interpretation would presuppose the accurate decoding the
auctorial intention inscribed in a text.
However, with the developments in literary theories is always important to differentiate
between the diverse literary orientations regarding the author.166 The palette available
allows us to move from the author as the originator or writer of the text, to the author as a
textual intention. The former option is usually as unproblematic as it is unproductive for
the interpretation, whereas the latter is always a construction of the reader, respectively
interpreters, being as such much more plausible.
A move forward in the history of literary criticism with relevance to Biblical exegesis in
particular advanced the idea that the text would supersede its author167 in terms of
meaning. A new openness of the text was inaugurated with the instatement of a new
literary movement called New Criticism that was a reaction to the emphasis on the author
of the previous era.
Initiated in the late 1930’s going into the 1940’s,168 the movement became a point of
interest for New Testament studies from the 1970’s onwards.169
Subsequently, the object of study changed from author to text, understood as a fabric
woven from written signs, open and interpretable, nonetheless a coherent whole.
This brought about a positive as well as negative view: on the bright side, new
understandings on the Biblical narratives were issued. Also the concept of ‘point of view’
was introduced and explored. On the less bright side, with the autonomy of the text, the
literary character of Biblical writings was given priority in interpretation.
While the literary character of Bible is amply acknowledged and the literary approaches do
not stand in opposition with the Biblical texts, however, with the latter the faith character
overrides the literary.170
As a result, the latter became an autonomous identity and was interpreted against its
literary background, rather than historical one. A text-immanent reading was employed
comprising “a close and detailed analysis of the text itself to arrive at an interpretation
166
Beardslee, What Is It About?, 36.
167
Cf. Roland Barthes, Death of the Author, in: idem, Image, Music, Text. Essays Selected and Translated by
Stephen Heath, London: Fontana Press, 1977, 142-148.
168
Thiselton, Hermeneutics. An Introduction, 2.
169
170
54
without referring to historical, authorial or cultural concerns”171, since historical data,
external to texts deter the attempt of a better understanding, because text is not reality.172
The text’s autonomy was seriously challenged by deconstruction as well intertextuality,173
as belonging to textual theories. Intertextuality reevaluates the validity of the external
sources.
By their dialogical nature ‘[texts] recall to memory other texts, remind of what has already
been read or experienced. No text is isolated; each and every text searches its place in an
already given world of texts’.174
From the above quotation, the two dimensions of intertextuality unfold: on the one hand,
intertextuality is understood in a Kristeva-esque fashion,175 that is evidentiating
connections with other texts, on the other hand, since writing and reading are not only
literary acts, they are also bear a social character by the fact of been entrenched in
experience. As such, readers and interpreters, as well as authors are defined by the many
aspects of their social existence evident in their interpretations. There is, subsequently, an
interdependence of readers and writers’ social contexts, evident in the many layers of text
production and interpretation. Moreover, it provides the theoretical framework for a
critical encounter between the socio-historical context of the Biblical text and the
contemporary socio-cultural context of the reader.
From the above observation, one can state that meaning depends on context. Emphasizing
the inter- as well as intra-textual connections of text with other texts in its immediate
textual proximity cannot but benefit the reader. Also, reading without the context
stemming from the experience of the reader can turn out to be detrimental and can
possibly result into multiple deviations.
Furthermore, it is not only intertextuality which challenged the text’s autonomy, but also
the hermeneutical approach added the interpreter to the textual concerns, thus surpassing
the reductionist result provided solely by appealing to linguistic theories, breaching into an
171 rd
Charles E. Bressler, Literary Criticism: An Introduction to theory and Practice, (3 ed.) New Jersey: Prentice
Hall, 2003, 263.
172
173
Struthers Malbon, McKnight, Introduction, 23.
174
Tobias Nicklas, Leitfragen leserorienterter Exegese. Metodische Gedanken zu einer ‚Biblischen Auslegung‘,
in: Egbert Ballhorn, Georg Steins (eds.), Der Bibelkanon in der Bibelauslegung. Methodenreflexionen und
Beispielexegesen, Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2007, 45-62, here 47 citing U. Bail, Gegen das Schweigen klagen.
Eine intertextuelle Studie zu den Klagepsalmen Ps 6 und Ps 55 und der Erzählung von der Vergewaltigung
Tamars, Gütersloh: Kaiser, 1998, 100 (translation mine).
175
The term stems from Julia Kristeva, who defines it who the following way: ‘every text is constructed as a
mosaique of citations, every text is absorption and transformation of another text’. (Julia Kristeva, Semiotiké.
Recherches pour une sémanalyse, Paris: Seuil 1978, 85: “tout texte se construit comme une mosaique de
citations, tout texte est absorbtion et transformation d’une autre texte”, translation mine).
55
openness of the text unimagined before. Readers are not mere textual consumers, who
“passively ingest the text, either well or poorly”, since texts set important “connections to
their authors, their readers, and the cultural matrix out of which they come”. 176
The newer theories of the literary criticism –starting with the 1970’s –place the reader on
the foreground, with the so-called reader-response theories, also because the previously
described approach, too much focused on the text’s autonomy, failed to provide ‘the
anchorage in the public world, or reality’.177
These theories correspond to the shift of emphasis from modernity, having epistemology
as its object of inquiry, to postmodernity, when the focus of analysis gains more existential
ontological undertones.
Subsequently, it is generally considered and proven in the earlier subsections that readers’
responses are shaped by the text as well as by the external factors to which the reader has
access to, all informed his/her culture.
With this, another category was brought about into the discussion, namely interpretation,
in which readers actively partake. For the interpretation, a series of competences are
required from the readers, as mentioned above. The prerequisites for the process of
reading fall within a system of knowledge comprising one’s linguistic competences in the
vocabulary and the grammatical rules in which the text was written, an encyclopedia of
cultural knowledge and commonly accepted conventions, as well as the history of previous
interpretations of other texts.
To put it differently, even prior to reading any text, the reader brings about a certain pre-
understanding/knowledge based on and profoundly conditioned by experience, contouring
his expectation horizon, which while reading has it modified, confirmed, corrected even
reconstructed, or the other way around infirmed. The prefix pre- refers by no means to an
end result, for such an attitude creates a false interpretation.
All these modifications bear significance for the construction of meaning.178
For the reasons presented above, interpretation is not unique, nor atemporal, but highly
dependent on the readers’ contextual luggage.179 Each reader brings something different
to this text: different backgrounds, experience, education, exposure to theories of
communication, motives, motivation, and so on. Since texts are directed to wide
176
Tolbert, Reading Bible with Authority, 152.
177
178
Johannes Taschner, Kanonische Bibelauslegung –Spiel ohne Grenzen? In: Egbert Ballhorn, Georg Steins
(eds.) Der Bibelkanon in der Bibleauslegung. Methodenreflexionen und Beispielexegesen, Stuttgart: W.
Kohlhammer, 2007, 31-45, 35.
179
Eco names it encyclopedia. It can refer to the linguistic competences of the reader as well as their
epistemological ones. Cf. Umberto Eco, Interpretation and Overinterpretation, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1992.
56
audiences, and to the greatest number of readers possible, these inevitable differences in
background, culture, and knowledge will lead to a number of different “readings” of this
text even though the actual words and sentences remain the same for all readers.
This variety is the very nature of the reading experience: “When a text is produced not for
a single addressee but for a community of readers –the author knows that he or she will be
interpreted not according to his or her intentions but according to a complex strategy of
interactions which also involve the readers, along with their competence in language as a
“social treasury”180–not only a given language as a set of grammatical rules, but also the
whole encyclopedia that the performances of that language have implemented, namely
the cultural conventions that that language has produced and the very history of the
previous interpretations of many texts, comprehending the text that the reader is in the
course of reading.181
Such an observation legitimates once again, the claim that no one approaches the text
without biases and completely uninterested: ’’nobody reads a text without bringing his/her
own presumptions and presuppositions into it.’’182
To round up the above discussion, the readers’ cooperation is what makes the reader’s
oriented approach. Their involvement with and in the text occurs at different levels
because ‘the more complex the structure of a text is, the more numerous are the
possibilities to include various aspects in covering the gaps of the text, the so-called open
spaces, which the text refers to beyond it’.183
This process reveals the fact that texts display polysemy. As a consequence, their
interpretation is polyvocal, as “signifying chain produces texts which carry with them the
recollection of the intertextuality which nourishes them”.184
intertextuality is extremely important due to the fact that the text has referential
potentialities, which can be text-immanent, or located within the text, as well as references
to an outside reality. It is the reader who actualizes these connections making them
possible.185
The responses of readers to texts vary considerably from moderate ones, to radical ones.
180
Eco, Interpretation and Overinterpretation, 67.
181
Eco, Interpretation and Overinterpretation, 67-68.
182
Inger Ljung, Silence or Suppression: Attitudes toward Women in the Old Testament, Stockholm: Uppsala
University, 1989, 98.
183
Nicklas, Leitfragen leseorientierter Exegese, 47.
184
Umberto Eco, Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984, 24.
185
Cf. Willem S. Vorster, The Reader in the Text: Narrative Material, in: Semeia 48/1989, 21-41, 29.
57
The moderate ones represent a continuation to the New Criticism, where the meaning of a
text, as well as its formation by readers, is situated in a tensive relationship, of mutual
dependence.
With moderate representatives, the structure of a text already contains the form of an
‘ideal reader’186, also known as ‘implied reader’187 with Wolfgang Iser, or ‘model reader’188
with Umberto Eco.189
In other words, according to Wolfgang Iser, Umberto Eco, Hans-Robert Jauss texts have an
openness (open-endedness190) or indeterminacy, where the readers’ preoccupation of
creatively “filling”191 in the gaps is crucial.
“We look forward, we look back, we decide, we change our decisions, we form
expectations, we are shocked by their nonfulfillment, we question, we muse, we accept, we
reject; this is the dynamic process of creation.”192
That means that readers are actively involved or engaged with texts, as they ‘always bring
something of their own to the text’.193 By this actualization, meaning is being produced, as
during the reading process, the readers move within the text and outside it in an attempt
to interconnect the textual and extra-textual realities.
Their actions, respectively, by pointing to a wide array of possibilities and reading
strategies, have also a rhetorical function, by the fact that readers engaged in negotiating
meaning, find themselves affectively involved.
However, although one would be tempted to accept the existence of a literary
construction, such as that of ‘ideal reader’, mastering the adequate technique of meaning-
making, likewise well acquainted with the text’s history of reading, in reality, no flesh-and-
186
Iser, The Implied Reader, 1974.
187
Wolfgang Iser, The Implied Reader: Patterns of Communication in Prose Fiction from Bunyan to Beckett,
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1974; idem, The Act of Reading: A Theory of Aesthetic Response,
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978.
188
Cf. Umberto Eco, The Role of the Reader: Explorations in the Semiotics of Texts, Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 1984.
The Model Reader is defined as “a textually established set of felicity conditions [...] to be met in order to
have a macro-speech act (such as a text is) fully actualized.” (Eco, The Role of the Reader, 11).
189
For a list of other denominations of the instance of ‘reader’, cf Silvia Pellegrini, Elija –Wegbereiter des
Gottessohnes. Eine Textsemiotische Untersuchung im Markussevangelium (Herders Biblische Studien, Band
26), Freiburg: Herder, 2000, 49-50.
190
Umberto Eco, The Open Work, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989.
191
Cf.Iser, The Act of Reading, 161-172.
192
Wolfgang Iser, The Reading Process: A Phenomenological Approach, in: New Literary History, 3(2)/1972,
279-299, 293.
193
58
blood reader can ever achieve this status. The need for the history of readings is
indispensable if one attempts to make the maximum sense of what they are reading. 194
On the other side of the spectrum, “the reader’s response is not to the meaning; it is the
meaning.”195 Therefore, this viewpoint shows the readers to be in full control of meaning
production.
The author is excluded from the reading process to the extent to which his/ her intentions,
as well as situation are considered relevant for the meaning production of a text. Here the
type and extent of the readers/interpreters’ pre-understanding plays a decisive role in the
countouring of the outcome of reading, this is why such presuppositions are not only of an
epistemological nature, but also of an affective one: the so-called ‘affective reading’ is
achieved by the reader’s involvement with the text.
This understanding tends towards a more poignant self-projection of the reader into the
text, crystalized more clearly with Norman Holland196, something that “Ricoeur rightly
associates with self-centered narcissism and idolatry”.197
While some theories have the individual reader as the object of analysis, some others
mention ‘interpretive communities’198 to be authoritative in the negotiation of meaning
and interpretation. The social valence of interpretive communities has been discussed in
the previous subsection and will not be repeated here.
In following, the social component accompanies the interpretive communities. As a result,
one could also conclude that there are no absolutes and the text is subjective.
However, I have explicated on multiple occasions so far in this analysis, that for the current
study, subjectivity is not the critical option I favour, but rather intersubjectivity.
The notion is of importance, for the reader’s interpretation never completely drifts on a
pure subjective fashion –as some of the postmodern literary theories show –but rather is
balanced by the view on history pertaining to the historical-critical method, which situates
the interpreter is a line of tradition with a series of interpretations. Therefore,
intersubjectivity allows for reading of others to be compared and contrasted. Readers have
a set of presuppositions, which they bring when reading a text and such an
acknowledgement represents the major contribution of the reader’s response approach in
194
195
Stanley Fish, Introduction, or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Interpretation, in: Stanley Fish,
Is There a Text in This Class? The Authority of Interpretive Communities, Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1980, 1-17, 3.
196
Norman Holland, Five Readers Reading, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1975.
197
198
Cf. Stanley Fish, Is there a Text in This Class? The Authority of Interpretive Commmunities, Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1980.
59
the NT hermeneutics: not only authors and texts are historically and socially
contextualized, but also readers.
Feminist reader-response criticism takes not only the reader as analytical category, but
primarily the gendered reader, as existing in reality we experience daily.
Secondly, this type does not exist in isolation, but manifests as representative of a location,
social class, ethnicity, race as well as other categories.199
Women are considered on the whole an interpretive community organized on generic
grounds and are fully functional at the level of society, reflecting merely the fact that we
are “members of an eclectic pastel of communities”.200 Such an interest is deemed
important as it purportedly influences interpretation and manifests in actuality with the
different contextual orientations in the feminist discourse –e.g. womanist201, mujerista202,
Asian feminists etc. –informed by the above mentioned categories.
Although I consider the existence of interpretive communities to be fully accurate,
however, when it comes to their authority for the gender-related approach, I remain
truthful to the general statement formulated generally above: these communities inform
our reading perspectives, not dictate them, therefore authority does not lie with them. It
lies both within the communities of readers, as well as in multitude of interpretations along
the centuries, incorporated in the corpus of tradition conserving the teaching of the
Roman-Catholic Church. As such, interpretations are permeated by the Holy Spirit and
authorized by God.
However, feminist criticism employs critical attitude which applies hermeneutics suspicion
to the writings authorized by God. For the feminist criticism, hermeneutics of suspicion as
method of reading against the grain has always a liberative result.
The strategy of reading a text with suspicion is a critical one, opposed to that of
“seduction” by a text,203 when suspending disbelief while reading, for the purpose of story
enjoyment is desired. Reading with suspicion means to critically asses the information the
199
Janice Capel Anderson, Reading Tabitha: A Feminist Reception History in: Elizabeth Struthers Malbon,
Edgar V. McKnight (eds.), The New Literary Criticism and The New Testament, 108-144, 109.
200
Adam, This is My Story, This is My Song, 227.
201
The term belongs to the feminist theologian of African descent, Alice Walker, as formulated in: In Search of
Our Mother’s Gardens, New York/London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1983, and entered into the feminist
discourse due to Kate G. Cannon, Women and the Soul of the Black Community, New York: Concilium, 1985
denoting the feminist discourse revolving around the Christian black folk tradition.
202
Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz coined the term to describe women with Hispanic heritage’s engagement with
feminist theology in her book Hispanic Women: Prophetic Voice in the Church, San Francisco: Harper & Row,
1988.
203
Paul Ricoeur, Oneself as Another, (trans. Kathleen Blamey), Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992,
159, (n.23).
60
text provides, to ask questions, look for ideological statements and possibly create
conflicts. It becomes therefore more difficult to enjoy the enchantment provided by the
“other world”.204
However, by such observation I am not trying to assert that readers of Biblical writings are
to be disconsidered, in the manner of fictional texts, which are read, if not for the joy of it,
but for comfort, confirmation and security for indeed Bible can be read through those
glasses.
As a result, not only that such sensitivity to reading and interpreting unmasks the interests
and tensions of an interpretive community by referring to the liberative and/or oppressive
character of the Biblical texts, but also, depending on the above mentioned character, a
dual hermeneutic is necessary. On the one hand, a hermeneutic of suspicion, which, in this
case, is a negative hermeneutic, disclosing the patriarchal ideology and on the other hand,
a positive hermeneutic, one of re-vision,205 which is not necessarily a of a reconstructive
type. It is also conceivable as hermeneutics of trust, tantamounting to having confidence in
the plurivocal language of the Bible containing authentic messages from God, whose
potency needs to be continuously discovered as interpreters allow the Holy Spirit to work
in them.
Because Bible is the word of God, it must be approached in the light of faith.
Doubting and believing interact creatively. Hermeneutics promotes engagement with the
text in order to retrieve meaning that provides and sustains faith.
Reason and intellect do not separate from faith in God. Credo ut intelligam promotes a
belief in tolerance and respect, for it has transformative power.
Exegesis is, as a result, not only preoccupied with unmasking androcentrism in Biblical texts
by interrogating values and cultural paradigms, but also aids in diversifying models of
thought and concepts such as identity and interpretation, by offering alternative paths.
However, hermeneutics of trust is not to be equated with blind faith, nor does it result in
the alienation from believing communities. It is meant to improve our lives and deepen our
religious convictions. It employs deconstruction purposefully.
This awareness and self-consciousness in the act of reading becomes more personal and
requires an active engagement on the behalf of the reader, who acknowledges his/her
personal biases and possibly resists206 the accepted readings.
204
Jacobs, The Work of Daphne Hampson, 232.
205
Anderson, Reading Tabitha, 110 cf. Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza, But She Said: Feminist Practices of Biblical
Interpretation, Boston: Beacon Press, 1992, 52-55.
206
Gendered readers in particular need to resist immasculation. For the concept cf. Judith Fetterley, The
Resisting Reader: A Feminist Approach to American Fiction, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1978.
61
By the metaphor of the ‘resisting reader’, Fetterley understands the reading practiced as a
result of the struggle against both misogyny and a struggle for justice, dignity, or a new
relevance for traditions.207
“Immasculation is the process of a woman reading and identifying as male when reading an
androcentric and patriarchal text[…]”,208or otherwise defined as the practice, by which
women are urged not only to read as a man, but as a certain kind of man.209
My evaluation of immasculation is that it should not assume a radical stance. In contrast to

Weems, I would consent to the fact that women are not urged, but rather offered an
option when reading to understand better the text containing certain derogatory gendered
images.
Furthermore, the problem of immasculation in the feminist reader-response approach can
be appropriated by applying the rhetorical approach. Between the two contrasting
positions of the text controlling the readers (Iser) and the readers controlling the texts
(Fish), a woman reader’s awareness of language as a rhetorical tool soothes the conflict,
for with rhetorical criticism, they “focus not just on what the text says, but also how it say
it”.210
This approach also considers the classical tropes employed in literary rhetoric, namely
metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche and irony211 and underlines how these contribute to the
contouring of the ideological character of Biblical texts.
An introverted approach of this kind on the text entails several steps.212 From identifying
the subtexts of any Biblical text, primarily establishing the limits of interpretations
materialized in the rhetorical nature of language, along with the voices of an ‘implied’
author, one moves into the referential character of the narrative. The latter approach
configures the comparative frame of the text with other text(s), very much relevant for the
social and cultural web that is placing the text into a larger context. The main premise of
207
Fowler, Figuring Mark’s Reader, 74-75.
Cf. Fetterley, The Resisting Reader, xxii: “the feminist critic must become a resisting rather that assenting
reader and, by this refusal to assent, to begin the process of exorcising the male mind that has been
implanted in us.”
208
Anderson, Reading Tabitha, 109.
209
Renita J. Weems, Reading Her Way through the Struggle: African American Women and the Bible, in: Cain
Hope Felder (ed.) Stony the Rod We Trod: African American Biblical Interpretation, Minneapolis: Fortress
Press, 1991, 57-80, 67, cf. Anderson, Reading Tabitha, 109.
210
Cf. Scobie, The Ways of Our God, 36.
211
Robbins, Socio-Rhetorical Criticism, 165.
212
These are theoretically described and practically applied to a reading of the Magnificat in Robbins, Socio-
Rhetorical Criticism, 171-199.
62
this is recurring topoi of culture and societies are found in a tensive relationship with the
religious community in the New Testament writings.
The rhetorical analysis of any Biblical texts rests on the fact that any written discourse
serves an ideological purpose. The Biblical texts reflect a certain perspective, sometimes
antagonist with contemporary realities, sporting in this case hortatory purposes, or
reconciliatory ones most often by enacting reversals.
I do not wish to disregard the social aspect in the rhetorical. As a result, this optics applied
to exegesis marks a change of attention onto the text defined as “social, cultural, historical,
theological and ideological discourse”.213 Even if it is true that “texts, all by themselves
don’t read, preach, teach, enlighten, indoctrinate, brainwash, incite, provoke, reform,
inspire or repress […] do not function as agents, compelling people to kill, discriminate,
oppress, rape, nurture, clothe, embrace, build up or create anew” it is people, who
“interpret texts as justifications for these actions, according to their ideological contexts
and practices”.214
A consideration for the various approaches provided by literary theory present Biblical
texts in general with the possibility to opt for “an inclusive reading, accounting for the rich
diversity of any literary text.”215
The postmodern hermeneutical theories stand in opposition with scientific positivism
propagated before. They feature as necessary tools in order to develop certain rules of
interpreting texts from distant past.
Applying them can be very enlightening. Looking into the structure of any Biblical text, by
exploring plots, subplots, characters, point(s) of view, comparing and contrasting it with
other texts, in an attempt to understand better the message, can give the text new
dimensions, new depths.
Meaning became a very flexible concept, depending on the one hand on the actualization
of text in the reading process, as well as on the means of expression contained in the
language as carrier of metaphors, that produce a rhetorical effect on the successive
generations of readers.
213
Robbins, Socio-Rhetorical Criticism 164.
214
Adam, This is My Story, This is My Song, 221 (italics hers).
215
63
Moreover, the introspective focus to the text triggered the addition of the categories of
readers and audience and as a result, the openness of the text was followed by novelty in
terms of their readers and interpreters.
So far, every exegetical analysis I encountered employs to a certain extent the concept of
context. Within the scope of the current dissertation, the term ‘context’ has a double
orientation including the ‘world’ of the text and readers and the ‘world’ of the
interpretations of a text and readers.
Especially relevant for the gender-informed analysis, context bears relevance from a
literary perspective, as well it operates with socio-historical data, contemporary to
Apocalypse.
Moreover, present postmodern context is also important for the reception of the text,
being in this case, deeply informed by socio-historical and generic factors.
References pertaining to delineating the context of the emergence of Apocalypse as a
literary-theological genre were already explored. So was the postmodern context of
interpretation, in which the feminist approach is embedded.
By taking the postmodern theory, which focuses on the readers’ responses, reading as well
as interpretation gains a more subjective emphasis. With reader-response criticism, the
question addressed is who determines the meaning, the answer being: the reader. The
category of the reader is immediately informed by other coordinates, which turned into
questions may sound as: when, where, why and how does the reader read?216
Readers’ responses fasten the readers’ self-awareness in the reading process. This
dimension is provided by the anchoring in the experience of the readers, as such triggers
the update, as well as adaptation the salvific message of Bible to the new contemporary
circumstances.
The gendered reader is the chief-category of feminist criticism revolving around the
responses of readers, which are not optional. Here the strategy of approaching any Biblical
text is a reading against the grain217, the actual realization of a hermeneutics of suspicion
aimed at resisting the immasculation, which certain texts may disguise.
As we become more aware of the ideological character of texts, we explore the generic
category of gender.
Such a stance can lead to a conflictual dynamic between possible readings.
216
217
By this recurrent idea, I mean „with a certain perspective, which was not the perspective at the time of the
writing of the text“.
64
The rhetorical feature of the text’s language softens the radicalism of immasculation, by
offering an alternative understanding to the gendered metaphors as the process of
updating the Biblical message unfolds.
However, the danger of applying a literary approach solely, is to reduce the Word of God to
the written text, as the full of object of study, without taking into account its theological
character. One should remember that the message of the Bible is first and foremost
theological, and not literary. Even for a gender-informed approach the importance of
maintaining the theological character in the interpretation is not to be overlooked.
Hinted at several times by now, especially in relation to the sociological perspective
influencing the Biblical stories, the other danger is that only applying the reader’s response
especially in a socio-pragmatic vein, the interpretation can become too personal and
subjective, by emphasizing the baggage every reader brings when reading a text, ranging
from their own past, experience, associations etc. Although justified for their particular
case, such an interpretation cannot however claim validity, nor authority considering the
over-subjective narrow character of interpretation. In this case, pre-understanding is
actually not changeable, it is there prior and post reading, unchanged. In this manner, an
adequate historical research may correct the blur created by an overemphasis of the
literary studies.
Furthermore, the issue of the contextuality is an important parameter with the feminist
critical method. As McKnight rightly observes “a challenge for the feminist critics is to
operate in their local context but to see that context as embracing more than the local.”218
218
McKnight, A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing: An option in Contemporary New Testament Hermeneutics, 344.
65
1.4 Feminist Contribution to understanding of the above mentioned
Perspectives
Feminist Biblical interpretation uses the scaffolding provided by the feminist theory as a
frame of reference for its legitimation. Since there is an abundance of feminist theoretical
perspectives, they lie on various generic assumptions and materialize in a rich catalogue of
readings. As such, a differentiation among them is for the purpose of this study not only
welcome, but also necessary.
The gendered-informed perspective entails a social engagement with a critique oriented
towards patriarchy, androcentrism “since feminist studies, in distinction to gender studies,
are explicitly committed to the struggle for changing kyriarchal structures of oppression in
religious, cultural, and societal institutions, they must disentangle the ideological (religious-
theological) functions of the Biblical texts for inculcating and legitimating relations of
domination.”219
However, to be engaged in the critique of androcentrism and patriarchy is to accept
primarily that the Bible is an authoritative text. Any subsequent gender-related analysis
develops only from this starting point.
The roots of feminist contribution are traced back to the acknowledgement of women’s
“full humanness and their freedom for self-definition, self-determination, self-respect, self-
esteem and self-affirmation”,220 to what Schüssler-Fiorenza names ‘feminist
consciousness’.
The basis for such this awareness can be traced, on the one hand, in the European
Enlightenment, and on the other hand, to the mid-19th century North American women’s
suffrage movement, materialized into what is known as first wave feminism.221
The gender-informed interest in theology, especially in Biblical theology is as old as the

movement itself. Since the Bible is undisputedly the basis for the transmitted Christian
faith, there is however, an ambivalence regarding the way it is approached. It is normative
for the religious practice and teaching, so interpretations maintain its authority and salvage
the problematic interpretations of certain texts.
Moreover, the interest in exegesis is great, especially because, along the centuries of
interpretation and actualization of the divine message some theologians have been using
219
220
Schüssler-Fiorenza, Wisdom Ways, 93
221
Anne M. Clifford, Introducing Feminist Theology, New York: Orbis Books, 2001, 268.
66
the Bible to oppress and discriminate against women. In this framework, the Bible itself
was perceived as a “document of patriarchy”.222 This expression emerged and became
popular with the advent of the first wave feminism, which marks the dawn of the feminist
movement, as we know it.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Matilda Joslyn Gage were promoters of this ideology and used
the Bible as divine authority to denounce the oppressive structures, which prevented
women from attaining the social status of full humanity.
This movement became very popular in the 20th century with some theologians
occasionally “shattering the foundations of the religious belief”223 just as Matilda Joslyn
Gage prophesied.
Second wave feminism is closely associated with Euro-American women’s advocacy for
equal rights. It occurs in conjunction with another political endeavour, namely the Civil
Rights’ Movement of the 60’s and early 70’s. This movement was primarily aiming at
exposing the psychological effects of power through the authority of the consciousness
raising.
The premises for such a development included increased access to education for women,
leading to raising awareness on the connection between the social, economic and political
oppression, as well as regarding the realization of the fact that traditional religious
expressions deeply devalued women.224
It was then when feminist theologians’ assumptions became more professional by their
nature and envisioned that “once the Bible would be stripped of androcentric and
misogynist interpretations, its real meaning would support women’s claims to equality,”225
leading eventually to supporting an active engagement in regional church structures.
Despite the fact that subsequent interpretations of Biblical texts were considered at least
disfavourable for women, the text itself was triggered this attitude. As a result, a conflict
emerged between among the feminist scholars with regard to the authority of the Bible, a
text, which carried the scars of the oppression and marginalization of women. So it effaced
a tension between remaining ‘objective’ in textual exegesis and being commited to
feminism, advocating social change.226
Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza voiced the above-mentioned tension in the following:
222
Marie-Theres Wacker, Feminist Criticism or Feminist Criticism?, 636.
223
Matilda Joslyn Gage, Women, Church and State: A Historical Account of the Status of Woman through the
Christian ages. With Reminiscences of the Matriarchate, Reprint, Watertown: Persephone Press, 1980, 544,
also available online at http://www.sacred-texts.com/wmn/wcs/wcs00.htm (retrieved 12 Jan 2012).
224
Harrison, Modern Women, 146.
225
Ogden Bellis, Feminist Biblical Scholarship, 25-26.
226
Adela Yarbro Collins, Feminist Perspectives on Biblical Scholarship, Chico: Scholars Press, 1985, 3-5.
67
“Does a conflict exist between being a wo/man and being a Christian? Is this a basic
contradiction that can only be overcome if one of these poles of identity is relinquished for
the sake of the other? Or is it possible that both poles –being a Christian and being a
feminist –can be kept in fruitful tension, so that my being a Christian supports my liberation
struggle, and, conversely, my being a feminist supports my Christian engagement for the
realization of justice and love.”227
The second wave constituted the next step in the movement: social transformation was
taken in women’s hands and the Bible became an instrument in the liberation process,
which is a totally different perspective from the previous era.
With third wave feminism we encounter a broadening of the scope, or refining the existing
categories of the feminist perspectives. It was no longer primarily associated with middle
and upper class women of either European or American descent, but turned its focus to
‘third world’ countries. Therefore, feminist movement of the third wave is mainly
concerned with voicing the different social, ethnical and cultural contexts of women’s
experience, which was subsequently shaped into womanist theology, mujerista theology
starting with the 1980’s.228
Moreover, the engagement with feminist theology spread outside Christianity, as other
monotheist religions such as Muslim and Jewish feminist theologians, or non-theist
religions (like Buddhism) contributed to core writings of the gender-informed discourse.229
The interest covered Biblical studies, epistemological theological questions, relationship to
Church structures, spirituality as well as ecology.
Such variety evidenced by the above presentation brought an impeding need to classify the
different stances of involvement with feminist theology.
Many options were provided, ones elaborated by Caroline Osiek230 on the proposal
advanced among other by Rosemary Radford Ruether and Katharine Sakenfeld. In her
article, Osiek claims the evidence for five types of feminist criticism (rejectionist, loyalist,
revisionist, sublimationist and liberationist). More recently, Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza,231
227
Schüssler-Fiorenza, Transforming the Legacy of The Woman’s Bible, 11.
228
Clifford, Introducing Feminist Theology, 272-273.
229
For a list of names and contributors, cf Elizabeth A. Castelli, Heteroglossia, Hermeneutics and History. A
Review Essay of Recent Feminist Studies of Early Christianity, in: Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, 10(2)/
1994, 73-98.
230
Osiek, The Feminist and the Bible b, 93-106, recepted by Claudia V. Camp, Feminist Theological
Hermeneutics: Canon and Christian Identity, in: Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza (ed.), Searching the Scriptures,
New York, NY: Crossroad, 1993, 154-171, 157. Camp credits Carolyn Osiek with developing this five-part
typology for understanding feminist theological hermeneutics.
231
Cf. Schüssler-Fiorenza, But She Said, 20-50.
68
Anthony C. Thiselton232 and Anne Clifford233 remained more or less faithful to Osiek’s
terminology.
However, for the sake of simplicity, I shall briefly consider and limit the major orientations
within the feminist group to three, respectively revolutionary feminism, reformist feminism
and reconstructionist feminism.234
Revolutionary feminist theologians are proponents of an engagement with theology

resulting from their personal disheartenment with Christianity. It cannot offer a remedial
framework for the development of the feminist critique since is too corrupted by
patriarchy and as a result too oppressive. They call themselves post-feminists, or non-
Christian feminists. Mary Daly and Daphne Hampson acts as promoters of this vision.235
They urge women to an abandonment of Christianity.236
Reformist feminist theologians are more lax in their claims. Therefore, they seek modest
changes within the structures of existing Churches, while remaining committed to the
Christian tradition. Among the means of employing their standpoint, one would enlist
solving the problems of women’s secondary status advancing measures such as inclusive
translations of the Bible and laying more emphasis on egalitarian passages in the Bible, as
well a greater involvement of women in church-related ministries.237
Osiek locates this particular form of feminist engagement under the rubric of a loyalist
hermeneutics,238 which “[…] stretch[es] history and the literal meaning of texts, and it
tends to be innocent of the political implications of the types of social interaction and
relationships that it advocates on the basis of fidelity to the Biblical text as divine
revelation.”239
The reconstructionist group of feminist theologians adopt a middle stance between the two
models presented above: from the reformist engagement, reconstructionist proponents
take the commitment to considering the Bible as means of reconstructing a positive
232
Cf. Thiselton, Hermeneutics. An Introduction, 297ff.
233
Cf. Clifford, Introducing Feminist Theology, 32-38.
234
I take the article cited in the following as referential for this purpose: C. Nunes & H.J.M. van Deventer,
Feminist Interpretation in the Context of Reformational Theology: a Consideration, in: In die Skriflig
43(4)/2009, 737-760, 740-741. For the same typology cf. Clifford, Introducing Feminist Theology, 32-38.
235
236
Clifford, Introducing Feminist Theology, 32, also cf. Osiek, The Feminist and the Bible b, 960-961.
237
Clifford, Introducing Feminist Theology, 33.
238
Osiek, The Feminist and the Bible b, 962.
239
Osiek, The Feminist and the Bible b, 963.
69
Christian theology for women, while at the same maintaining a critical attitude towards
Tradition on the role of woman in and outside the Church.240 The liberating theological
core lies therefore within the Christian tradition. It involves opting for betterment with
repercussions not only on church structures, but also on civil society.241
Some representatives would be reconstructionist Biblical scholars such as Rosemary
Radford Ruether, Phyllis Trible and Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza. Ruether sees feminism as
part of a general movement of liberation for all, both male and female,242 who are
subjected to oppression having as scope “the promotion of the full humanity of
women.”243 Trible operates with a revisionist hermeneutics, whereas Schüssler-Fiorenza
works from within the framework of a liberationist model. 244
Irrespective of their degree of involvement with societal change, what is common to all
orientations is the attempt to ground theoretical considerations into praxis. Instead of a
competing standpoint as the one noted by Schüssler-Fiorenza in which one should choose
between the world of the Bible and the world we live in, nowadays a compromise is
sought. This is evident in formulations that counterbalance the deleterious effects of
patriarchy on society.
The hermeneutical question which is formulated now and to which the no longer
concurring gender-related options attempt an answer is the following: “is it legitimate to
start Biblical interpretation from a historical situation?” or “how can the freedom of the
text be maintained?”245
The feminist discourse enters the theological debate by adopting a critical stance of the
historical-critical method that is predominant and accepted overall by Biblical scholarship.
The necessity for a gender-informed hermeneutics is prompted by the fact that
“malestream interpretations […] are either positioned within the historical paradigm of
interpretation and tend to be caught up in the factual, objectivist and antiquarian
framework of Biblical studies, or they are at home in a literary formalist paradigm of
Biblical studies and insist that we are not able to move beyond the kyriocentric text to the
historical reality of wo/men.”246
240
Sawyer, Feminist Interpretation, 232.
241
242
Sawyer, Feminist Interpretation, 232.
243
Rosemary Radford Ruether, Sexism and God-talk: Toward a Feminist Theology, Boston: Beacon Press,
1983, 18.
244
Nunes and van Deventer, Feminist Interpretation in the Context of Reformational Theology, 740-741.
245
José Miguez Bonino, Theology and Theologians of the New World: II. Latin America, in: Expository Times
87/1976, 196-200, 199.
246
70
In the concise historical overview of the movement, the importance of the interplay
between past tradition and present experience, namely women’s experience was
mentioned. Women’s experience is the aid for the interpretation of the sacred texts.
Throughout the tradition of interpretation, such experience has been altered by gendered
interpretations of the texts. When employing gender as an analytical tool, glossing over
such experiences is sought if not to be eliminated, then pointed at in texts.
In an attempt to correct any pre-understanding, some feminists engage in the
reconstructive endeavour relevant for the current praxis, whereas others opt for a more
hermeneutical stance, in which revealing the gender informed biases represents the first
step towards liberation.
Mainly seen as a process of constientization or awareness-raising, feminist Biblical

interpretations aim to enlighten the group, in this case women, of the structures of
internalized oppression, having as end result the liberation from them.247
Once feminist consciousness is activated, disclosing the oppression and injustice detected
in the social fiber of our society is unmasked and thus the road towards elimination of such
injustice is open. However, any subsequent action rests on its prior thorough theorization.
Awareness-raising occurs by updating the Biblical message for contemporary Christians
being inherently always informed by the socio-theological context of the interpreter.
Schüssler-Fiorenza considers the context to be as important as the text, because “what we
see depends on where we stand.” 248
More concretely, the feminist perspectives offer a reading against the grain, a stategy,
which was mentioned in the earlier subsections.
Thus, in Gerard Graff’s formulation, it “does not take texts’ apparent context and
intentions at face value, but looks at the doubts they repress or leave unsaid and how this
repressed or ‘absent’ element can undermine or undo what the text says.”249
A gender-informed experience works against the grain, against the Tradition. It actually
means in a radical sense breaking down old ways of seeing, as well as in a more moderate
understanding, working liberating expressions of feminist discourse within the frame
provided by the patriarchal culture.
Turning to vitiated, respectively androcentric interpretations, language is to a certain

extent, the source of evil for the feminist enterprise for it locks in it expressions, which
point at an injustice concerning the fair textual treatment of gendered images. Such an
247
Schüssler-Fiorenza, Wisdom Ways, 93, 208.
248
249
Nolan Fewell, Reading the Bible Ideologically, Feminist Criticism, 277.
71
observation rests on the assumption that “language does not merely represent some
reality “out there” but itself makes up that reality as it weaves the very fabric of human
interaction in historically specific, socially constructed and thoroughly political ways.”250
Biblical texts with a feminist substance, more precisely, their messages, either prescriptive,
or descriptive have been used equally in discourses of liberation, as well as in discourses of
oppression. Language points to a more extensive comprehension of the role of interpreters
in the interpretive community, at a certain moment in time.
Besides the awareness-raising of feminist studies during the process of unravelling
patriarchal biases, the multiplicity of readings and interpretations stresses the importance
of learning from them, from the female images they attempt to disclose, as well as from
the fact that our internal forum and means of expression are neither universal, nor
identical.
Taking them into consideration can only benefit in enlarging the interpreters’ horizons. The
key concept informing our horizons is pre-understanding, respectively “what we inherit
from the wisdom or common sense of the community and traditions into which we were
born and educated.”251
Admitting to such coordinates, interpretation is motivated by interests that comprise
“power, desire, self-affirmation, self-aggrandizement, and forces of oppression.”252 One
should be cautious and disregard some of the general categories associated with the
historical-critical method, but also pay equally amount of attention to the ideological
character of texts.
This discernment revolves around the critical distinction between reading-in and reading-
out.
In the first case, wishful thinking, moulded by a present interest and projected into a text
cannot always have textual support and will be suspect of ideology, by denying any other
approaches or valid interpretations to the text.
Reading-out is what a demonstrable truth is needed253 and therefore the contextual
historical and sociological recovered data becomes very important.
The result for the first attitude is a limited exposition, retrodictive in character and which
cannot adequately discern the large historical gap between contemporary and ancient
societies. It reads contemporary concerns back into the Scripture. That is why the second
attitude is not only preferred but also scholarly approved.
250
251
Thiselton Hermeneutics. An Introduction, 17.
252 nd
Thiselton, Hermeneutics. An Introduction, 18; cf. Jürgen Habermas, Knowledge and Human Interest (2
ed.), London: Heinemann, 1978.
253
Fander, Historical-Critical Methods, 217-218.
72
One should however note that because of their proclaimed contextual character, the
contribution of gender-informed analysis to the Biblical scholarship is only partial.
The danger of contextual theologies lies precisely in their strength: while their focus is
small, they adduce very important information, neglected by a more general, enlarged
exposition; however, the validity of the overfocused analysis should not stretch beyond its
scope. It should remain functional within the boundaries of its focus. Starting to generalize
from a narrow perspective could turn out to be a faulty endeavour.
With the proper attitude and within a rightly delineated paradigm, contextual theologies
can serve the purpose of shedding light on so far neglected aspects of the New Testament.
1.5. Delineating feminist perspectives with regard to ‘apocalypse’ and

Apocalypse
In the following, I will delineate some common points feminist critical claims and the
apocalypse, as a literary genre share.
All these will be reiterated and further analyzed as the body of the dissertation narrows its
focus onto the description of the Great Whore, as emerging from the vision of Apocalypse
17.
Generally speaking, ‘apocalypse’ began to be extensively valued historically and especially
generically, beginning with the second half of the last century just as the gender-informed
movement.
The complete254 definition of the apocalypse as a literary genre is as follows:
Genre of revelatory literature with a narrative framework, in which a revelation is mediated
by an otherworldly being to a human recipient disclosing a transcendent reality which is
both temporal, insofar as it envisages eschatological salvation, and spatial insofar as it
involves another, supernatural world255, intended to interpret present, earthly
circumstances in light of the supernatural world and of the future, and to influence both the
understanding and the behaviour of the audience by means of divine authority. 256
First, apocalypses belong to a narrower grouping of revelatory literature.
254
By ‘complete’, I mean with the later additions to the Semeia definition (cf. John J. Collins, Towards the
Morphology of a Genre, in: Semeia 14/1979, 1-20), by Hellholm (cf. . D. Hellholm, The Problem of Apocalyptic
Genre and the Apocalypse of John, in: Semeia 36/1986, 13-64, also David Aune, The Apocalypse of John and
the Problem of Genre, in: Semeia, 36/1986, 65-96) and Yarbro Collins (cf. Adela Yarbro Collins, Introduction:
Early Christian Apocalypticism, in: Semeia 36/1986, 1-12).
255
Collins, Towards the Morphology of a Genre, 9.
256
Yarbro Collins, Introduction: Early Christian Apocalypticism, 7.
73
They are one of its subgenres, together with oracles, testaments, hekhalot texts257 and the
parable as a means of giving expression to the perspective of apocalyptic eschatology and
as a vehicle for expressing the ideology of an apocalyptic movement, as well as other
writings that show an interest in speculative, or “scientific matters” of the cosmos.
Research on ‘apocalypse’ as literary genre in its own right embraced concepts of
indeterminacy, mysteries and divine secrets revealed within a vision, having angels as
interpreters and seers to record communications with the divine.
Apocalypses emerged as writings of the apocalyptic movements that have affinities with
the historical development of the contextual expressions of feminism, because these are
intrinsically linked with experience of marginalization, oppression, deprivation. Such types
of experiences shape the possibility of another perspective on reality.
With both outlooks, language was all about uncertainty. It had powers residing in the
‘feeling mind’ of the readers, who could activate these. It is for this reason that
involvement with the text was required, in a perpetual struggle to find new meaningful
interpretations that could actualize the theological message.
The feminist and apocalyptic formulations are expressions of language internalization, of
appropriating the ‘strange’, the ‘abnormal’, the ‘imaginary’.
The ‘wrapping of the message’ is attained usually by appeal to metaphorical language.
Evil is very poignant with apocalyptic formulation, but it has for feminist critical claims a
gendered appearance. At this level, precisely, the ethical claims, one could challenge the
text.
Feminist critical claims, as well as apocalypses are both interdisciplinary by nature. They
cannot exist individually, separated from their historical context. The texts’ messages shape
contemporary formulations, literary and social documents. That is the reason why ‘context’
is extremely important in understanding a text’s significance.
As such, their resources, or roots are extending beyond the biblical text per se.
Metaphors are not value neutral, nor are they devoid of any emotional component for they
engage the reader’s imagination, in seeking to provoke a varying response.
257
Martha Himmelfarb, Revelation and Rapture: the Transformation of the Visionary in the Ascent
Apocalypses in: J. J. Collins and J. H. Charlesworth (eds.) Mysteries and Revelations: Apocalyptic Studies since
the Uppsala Colloquium (Journal for the Study of the Old Testament: Supplement Series 9), Sheffield:
Sheffield Academic Press, 1991, 79-90, 85.
74
Because of the emotional contained in the gendered metaphors, the metaphor of the
Great Whore still speaks to us, readers and continues to trigger response from readers
nowadays.
As such, ‘metaphors that point to a pejorative depiction of women possibly have a negative
consequence for the perception (Ansehen) of real women, for their self-awareness and for
their role […]. A metaphorical illustration of violence against women proclaimed and
conducted by God legitimates –in spite of the textual vividness –violence against women,
carried out by men and that is effective via the images, in which a woman is threatened by
humiliation, embarrassment, corporeal punishments.’ 258
Although in the vision of the Great Whore, violence occurs only tangentially, there are
other themes and motifs which are equally demeaning: the woman’s domain of adornment
is addressed negatively, the Great whore is strongly delineated by sexuality and her
behavior is threatening the humanity at a larger scale.
Because of the overall negative evaluation of the gendered metaphor of the Great Whore,
Weems asserts, “Metaphors can hurt. Metaphors can distort. Metaphors can kill.
Metaphors can oppress.”259 They have the power to alter perception and form judgments
by evoking in readers horizons of expectation, which are permanently either confirmed or
infirmed.
It is within this context, that the hermeneutic of suspicion functions: on the one hand, it
brings awareness, and subsequently suspicion with reference to ‘commonplaces’. It looks
into the ideological character of any written text, including the Bible. On the other hand, it
enforces the construction of a type of ‘cooperative resistance’ of the readers. By
‘cooperative resistance’, I mean resisting the immasculation and the androcentric values,
by interpreting them as ideological. At the same time, the hermeneutics of suspicion allows
the text to creatively engage with the readers into generating a meaning and interpretation
adequate for the contemporary world.
Given the metaphors’ power of actively engaging the readers in the construction of the
metaphorical meaning, one can only emphasize that the human aspect of the metaphorical
construction implies drawing assumptions on real women in the weaving of the image
fabric.
258
Ulrike Sals, Die Biographie der Hure Babylon, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2004, 210; cf. Paul Duff, Who Rides
the Beast? Prophetic Rivalry and the Rhetoric of Crisis in the Churches of the Apocalypse, Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2001, 35. The appeal to the rhetorical tropes as materialized in the OT marriage metaphor
will further develop this idea into what masculinity and femininity really imply in the dynamics of the
metaphor reception.
259
Weems, Battered Love, 110.
75
Reversely, the image finds reverberations in influencing the perception of actual women.
This happens continuously between the text and its recipients, because “metaphorical
language doesn’t only have informative functions, but also performative ones.”260
Not only does it influence the perception of actual women, but it also reinforces, by means
of stereotypical logic, the negative views on female sexuality.
More specifically, and with relevance to the Great Whore if a whore is a woman, eventually
condemned for her acts, that somehow attaches to the essence of a ‘woman’, in a very
negative way, as well as creates a framework in which violence against women is accepted
and possibly justified.
“Prostitution, like fornication (whose vocabulary it shares) presents a female profile,
despite the fact that both activities require active male participation. This asymmetry of
conception and nomenclature is a characteristic feature of patriarchal societies, reflecting a
general pattern of asymmetry in gender-related roles, value and obligations.”261
Concerning the above observations, Sutter Rehmann acknowledges the depiction of the
prostitute to address John’s actual contemporary context. In doing so, she considers
whores’ uncertain working milieu, also as a criticism to the ones who engage and sustain
such ignominious practices.262
Similarly, in view of conceptual metaphor theory “Revelation’s metaphoric language
necessitates giving full weight to associations evoked by the ‘source domain’ –which, in this
case would be the familiar figure of the brothel worker or streetwalker.” 263
In view of the above, Hanna Stenström notes the following:
“[…] an image as “Babylon the Prostitute” Babylon speaks, on one, explicit level, about an
earthly power which is not obedient to God. Still, on an implicit level, it reflects, expresses
and reinforces views of female prostitutes, which are linked to views of women in
general.”264
260
Kirsten Nielsen, There is Hope for a Tree. The Tree as Metaphor in Isaiah (Journal for the Study of Old
Testament, Supplement Series 65), Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1989, 56-60, as quoted in: Sals, Die Biographie, 42.
261
Phyllis Bird, Prostitution in the Social World and the Religious Rhetoric of Ancient Israel, in: Christopher A.
Faraone, Laura K. McClure, Prostitutes and Courtesans in the Ancient World (Wisconsin Studies in Classics
Series), Madison: University of Winsconsin Press, 2006, 40-58, 47.
262
Luzia Sutter Rehmann: Die Offenbarung Johannes: Inspiration aus Patmos, in: Luise Schotttroff/ Marie-
Theres Wacker (eds.), Kompendium Feministische Bibelauslegung, (2nd ed.), Güttersloh: Chr. Kaiser
Verlaghaus/Gütersloher Verlaghaus, 1998, 725-741, 735, cf. Jennifer A. Glancy, Stephen D. Moore, How
Typical a Roman Prostitute is Revelation’s ‘Great Whore’?, in: Journal of Biblical Literature, 130 (3)/2011: 543-
562, 557.
263
Glancy and Moore, How Typical a Roman Prostitute, 552 (ft.4).
264
Hanna Stenström, The Book of Revelation. Vision of the Ultimate Liberation or the Ultimate Backlash?, 53.
76
The gendered metaphor with all its components and implications cannot simply be
dismissed on account of being ‘just a metaphor’ “as if metaphor were some kind of
container form from which meaning can be extracted, or as if gender relations inscribed on
a metaphorical level are somehow less problematic than a literal level.”265
By adopting this approach, in the process of constientization, as a result of a ‘reading
against the grain’, I am expressing the desire to limit the linguistically offensive character of
such a derogatory depiction as the one of the Great Whore in the Apocalypse. The context
plays here a significant role by tempering the overfocus on the generic markers, especially
when perceived not in ancient categories, but in modern and postmodern ones, aiming to
provide a more positive evaluation of hermeneutics of suspicion.
General Assessment
I have shown that various expressions of the feminist outlook offer an interesting
awareness regarding gender issues. They also bear relevance on societal structures,
politics, by including in its interpretative agenda a deeper dimension to the texts of the
Bible, via literary approaches.
In other words, what contextual hermeneutics in general, and feminism in particular

attempt to, is working with the Biblical material in such a way that it brings out the positive
and usefulness, or relevance for the present situation on the one hand, by concomitantly
acknowledging their ethical and socio-political potential. 266
Feminist perspectives entail different approaches situated in a very broad context. These
are sometimes overlapping or co-existing. Nevertheless, all of these are contributions to
the theoretical perspective of feminism, being located at the intersection with social
cleavages, such as race, gender, class.
The feminist evaluation provides thus the lenses through which the choice of method and
approaches are assessed into meaningful critical analysis.
265
J. Cheryl Exum, Plotted, Shot, and Painted: Cultural Representations of Biblical Women (Journal for the
Study of Old Testament Supplement Series 215/ Gender, Culture, Theory 3), Sheffield: Sheffield Academic
Press, 1996, 119.
266
Oda Wischmeyer, Texte, Text und Rezeption. Das Paradigma der Text-Rezeptions-Hermeneutik des Neuen
Testaments, in: O. Wischmeyer/S. Scholz (eds.) Die Bibel als Text, Tübingen/Basel 2008: A. Francke Verlag,
155-192, 187.
77
The current evaluation takes into consideration first and foremost, the chief parameter
against which all contextual theologies develop, namely the acknowledgement of historical
conditionedness, taken from the change in paradigm of human sciences (i.e.
Geisteswissenchaften) and holding validity in theological discourse.
Subsequently, the notion of the hermeneutical circle was advanced to explicate the
provisional, contextual character of knowledge.
For studies with a feminist substance, the notion revolves around unmasking patriarchy as
well as androcentrism from societal structures, which were for centuries, subservient to
masculinist biased interests. Such a practical oriental orientation has set a liberative aim for
the gender-informed studies in general.
For the Biblical studies in particular, a gender-related perspective takes interest in the
actualization, as well as relevance of the ancient texts of Bible for the present context and
thus shape so as to accommodate contemporary concerns.
A new conceptualization of revelation is imposed. Accordingly, revelation cannot be
transposed into our time “like a self-enclosed capsule which holds theological truth to exist
in a sphere of its own, unaffected by scientific discoveries or knowledge.” 267 Instead, it
incorporates formulations regarding 20th century changes in the process of understanding
bearing print on the manner in which reality is perceived and understood.
As such, analogous concepts with historical conditionedness, such as authority or validity
could be questioned, as well as given deeper dimensions neglected so far.
The Enlightenment category of academic objectivity resulting from employing the
historical-critical method in theology was reshaped into a new one. The above mentioned
method resulted into undermining “marginalized reading communities by insisting that
their questions and experiences are superfluous to Scripture and their interpretations
legitimate, because of their failure to remain objective.”268
Nonetheless, the historical approach applied to Biblical texts gives valuable information
concerning the redactional layers of the text and points at the multiple traditions relevant
to the Bible, as well as it offers overall a re-evaluation of the texts by employing a strategy
named hermeneutics of suspicion.
267
Daphne Hampson, Theology and F eminism, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1990, 14.
268
Renita J. Weems, Racism and Ethnocentrism in Feminist Biblical Interpretation, in: Elizabeth Schüssler-
Fiorenza (ed.), Searching the Scriptures, Volume 1, 101-116, 103, cf. eadem, Reading Her Way through the
Struggle, 66.
78
Pertaining to the historical part of the above mentioned method, some of the
representatives of feminist perspectives ventured into historical reconstruction, where, by
looking into other historical documents, they attempt at rewriting the historical facts by
including the generic character into discourse.
Unfortunately, the extent to which some go is not at all laudable. Many of the
reconstructionist endeavours of the feminists, although they start properly by applying the
hermeneutics of suspicion, go astray by reducing the analytical categories so as to serve
their pre-understanding.
Additionally, the causal linkage between past and present realities can be disastrous for the
feminists attempting a historical reconstruction, since negative gender stereotypes could
be perpetuated as in the following observation.
“It could be argued that since women are not in positions of authority in the present, social
realities must have kept them from those positions in the past.”269
For the reasons enumerated above, I think that historical reconstruction should limit itself
to providing a corrective approach, if necessary, by referring at the most to extra-canonical,
or cross cultural sources or resources on women in Antiquity, as Schüssler-Fiorenza wisely
admits.270
“A fundamental methodological insight of historical criticism of the Bible was the
realization that the Sitz im Leben or life setting of a text is as important for its
understanding as its actual formulation.”271 With such an observation, the context, more
precisely a particular one, i.e. the social became the object of study.
The sociological perspective associated with gender-informed theory in order to foster an

extremely beneficial alliance with liberation theology, practically engaged in a discourse
against oppression.
Constientization leads to liberation, which in this case meant liberation from oppressive
androcentric structures supported by a culturally and universally acknowledged patriarchal
regime. For the process of constientization to be effective both in the academic domain
and in ecclesial Biblical interpretation, “it must always have both a theoretical and a
practical goal.”272 In this way, the need for anchoring the phenomenon in contemporary
realities, with generic interests is acknowledged.
269
270
271
Schüssler-Fiorenza, In Memory of Her, xv.
272
79
Such state of emancipation would be attained by employing a hermeneutics of suspicion,
and this formulation is not at all new for the feminist theologians. However, with socio-
critical vision the ideology critique is important. It adduces the question of who would
benefit (cui bono?) from keeping a certain status quo along the centuries, especially when
generic issues are in view.
Moreover, the relevance of the Bible for today includes references to the contextuality of
women’s experience, manifested more frequently in the feminist discourse, as one of
oppression and marginalization.
As soon as such formulations find their ways in the theological discourse bearing social
undertones, there are some cautionary steps, which need to be followed if we wish to
maintain our concerns to remain within the boundaries of academic scholarship. This is
especially important, given the difficulty of generalizing when starting from a particular
context, or shaping of a particular perspective.
To assert that the experience of women entails marginalization and oppression is to tell
only one side of the story and the propagation of such statements could have quite
opposite effects for women in general: it legitimizes, the practiced tradition of patriarchy
for the current context, as well as it deems the guilt of the latter for such a stance toward
women.
Instead, the feminist concerns set their analysis relevant for the contemporary context by
trying to understand the motives behind the derogatory discourse practices against
women. They look therefore into the information provided from outside sources –other
than the Biblical texts for clues on the status and role of women in Ancient societies,
contemporary to the world of the Bible.
As a result, accommodating the message of the Bible to contemporary concerns should
remain at the metacritical level. Offering valuable insights, it needs to remain as detached
as possible and subservient to a hermeneutics of trust.
Such a balanced attitude is totally opposed to employing a critique socio-pragmatically,
where selectivity, interests serving a more or less hidden agenda are too narrow in scope
and therefore not descriptive for women in general.
In the second case, reading too much of our culture into the Bible runs the risks of blurring
the sharpness of the usage and occurrences of, for example, one word in its theological or
cultural understanding.273
273
The relevant example in question revolves around the correct interpretation of the word father; cf.
Thiselton, Hermeneutics, 291. While some feminist interpretations, reductionist by the type of argument they
choose, remain anchored in the generic usage of the word, when for example it might have very likely carried
80
General categories pertaining to a literary optic, such as meaning and interpretation, the
triad author-text-reader and the intricacies of reading as process, also language as means
of locking deeper levels of communication were explored by the diverse approaches
stemming from literary studies. These, paired with other structural coordinates such as
plot, characters, point of view etc. gave the Biblical texts rich contours never so far
examined.
The literary, historical and theological approaches assert that meaning, or at least some
understanding of it resides in the written text. “They take the text […] either as window
through which to look out on historical events, theological ideas, or cultural attitudes, or as
a house of mirrors, reflecting internally the grammar, syntax, plot, characters, and settings
of narratives.”274
While for modernism, the actual realization of ideological stances is located in the text,
with newer postmodern theories, the reader/ interpreter gained more focus. As a result,
“neither can the text remain an innocent signifier, nor the reading an innocent activity.”275
Subsequently, reader-response theories focus on the reading process as the subjective
manifestation of every reader, in particular deeply anchored in the experience of their
gendered existence. The ones who employ radical stances of postmodern approaches run
the risk of transforming the values of the interpreter into authority and their endeavour
will result into disregarding the text up to the point of reducing it, of ‘subjectifying’ it to the
minute application of a method.
The above remark is not to diminish the value of postmodernist interpretations, because
just like other contextual approaches to Bible, feminists believe in the validity of multiple
interpretations as long as the frameworks against which they develop the formulations are
clearly delineated.
Experience, although personal is valid for every reader approaching the text open-minded.
Only in this way transforms the transformation of the provisional horizon during the
reading process.
parental undertones, such a nurture, which is generally valid for both mothers and fathers, drawing thus
awareness on the cultural and theological usage of the word.
274
Fowler, Figuring Mark’s Reader, 50-83.
275
R. S. Sugirtharajah, The End of Biblical Studies, in: Fernando F. Segovia (ed.), Toward a New Heaven and a
New Earth. Essays in Honour of Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2003, 133-140, 138
referring to Edward W. Said, Orientalism, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1978.
81
Even if there are variables to reader-situations, the gender-informed option for socio-
pragmatic approaches may not always be the best to follows as with them. There is the
danger of projecting too much our ‘image’ onto Biblical texts which results into
disconsidering their revelatory character.
Experience informs our hermeneutical circle, by which we gain understanding on the
surrounding phenomena. Also acts as a filter to our interests, unmasking the ideological
character of some patriarchal readings.
Bearing relevance to the Biblical texts, language becomes more important. When faced
with the written text of an apocalypse, the modern reader is puzzled, bedazzled by the
narration; he/she may encounter difficulties in getting the message of the book across,
since the abundant symbolism.
The modern mentality rejected language about the supernatural world as ontologically
meaningless; the apocalyptic mode of depicting reality was seen, at its very best, as deeply
permeated by sensorial expressions: with the Apocalypse of John, what is real is what can
be perceived with the senses, measured and tested or at least verbalized.
This could account for the reserve in addressing apocalyptic texts, with their poetic
imageries, rich symbolism and metaphorical expressions.276
Indeed, the stylistic expressions materialized in the language of apocalypses are poetic,
expressive, repetitive, and full of scriptural and mythological allusions. They could be
viewed from a modern perspective as inconsistent or even incoherent,277 for they
apparently contain an amalgam of disorderly, contradictory, or inconsistent scenarios.
In addition, the vocabulary of apocalyptic texts is characteristically cryptic and projects a
degree of mystery and indeterminacy that allows for multiple and often concurrent
understandings, appreciations and interpretations.278
Some observations are imposed:

First, gender-informed interpretations reprimand language as too ambivalent deeply
permeated by its androcentric function. Language is inclusive of women. Although it not
mentions them explicitly “[…] it mentions women only when women’s behavior presents a
276
Adela Yarbro Collins, Cosmology and Eschatology in Jewish and Christian Apocalypticism, (Supplements to
the Journal for the Study of Judaism, vol.50), Leiden: Brill, 1996, 17.
277 nd
John J. Collins, The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature (2 ed.),
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998, 108.
278
Lorenzo diTommaso, Apocalypses and Apocalypticism in Antiquity (Part I), in: Currents in Biblical Research,
5 (2)/2007, 235-286, 247.
82
problem or when women are exceptional individuals. Scholars understand and interpret
such androcentric language in a twofold way: as generic and as gender specific.”279
The second aspect concerns the entity of linguistic interest is the metaphor, displaying a
rhetorical function, which is generated by the meaning permeated in the text and activated
by readers.
Metaphors have been frequently treated as subsumed to all questions about “the women
in the Bible”280, which prompted the rediscovery of every single woman in Bible and
promoting them as supportive models for Christian women for the canon-within-a-canon
approach. The process continues with an ongoing awareness concerning the androcentrism
of the texts, evident in deeper levels of analysis, where women as such are not
representative and relevant, but are textual gendered constructions, with all their
subsequent implications.
However, the goal of gender-informed approaches and critique of androcentrism do not
resume to representing females, more appropriately gendered images in the Bible. Gender-
related topics, or the reductionist approaches, which divide women in the Bible in two
categories, victims or heroines strive for a wider acceptance of feminist studies by Biblical
scholarship as a contribution, which “aims to provide a more adequate account of our
gendered human nature and history”.281
The rationale behind the detailed theoretical exposé is on the one the hand, to justify the
need for integrative gender-informed theories of my feminist analysis. On the other hand,
it aims to provide the theoretical basis on what is to follow, meaning the application of the
method, where further explication of key-concepts should no longer be impetuous.
The formulation of various influences evidence how a particular delineation of knowledge,
as well as language and interpretation influence and transform any given theoretical
framework and practice with regard to Biblical texts.
The perspective I chose to implement with my subsequent analysis concretizes in a

reader’s oriented approach, with a special emphasis on gender constructions, in and
outside the Biblical texts per se.
279
Schüssler-Fiorenza, In Memory of Her, 43.
280
Hanna Stenström, The Book of Revelation. A Vision of the Ultimate Liberation or the Ultimate Backlash?. A
th
Study in 20 century interpretations of Rev 14:1-5, with special emphasis on feminist exgesis, Uppsala:
Uppsala University, 1999, 106.
281
Phyllis A. Bird, What Makes a Feminist Reading Feminist? A Qualified Answer, in: Harold C. Washington,
Susan Lochrie Graham and Pamela Thimmes (eds.), Escaping Eden. New Feminist Perspectives on Bible, New
York: New York University Press/ UK: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999, 124-131, 130.
83
The text-oriented approach is crucial to grasping the feminist perspectives of Biblical texts.
Also “extrinsic approaches such as history, sociology, psychology and anthropology provide
an understanding of the originating circumstances (personal, social, historical and so on)
for the hermeneutical approach.”282
Insights in Ancient societies, in which Biblical texts were written, as well as knowledge of
the corresponding societal stratification and the literary genre of the ‘apocalypse’ become
intensified. This knowledge is sometimes not only relevant, but directly responsible for the
interpretation of feminine characters and gendered images.
As with any text of the Bible, the Apocalypse included many feminist scholars continue to
justify interpretation by referring to the text itself. Whereas this is also principial, the text
itself is not sufficient.
Since there are various text-typologies asking for different interpretations, therefore not all
texts are created equal. As a result, one has to consider external factors, informing the con-
text, equally important for defining our interpretation.
In view of the above, I do not think one can separate or overemphasize either of the two
aspects. Without equal balance of both perspectives there would be not a valid or relevant
interpretation corresponding to our times.
As stated previously, my present aim was on the one hand to show the insufficiency (and
not inadequacy!) of employing a pure historical-critical method for a gender-critical
analysis, at times reductionist for understanding and interpretation.
At the same time, I legitimate the embrace, or the broadening on behalf of theological
feminist critique of the multiple approaches from various branches of the social and
literary sciences.
The convoluted description had various nuances, prompted by various interests and
concretized in different options of hermeneutical analysis. This rests on the assumption
that 21st century Biblical hermeneutical endeavour must in all cases take into consideration
the new developments, as well as orientations of the feminism as movement, while at the
same time remaining highly respectful of the origins from which they originated.
In this manner, I aspire at integrity of an argumentative type, which, in spite of the

declared gender-informed interest of the present dissertation can be achieved by an
acknowledgment and not glossing over the limitations offered by the same theoretical
frame, in this case the feminist optics.
Such limitations are partly caused by epistemological and historical contingencies of the
current author, who belongs to a certain tradition of interpretation and who militates for
282
McKnight, A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing: An option in Contemporary New Testament Hermeneutics, 334.
84
an alternative in her presentation, based on the openness given by a New Testament text.
This argument is not however based on the pragmatic dictum “one exegesis looks as good
as another”283, this alternative could be a valuable aid if one wants to reach sensus plenior
of any text.
The criticism is always of a constructive type, mindful of the textual constructions.
I hope it was very clear from the above analysis that there is no single feminist monolithic
theory, when analyzing Biblical texts with feminist content. Many perspectives can unfold,
if one chooses to approach the text by giving importance to different social, political,
historical, even cultural or literary aspects and thus obtain different gender-informed
expressions. Moreover, none of the approaches undertaken, including the current one
does claim full authority, or claim to have any limitations.
Any interpretation has validity because of the framework in which it emerges and follows
the arguments pertaining to that particular referential framework. Also, it is valid for the
interpreters, who know and legitimate the criteria of the particular critical endeavour. For
this reason, this interpretation does not aim at convincing every reader, but encourages at
embracing variety of perspectives and interpretations.
It must be specified at this point that this study will not adopt a reconstructive approach
because of the fact that a traditional approach in exegesis emphasized this aspect, and as
such the feminist reconstruction of the past using the Biblical text is very difficult to
achieve especially with the modified perspective on what history means, namely with the
loss of the category of objectivity attached to historical texts. One could run the risk of
developing a model that did not exist in reality, precisely because feminist theology starts
from its contextual character and so, it is quite difficult to make general valid claims.
Another reason is that once the text is no longer at the core of our interpretation, but the
readers are, the reconstructive approach loses at its importance, as well as at its
contemporary relevance for the present context in which the text is recepted, simply
because readers’ hermeneutical horizons are differently informed now than they were in
previous centuries.
Moreover, acknowledging the patriarchal control of some texts should not be taken to the
other extreme as to show that it does not exist, by pursuing at great lengths a
reconstructive approach to show for example that negative depictions of gendered
characters do not exist, but rather the opposite. Or, if negative depictions do exist, then
283
Morgan, Feminist Theological Interpretation of the New Testament, 27.
85
they should be artificially transformed into positive ones. Such an endeavour is not
acceptable simply because the text does not allow it.284
Also, I have in view limiting the highly speculative character of the historical reconstruction.
It would be very hard to imagine and to relate to the Ancient world of the 1st century. That
is why I will limit myself to an understanding of the categories expressed in the 1st century
C.E. informed by intertextual sources as well as sociological data, but with the generic
categories of the 21st century reader.
Based on the classification offered by Eryl Davies,285 I would consider my approach to the
Apocalypse holistic, yet bearing a gender-informed undertone. Subsequently, although my
focus of analysis represents Apocalypse 17, I consider the Whore as ‘apocalypse’, or
apocalyptic writing situated in the larger intratextual framework informed by the
comparison and contrast with other gendered images of the Apocalypse, respectively
Apocalypse 2, 12, 21. Also, the intertextual literary and sociological horizons will also be
explored.
However, I would like to maintain that the essence of the gendered image of the Great
Whore hopefully will not be dissolved by including it in the larger picture. On the contrary,
this process could result into more attention and deeper level of understanding.
Additionally, with the Apocalypse in particular, the gender-related theoretical attempt
presented earlier underlines that there are perhaps even more with this text than any
other of the Bible, an array of not only possible, but also valid interpretations. This is
possible due to fact that there are multiple criteria to choose from, which establish the
validity of interpretations. What these criteria have in common is an acknowledgement of
the fact that understanding mutual perceptions lies at the core of the concept
‘intersubjectivity’ discussed in the earlier sections of my hermeneutical reflection.
Intersubjectivity presupposes dialogue, either with other readings or with other texts.
284
285
Davies, The Dissenting Reader, 17-35. He enumerates in the chapter “Feminist Models of Reading” an
“evolutionary” approach—revolving on a an advancing improvement on the treatment of women; “cultural
relativism”—a theory that insists on reading Biblical androcentrism as rightfully embedded in the ancient
cultural context of the ancient Near East, is followed by the “rejectionist” approach—that sees no hope for
the Bible in general as well as the entire Biblical tradition for being too irredeemably imbued with patriarchal
thought; a “canon-within-a-canon” approach—selectively presents and evaluates specific Biblical texts as
supportive of women in their fight against a patriarchal mode of dominance. The “holistic” approach
comprises pages 29 to 31 and argues for the broadening of the horizon against which the biblical treatment
of women unfolds.
86
I have shown the implications of the decision to read any Biblical text (the Apocalypse
included), with or without the corresponding intertexts. Moreover, with the readers or
interpreters, preferring a gender-informed reading or interpretation, I have shown that
certain readings appeal to certain people and the reason for any option lies in the “relation
of an interpretation to a person’s social location and political agenda”.286
My current academic endeavour enlists as postmodern because it deals with a new
understanding of text, of interpretation through the optics of gender, as analytical tool.
The pastoral relevance of the present study shows that “how we read, understand,
interpret and use Biblical texts related to the very identity of Christian faith and stands at
the heart of Christian theology.”287 What a gender-informed perspective may offer is a
corrective interpretation, which opens and fosters new hermeneutical horizons.
286
287
87
2. History of Research
The interpretation of the gendered image of the Great Whore in the Apocalypse of John
was not confined to the boundaries of theological exegesis but furnished matter of interest
to other academic territories, each of them approaching the topic from different angles.
The spectrum includes not necessarily theological readings. Examples like these bear
relevance to economic globalization, colonialist, respectively post-colonialist studies,
present-centric perspective on the world with emphasis on the ideology of power and
politics, either openly or subversively presented, an idea affiliated mostly with different
expressions of liberation theologies.
Materialistic readings were also advanced other focusing on the depiction and
development of literary motifs etc. Gender as culturally inscribed and socially active
category was not so heavily problematized in theology except from the direction of
gendered-informed postmodern literary theory.
Therefore, the current dissertation will make tangentially reference to other feminist areas,
but will focus more on gender as evidenced from reading the book of Revelation in
particular.
With postmodernism, the approach towards Apocalypse changed, precisely in that some of
the proponents opt more and more convincingly for an ahistorical type of reading, which
includes a more poignant interest for the literary and social character of the readings.
The questions are therefore formulated with reference to no longer “just what happened,
but how is the event portrayed in the Apocalypse and why it is portrayed in such
manner.”288
Such questions are extremely relevant for the unfolding of the present study.
The manner in which the image of the Great Whore develops stands referentially to well-
known commonplaces from OT and vernacular depictions with anti-propagandistic literary
features, as well as having political and ideological undertones. This process revolves
around a rhetorical strategy by which persuasiveness is gained into visualizing the role of
women historically, as well as culturally.
Maybe to the reason behind opting for a gendered image, besides the traditional answer,
namely because there was a context, or a tradition against which the imagery in
Apocalypse unfolds, one could also add the observation that such an imagery was simply
288
David L. Barr, Introduction. Reading Revelation Today: Consensus and Innovations, in: idem (ed.), Reading
the Book of Revelation. A Resource for Students (Society for Biblical Literature 44: Resources for Biblical
Studies), Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2003, 1-11, 6 (emphasis his).
88
effective. Its formulation and rhetorical employment arouse various emotional and ethical
responses from readers across ages.
Not only the context of the production of a text is important, but also the context of its
reception, which for a contemporary gender-informed exegesis means updating the
theological message of the book in a way that reclaims full humanity of women.
Nevertheless, as previously mentioned one is however aware that gender did not stand at
the centre of preoccupation for the context of production. It assumed this position rather
tardily in the history of the text’s reception. This tendency is inscribed in the tradition of
actualization, aiming to read the Biblical text as fitting to the contemporary’s readers
situation and circumstances.289
2.1 Coordinates of the main analyses of feminine imagery in the Apocalypse

of John
2.1.1 Gendered images overall in the Apocalypse
Both the fluidity as well the polyvalence of imagery290 and uniqueness of the Apocalypse
have been greatly acknowledged and extensively compared and contrasted with any other
book of the New Testament.
The feminist academic interest manifested primarily in the feminine imagery depicted in
the Apocalypse. What I mean by ‘feminine imagery’ in the Apocalypse is the textual
depiction of the four major women figures, respectively Jezebel (2:18-29), the Woman
clothed with the Sun (12:1-7), the Whore Babylon (17:1-6.18) and the Bride of the Lamb
(19; 21; 22).
Moreover, I would also mention the other implied reference to women in 14:4, namely the
virgins (παρθένοι) who have not defiled themselves with women. These instances conjoin
generic constructs formulated from an androcentric perspective with additional issues of
sexuality, misogyny, power and hierarchy, purity and defilement, sexualized violence and
divine punishment, as well as the scene against which ancient myths are reiterated.
289
Cf. Christopher Rowland, Foreword, in: Steve Moyise (ed.), Studies in the Book of Revelation, ix-xvii, xv.
290
Ian Boxall, The Many Faces of Babylon the Great: Wirkungsgeschichte and the Interpretation of Revelation
17, in: Steve Moyise (ed.), Studies in the Book of Revelation, 51-69, 55.
89
The great bulk of feminist studies emerges starting with the second half of the 20th century
and is intrinsically connected as presented earlier with the different expression of
liberation theology.
Often, the feminine imagery of the Apocalypse had proved to raise a certain extent turmoil
and dissatisfaction with the manner of its depiction, at least from the perspective of
liberated contemporary women.
Feminist scholars have attempted to deal with this dissatisfaction in developing loopholes
in currently accepted methodological strategies and/or developing new ones, obtained by
the cross fertilization of gender studies with other academic fields.
Clearly, the manner to approach the feminine imagery was a pregnant question, for it
seems that, approaching the text literally causes confusion today as it caused back in the
day.291
As a result, scholarship enlists a wide pallet of readings, from apologetic, more positive
ones to gloomier, rather negative ones. Every orientation of these individual studies is
measured by the degree of embedment in other contemporary academic disciplines and
trends.
As a good rule, the feminist interest for the first group of readings opts for metaphorical
understandings of individual feminine imagery, whereas the less positive readings identify
with rather with corporeal readings of gendered imagery.
Another valuable observation for a current gender-informed interest in the Apocalypse is

provided by the extent to which the last book of the Bible is relevant, or speaks both to
current realities, and/or our faith communities.
I am supporting the standpoint that the above mentioned paths of exegetical analysis of
the Apocalypse need not necessarily be opposable to each other, namely, either as reading
it into any faith community or as distancing it from any application to any contemporary
faith community, by emphasizing the historical and socio-cultural realities pertaining to its
origins.
In the first case, suspicion would arise to the point of rejecting the message of the
Apocalypse as a whole, due to its violent imagery, derogatory gendered images and blunt
dualism.
These accusations do not match the sensibility our society notes with regard to generic
issues.
291
Cf. the early receptions of the text as presented in Lynn R. Huber, Like a Bride Adorned: Reading Metaphor
in John’s Apocalypse (Emory Studies in Early Christianity 12), New York: T&T Clark International, 2007, 5-15.
90
Alternatively, there is the risk of setting the book into a permanent fixed frame, just like a
piece in the museum, which can be visited and revisited provided one has the necessary
fixed set of tools to analyze it. So, it becomes totally irrelevant for current times.
Given the above, a series of questions could be formulated.

Can theologians still offer a valid interpretation to the Apocalypse, which should remain
theological while keeping with the relevance for its contemporary readers? Can/Should we
reconstruct the past for the present, or is it more, as I propose, an attempt at
understanding the past for the present?
For this, is it legitimate to go from a contemporary context and claim that any textual
imagery corresponds entirely a social reality? If so, then to what extent does such
symbolism shape reality?
More concretely, is the feminine imagery of the Whore of Babylon as representative for
John’s attitude to women both in the seven communities as well as overall in the
Apocalypse? How much of the Seer’s attitude maps actually the main tendency in the
Ancient societal behaviour?
Since the current dissertation has relevance primarily for the field of New Testament
exegesis, I believe it is necessary for exegetes to work interdisciplinary with the
Apocalypse, even more intensively than with any other book of the New Testament. An
acknowledgement of the ‘context’ is with this perspective, safeguarded. Otherwise, the
reception of the Apocalypse is very susceptible to erroneous interpretations.
Subsequently, not only the context, but also cautious employment of literary features are
needed.
Feminine imagery of the Apocalypse has been labeled in the feminist field within the
following sematic field, where adjectives such as negative, passive, archetypal, limiting,
stereotypical, therefore degrading are frequently encountered.
Academic stances on this subject were taken in the form of articles, books, doctoral
dissertations, well researched entries in Biblical commentaries and as well as lexica, and
more recently different feminist companions to individual books of the Bible. Some of
these will feature as arguments of my dissertation unfold.
In view of these, “the interpretative perspective has ceased to be solely about eschaton
and became instead a means of interpreting every age of human existence.”292 It became
more ontological in nature.
292
Rowland, Foreword, in: Steve Moyise (ed.), Studies in the Book of Revelation, ix-xvii, xv.
91
The feminist reading interest in the Apocalypse goes as far back as the end of the 19th
century, more exactly 1895, when Elizabeth Cady Stanton had The Woman’s Bible
published.
Although The Woman’s Bible is not considered nowadays serious in its entity, it is notable
that the first feminist approach to the Apocalypse came from outside the academic world,
namely as cultural and political filter in advocating women’s emancipatory rights.
Her comments on the Apocalypse unveil the subjection of women. In this way, the
apocalypse is not an exception because her comment is valid, in her opinion, for the entire
Bible that “in its teachings degrades Women from Genesis to Revelation.” The Holy Writ
was used throughout the centuries as a means to preserve the social and political status
quo, and therefore deprive women from accessing full citizenship and equal rights.
Stanton’s highly anti-Catholic reading pervades the whole of The Woman’s Bible,
concluding “whoever wrote the Revelation was evidently the victim of a terrible and
extravagant imagination and of visions, which make the blood curdle.”293
Especially with the emergence and establishment of liberation theologies, the Apocalypse
remained present throughout the 20th century in the pastoral reflections, gaining more and
more exposure.
The book is used both as argument and as counter-argument in depicting and relating to
contemporary realities, where women struggle for regaining their identity. As a result, it
bears primarily social, economic, cultural aspects, and secondarily, it is theological in
character and entails ethical concerns.
Hence, the feminist interest gains more and academic terrain with some contemporary
authors. These authors attempted at better understanding the contemporary contexts also
from the optics provided by ancient literary, theologically inspired Biblical texts.
The interest in the Apocalypse, at least from a historical perspective was closely associated
with the emergence of different expressions of liberation theologies.
It elaborated a “correspondence of relationship between Revelation in its context and their
socio-political context” with strong social undertones as “the imagery of chapters 13 and
17-18 as well as chapters 20-21 is very popular with the peasants and the poor in Central
and South America, who are reading the Bible in Christian base communities. Since the
Apocalypse depicts the exploitation of the poor and the concentration of wealth in the
hands of the powerful, the injustices perpetrated by the colonialist state, and a society that
293
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, The Woman’s Bible, Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1993, 179.
92
has grown obscene by perpetrating stark contrasts between the rich and the poor, they can
read it as speaking to their own situation of poverty and oppression.”294
Though Revelation, as shown above, may be a liberating text in a certain specific context
for certain communities as shown above, I strongly believe the liberationist reading of the
Apocalypse to be, to a large extent, oblivious of the choice of metaphors, more precisely of
gendered metaphors, because of their larger scope, namely reading the book “as an
unflinching prophetic proclamation of justice that speaks the truth to power no matter the
cost, and as divine declaration that the violent designs of power of ‘this world’ will result in
their own undoing.”295
The socio-cultural and ethical considerations have therefore shaped the theologically-
oriented spectrum of studies, where the corporeal reference of the feminine textual
depictions suffers some transformation.
Historically (and chronologically), we move from the non-corporeal interpretations, relying
at their best on traditional metaphorical depictions of Ancient cities, as well as mythical
creatures engaging in heavenly combats, to more corporeal depictions, given theology’s
crossing boundaries over to literary postmodernist expressions.
As a result, with the emergence of the feminist inquiries, the Apocalypse gradually gains
feminist substance.
Methodologically, this matter of fact increases from various interpretations to critique of
different ideologies in the Bible.
The common denominator for these is that gender-informed Biblical exegetical analyses on
the Apocalypse claim a deeper non-literal understanding of feminine imagery.
Language, as rhetorical tool, in which metaphorical expressions are locked with a gender-
informed potential awaits for concretization in contemporary context and for
contemporary readers. As a result, such imagery hides various ideological stances visible
when one applies the hermeneutics of suspicion, a strategy which was explicated
previously.
294
Elisabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza, Revelation: Vision of Just World (Proclamation Commentaries), Minneapolis:
Augsburg Press, 1991, 11.
295
Jean-Pierre Ruiz, Taking a Stand on the Sand of the Seashore: A Postcolonial Exploration of Revelation 13,
in: David L. Barr (ed.), Reading the Book of Revelation. A Resource for Students, Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2004,
119-135, 122-123.
93
Therefore, the most common focus characterizing the feminist discourse on the feminine
imagery of the Apocalypse is to explore language in its manifestations loaded by
metaphorical textual instances.
The creative powers of language, its multiple layers of reference and rhetorical devices, as
well as the inter- and intra-textual relationships to other texts having similar motif clusters
has been extensively analyzed.
As point of interest was the discussion on how to understand the grammatical gender
found in the text. Postmodern perspectives on the vision of the Great Whore contradict the
assumption that generic referents of the image should never be taken as referring to the
biological sex.
With traditional argumentations, “using a masculine pronoun about something does not
imply that it is in fact imagined as a male sexual being” and in virtue of this “female readers
may well choose to read even such androcentric, women-excluding text as Revelation as
inclusive of themselves, thus exercising their freedom of interpretation and reclaiming the
text for themselves.”296
The rather traditional gender-informed interpretations fostered by the methodological

umbrella of historical-critical method retain a certain intertextual frame of reference to
various degrees, namely the OT imagery tradition of personifying of cities as women. These
references along with other will be mentioned in a later subsection.
In apocalyptic literature, the potential resides in the fact that language transgresses the
literal boundaries into serving the larger scope of rhetoric. The mythopoetic297 capacity of
language displays a continuous referential power; therefore, multiple meanings of every
symbol are not only accepted, but also demanded by the very nature of language. However
progressive this may initially sound, “the meanings of the language in Revelation are
limited by the literary context, the socio-historical situation and the rhetorical project.”298
Non-literal language usually implies the use of (gendered) metaphors, which becomes the
medium by which an evocative image sets a “common ground of mutual experience and
296
Stenström, The Book of Revelation. A Vision of the Ultimate Liberation or the Ultimate Backlash?, 238
making a footnote reference to Schüssler-Fiorenza’s Vision of a Just World, 14.
The contemporary postmodern gendered reader’s perspective advances the concept of immasculation.
297 nd
Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza, The Book of Revelation: Justice and Judgment (2 ed.), Fortress Press,
Minneapolis, 1998, 181, she quotes Amos Niven Wilder, Theopoetic, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1976, 79:
“Our visions stories and utopias are not only aesthetic, they engage us.”
298
Stenström, The Book of Revelation. A Vision of the Ultimate Backlash?, 228.
94
belief.”299 The contemporary readers’ perspectives and the apocalyptic nature of the
Apocalypse allow for establishing a common denominator due to an ontological dimension
of experience elaborated in mythical patterns.
In his article ‘Myth and History: Deconstructing John’s Characterizations’, David L. Barr
states that “John has so dressed his women in mythic guise that they no longer appear to
be mortals.”300 Either conceived of as Queen Mother (Jezebel), or Queen Consort (The
Bride of the Lamb), Queen Ruler (Whore of Babylon), or Queen of Heaven (Woman Clothed
with Sun)301 or re-enacting myths,302 they are generic symbolic constructs.
Adela Yarbro Collins also taps into the mythological resources of dealing with the feminine
imagery in the Apocalypse. She assesses such imagery from a Gunkelian303 perspective of
the history of religions, as well as employs a Jungian approach,304 which values a
psychological interpretation of apocalyptic gendered images.
From Ancient models, she retains references to the 'combat myth’,305 which deals with the
dichotomist, antagonist battle between order and chaos, good and evil. This cosmic battle
is a widespread topos among civilizations of the ancient Near East, including Judaism.
The same binary system operating within the above mentioned paradigm applies here as
the distinction between ‘good’ and ‘evil’ is applied in evaluating feminine imagery in the
Apocalypse.
299
Eva Maria Räpple, The Metaphor of the City in the Apocalypse of John (Studies in Biblical Literature 67),
New York: Peter Lang, 2004, 109.
300
David L. Barr, Women in Myth and History: Deconstructing John’s Characterizations, in: Amy-Jill Levine,
Maria Mayo Robbins (eds.), A Feminist Companion to John’s Apocalypse, London, New York: T&T Clark
International, 2009, 55-68, 56.
301
Barr, Women in Myth and History, 57-61.
302
Barr mentions the existing versions of Chaos myth in Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Jewish cultures (Barr,
Women in Myth and History, 59). For a mythological approach also cf. Adela Yarbro Collins, The Combat Myth
in the Book of Revelation (Harvard Dissertations in Religion 9), Missoula: Scholar’s Press, 1976.
303
I refer to Hermann Gunkel, Schöpfung und Chaos in Urzeit und Endzeit: Eine religionsgeschichtliche
Untersuchung über Gen 1 und Ap Jo 12, Göttingen: Vanderhoeck und Ruprecht, 1895.
304
Cf. Adela Yarbro Collins, Feminine Symbolism in the Book of Revelation, in: Biblical Interpretation,
1(1)/1993, 20-33.
NOTE! Since the author mentioned above has a similarly named article in A Feminist Companion to John’s
Apocalypse, for the sake of convenience, I refer to the article published in Biblical Interpretation ‘Feminine
Symbolism in the Book of Revelation a’ and the article pushed in A Feminist Companion to John’s Apocalypse
‘Feminine Symbolism in the Book of Revelation b’.
305
Yarbro Collins, The Combat Myth, 57-58.
95
Apocalypse 12 and 21 as a whole imagine the community of the faithful inspired by Isa 54,
whereas Apocalypse 17 and 2 refer to a hubris –a claim of authority undignifying to God
interpreted by the fallen community (cf. Isa 1:21, Hos 1-4).
If the combat myth, with its mythical characters partially allows for a positive assessment
of the feminine imagery in the Apocalypse, the Jungian reading of the text is not that
optimist.
Adela Yarbro Collins concludes that “the particular forms of the feminine symbols [in
Revelation] […] are limited and limiting for women[…] women are defined in terms of their
sexual and reproductive roles.”306
Such depictions may have pernicious consequences as John’s language remains “disturbing
and dangerous”. In her article on the feminine symbols of the Apocalypse, Yarbro Collins
states that “John’s feminine imagery is dangerous because (whether intentionally or not) it
promotes an ethos in which women are not allowed to control their own bodies and their
own destinies and in which violence against women is –at least in some cases –
condoned.”307
Convinced of the politico-rhetorical character of language, Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza

readily admits “the female imagery of the Book of Revelation would be completely
misconstrued if it were understood as referring to the actual behaviour of individual
women.”308
“The images of women used by Revelation were not intended to, nor should they ever
legitimate violence against women of any kind […] any effort to associate them with actual
people represents a gross misuse of the text.”309
However, in calling attention to “ambiguity, openness and indeterminacy”310 of the
language inviting to “imaginative participation”311 Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza contends
that “Revelation engages the imagination of the contemporary reader to perceive women
306
Adela Yarbro Collins, Feminine Symbolism in the Book of Revelation, in: Amy-Jill Levine, Maria Mayo
Robbins (eds.), A Feminist Companion to John’s Apocalypse, 121-131, cf. eadem, Feminine Symbolism in the
Book of Revelation a.
307
Garrett, Revelation, 474.
308
Schüssler- Fiorenza, Vision of a Just World, 96 cf. eadem, Justice and Judgment, 219-222.
309
Wes Howard Brook, Anthony Gwyther, Unveiling Empire. Reading Revelation Then and Now (Bible &
Liberation), Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1999, 162.
310
Schüssler-Fiorenza, Justice and Judgment, 186; Schüssler-Fiorenza, Introduction: Research Perspectives on
the Book of Revelation, in: eadem, ibidem, 21-23.
In acknowledging the fact that Revelation is written in mythopoetic language, could open up a possible
interpretation of the Great Whore Babylon as the great Mother Goddess (cf. Schüssler-Fiorenza, Vision of Just
World, 96).
311
Schüssler-Fiorenza, Justice and Judgment, 186, 187.
96
in terms of good and evil, pure or impure, heavenly or destructive, helpless or powerless,
bride or temptress, wife or whore,”312 something quite dangerous –I would add.
Schüssler-Fiorenza warns the readers of “the danger of understanding this feminine
symbolization in a literalist fashion is acute if readers do not critically distance themselves
from John’s vitriolic polemics against a leading wo/man prophet but instead naturalize the
feminine figuration of the opposition between Rome’s and G*d’s power.”313
Moreover, she still sees that the “basic paradigm of the Apocalypse is not holy war and
destruction but justice and judgment.”314 For this reason, she interprets the Apocalypse
overall as a vision of a just world.
Nevertheless, some feminists are not ready to accept the above-mentioned conclusion:
“[…] even if one understands the ‘point’ of Revelation’s various references to women,
John’s language remains disturbing and dangerous.”315
Additionally, to the stereotyping of women’s roles in the Apocalypse, Allison Jack writes
that “in a text in which opposition and struggle are key, defining features, it is not
surprising that stereotyping and even demonization are used as literary devices. In
Revelation, it is not women alone who are subjected to such treatment. Many other
images and symbols are offered as expressions of the forces of evil.”316
Leaving aside the intra-textual interpretations of gendered imagery as pervasive from the
text of the Apocalypse, the intertextual references valued by many interpreters of
Revelation emphasize the metaphorical or symbolic meaning of the sexual and female
images in the book, derived from Old Testament traditions.
For instance, Renita Weems claimed that reference to Apocalypse 19: 1-8 celebrate
violence and rejoice over the bloodthirsty vengeance against opponents who are depicted
in misogynistic metaphors drawn from among the deadliest in the Bible’s prophetic
literature.317
312
Schüssler-Fiorenza, Justice and Judgment, 199.
313
Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza, The Words of Prophecy: Reading the Apocalypse Theologically, in: Steve
Moyise (ed.), Studies in the Book of Revelation, 1-19, 13.
314
Schüssler-Fiorenza, The Words of Prophecy, 19.
315
316
Alison Jack, Out of Wilderness: Feminist Perspectives on the Book of Revelation, in: Steven Moyise (ed.),
Studies in the Book of Revelation, 149-162, 161.
317
Jean-Pierre Ruiz, Praise and Politics in Revelation 19:1-10, in: Steven Moyise (ed.), Studies in the Book of
Revelation, 69-84, 80, with reference to Renita J. Weems, Battered Love: Marriage, Sex and violence in the
Book of Revelation (Overtures to Biblical Theology), Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans/Carlisle: Paternoster,
1999, 946.
97
According to Weems, whoring and fornication operate as metaphors for idolatry. The
symbolic understanding of Israel as bride and wife of Yahweh is part of the prophetic-
apocalyptic tradition.
Both aspects must be subjected to feminist critique, but with Weems, their gendered
meaning cannot be assumed as primary within the narrative contextualization of the
Apocalypse.
The main dissatisfaction I encounter with exegetical analyses of this sort, is that these
neglect the impact of the corporeal aspect on the readers. My suspicion is that such
interpreters fret over pushing the boundaries of the gendered metaphorical language,
tapping into its potency, for it may cause a destabilization in the textual objectivity of an
academic enterprise.
And this is a stigma many feminists cannot bear. For fear of becoming much too involved
within any interpretation, traditional interpretations they avoid making subjective
judgments, interpreters choose the already trodden paths of their predecessors.
In their argumentations, the different socio-cultural paradigms to which John’s references
(e.g. one-sex model) are often used as an excuse for the existence of such a text.
By contrast, postmodern gender-informed analyses of gendered images question whether

the ancient model has any relevance for the present context. If yes, then how are we to
grapple with such images?
Recently various stances of postmodern theory are finding their way into Biblical exegesis.
The postmodern interest in the Apocalypse enlists efforts to unveil the ideological
character of the text, rather than to salvage some of its derogatory content. In this process,
they employ strategies aiming at resisting immasculation318 and subsequently minimize the
internalization of misogyny.319 Subsequently, the following inquiries can be formulated:
How do women perceive such a text? How do women perceive other women depicted in
this text? Is the manner in which feminine imagery of the Apocalypse dealt with meant to
alienate us?
More general scrutiny delves into how ‘real’ are the readings the readers produce?
318
Fetterley, The Resisting Reader, xii.
319
George Aichele et al. (eds.), The Postmodern Bible (The Bible and Culture Collective), New Haven and
London: Yale University Press, 1995, 37.
98
Such prerequisites are important because Apocalypse’s reading and interpretation carry
ideological functions for the current context social and have consequences for the
gendered readership in general.
Reader-response criticism plays currently an important role in the postmodern movement
by opening Biblical scholarship to literary and cultural critical theory.320 “Interpreters are
being challenged to take responsibility” for their standpoint, for “the theological, social,
and ethical implications of their readings”.321 In other words, “there is no such thing as
innocent reading, we must say what reading we are guilty of.”322
The type and identity of the reader I am envisioning for the gendered imagery in the Book
of Revelation is a believer. As such, strong belief in the Apocalypse as communicating God’s
ultimate message of redemption is sustained. Because of this reason, the text of the
Apocalypse is to be viewed primarily as theological text and secondarily as literary or
culturally relevant one.
Also, there are therefore certain preconditions, which need to be fulfilled in order to attain
academic value, namely an acceptance of “the value system and the concern of the Church
[…] found in the text because they are put there by the implied author (inspired author)
and are required of the implied reader (the Church, the inspired reader).”323
This attitude triggers an impossibility of rejecting the text, no matter how violent,
misogynistic it may apparently be.
Some of the most “(in)famous” interpretations on the gendered images of the Apocalypse
have been produced by among others by Tina Pippin, Marla Selvidge and more recently
Hanna Stenström and Avaren Ipsen.
From a strictly gender-informed perspective, the main accusation is that feminine imagery
of the Apocalypse is dichotomist, reductionist, because descriptions vacillate between two
options: the pious, asexual good woman and the heretical, lustful prostitute.
320
Aichele, The Postmodern Bible, 4.
321
Danna Nolan Fewell, Reading Between Texts: Intertextuality and the Hebrew Bible. Louisville:
Westminster/John Knox, 1992, 9.
322
Louis Althusser From Capital to Marx’s Philosophy, in: Louis Althusser and Etienne Balibar, Reading Capital
(trans. Ben Brewster), New York: Verso, 1970, 11-39, 14.
323
Terrence J. Keegan, Interpreting the Bible: A Popular introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics, New York:
Paulist, 1985, 155.
99
“Apocalypse is not a safe space for women”324 states Tina Pippin as “they are killed or
‘prepared as a bride adorned for her husband’. The female who is safe in exile in the
wilderness is alone, her child is taken from her.”325
Continuing, she argues that “all the females in the Apocalypse are victims; they are objects
of desire and violence because they are all stereotyped, archetypal images of the female
rather than the embodiment of power and control over their own lives in the real or
fantastic worlds,”326 being portrayed as “virgin, whore, mother-beloved and hated –but
always under male control and domination.”327 Her negative assessment on the feminine
imagery in the Apocalypse extends even to the more positive depiction of the New
Jerusalem, for she states: “the New Jerusalem is a woman, but women are not included in
the utopian city. God’s future world excludes women, but not before marginalizing them
first.”328 Her bitter conclusion reads:
“In the Apocalypse narrative, gender oppression is left untouched by the sword of God. The tale of the
329
Apocalypse is not a tale of the liberation of female consciousness. The Apocalypse is not a tale for women.”
For the fact that the Apocalypse is unliberating and misogynist, she urges women “to be
about the business of creating their own apocalyptic tales, their own utopian
narratives.”330
Similarly, Marla J. Selvidge, in her 1996 article “Reflections on Violence and Pornography:
Misogyny in the Apocalypse and Ancient Hebrew Prophecy” envisages the “pornographic
death threats and scenes against women in order to make its predictions of terror.”331
Since pornography ranks high with her assessment, its definition is based on three criteria
enunciated by Letty M. Russell,332 namely as the negative depiction of female sexuality,
324
Tina Pippin, Death and Desire: The Rhetoric of Gender in the Apocalypse of John (Literary Currents in
Biblical Interpretations), Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1992, 80.
325
Tina Pippin, The Revelation to John, in: Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza (ed.), Searching the Scriptures, Volume
2, New York: Crossroad, 1994, 109- 130, 119.
326
Pippin, Death and Desire, 72.
327
Tina Pippin, Eros and the End: Reading for Gender in the Apocalypse of John, in: Semeia 59/1992, 193-210,
200.
328
Pippin, Eros and the End, 195.
329
330
331
Marla J. Selvidge, Reflections on Violence and Pornography: Misogyny in the Apocalypse and Ancient
Hebrew Prophecy, in: Athalya Brenner (ed.), A Feminist Companion to the Hebrew Bible in the New Testament
(The Feminist Companion to the Bible 10), Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996, 274-285, 275.
332
For further reference cf. Letty M. Russell (ed.). Feminist Interpretation of the Bible, Philadelphia:
Westminster Press, 1985, 87.
100
implying also degradation of women as well as subjecting the female sexuality under men’s
possession and control. In this view, women in the Apocalypse are objectified and as such
are “sadistically brutalized”, and/or “violently coerced”.
To the statement, that Revelation is certainly a text “not ‘about’ women… but use(s)
women figuratively to make a point about something else… [it] ‘us(es) women to think
with’”333, Hanna Stenström argues on the difficulty of changing these conventional
negative images of women, especially when they are perceived in the opposition pure vs.
impure in what she calls ‘purity language’.334
With the various formulations of postmodernist stances, the engagement of the Biblical
text with the reader operates on more than one level, namely not only cognitively but also
affectively materialized in the new subjectivity the latter gains. Neither readers, nor
readings are gender-inclusive as the moderate feminist directions may indicate.
Precisely because of this extension of the text’s reception to pastoral concerns, I
acknowledge the importance of a gender-informed analysis that would find eventually a
middle way between Biblical fundamentalists, postmodern readings and Christian liberal
feminists.
2.1.2 Some relevant examples of gender-informed analysis of Apocalypse 17
The particular interest on gendered readings of the Great Whore Babylon is rather limited,
considering not every exegetical analysis available necessarily has feminist content. Also,
with some feminist exegetes, the Great Whore is only tangentially mentioned, usually as
part of the well-known contrast in the Apocalypse between the Bride and the Whore.
As a result, current interpretations concerning the Great Whore are formulated against a
context, composed from various traditions, be they theological or ideological. The current
dissertation acknowledges the importance of reading with both types of contexts for the
gender-informed analysis of Apocalypse 17.
Overstressing one understanding of ‘context’ in favour of another is a misreading of the
text, unjustified and oblivious of readers either ‘then’ or ‘now’.
333
Elizabeth A. Castelli, Romans, in: Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza (ed.), Searching the Scriptures, Volume 1,
272-300 is presumably alluding to Karen King’s formulation in: cf. Aichele, The Postmodern Bible; Also cf.
Hanna Stenström, They have not defiled themselves with women…Christian Identity according to the Book of
Revelation in: Amy-Jill Levine with Maya Robbins (eds.) A Feminist Companion to the Apocalypse of John, 33-
54, 35.
334
Cf. Stenström, They have not defiled themselves with women, 33-54.
101
Along the rather traditional socio-political understandings of contextual relevance for the
Great Whore, the context of feminist interpretation of the apocalyptic gendered images
will also be evidenced.
Viewing the large spectrum of the studies concerning the Great Whore either primarily or
tangentially, the current gender-informed analysis of the above mentioned character
reaches beyond the identification of “grammatical gender and feminine figuration with
natural gender and wo/men.”335
Gender analysis is at least from the modern reader’s perspective, a challenging pursuit. The
role of readers is active as two views emerge: one, in which we look to the text through the
glasses of gender and the other one, which sees a geopolitical symbol in the metaphorical
language of John’s visions, where gender is only grammatically and culturally
acknowledged, unable to deter us from the main theological message of the Apocalypse.
Different aspects associated traditionally with the Whore image in the Apocalypse were the
city imagery imbued by the OT prophetic traditions. Additionally, the referential framework
of the vision of the Great Whore included also Greek and Latin texts. More recently, the
iconographic thesaurus of the Graeco-Roman Antiquity was also explored.
From a postmodern perspective, what is retained from the Biblical image is the sexual
reference of this imagery, based on the not-yet-fully-proven hypothesis whether
grammatical gender equates with sex and if as such, it helps in substantiating the claim for
a gendered reading. 336
With the extension of the interest in the figure of the Whore Babylon outside the
exegetical academe, contributions of a less theological content picture her more and more
as ‘woman’.
In these contributions, it becomes evident that the image in itself is a compound one, in
which many ancient sources converge to represent the Great Whore.
The particularly relevant question is then to what extent are the Biblical texts able to be
read without context? Of course, this question can be reversely addressed, namely how
much of the feminine content of the imagery is lost by continuously referencing it to these
ancient sources? To what extent is then such image speaking to us today?
335
Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza, The Power of the Word. Scripture and the Rhetoric of the Empire,
Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2007, 135.
336
Such issue is taken up into discussion by Jorunn Økland, Why Can’t the Heavenly Miss Jerusalem Just Shut
Up? in: Caroline Vander Stichele and Todd Penner (eds.), Her Master's Tools? Feminist and Postcolonial
Engagements of Historical-Critical Discourse (Global Perspectives on Biblical Scholarship, Book 9), Atlanta:
Society of Biblical Literature, 2005, 311-332, 315.
102
Examples and thematic orientations of the main feminist readings of the Whore Babylon in
the Apocalypse of John take up motifs such as ‘evil’ as ‘womanly’, ‘violence’, ‘whore’,
‘fornication’, understanding the gendered character of ancient cities (the more traditional
approaches), active (evil) vs. passive (good) relating to a honour-shame system as well as
the social values associated with it.
Since the attitudes and interpretations in question vary to such an extent that they present
totally arguable opposite stances to any theme, there are however certain points on which
everyone agrees, namely that the Whore is a biased androcentric gendered image
employed to depict evil, whose destruction is violent (although tackled differently). In
other words, interpretations of the Great Whore carry some various messages, being either
a politically-charged symbol, or a metaphor, or a mirror for contemporary realities.
Regarding the composition of the gendered image, a chief question troubles the exegete
dealing with Apocalypse 17, namely why did the text or John opt for employing a gendered
image? The answer could be that there was primarily a tradition to sustain such a usage
and secondly because, such imagery was effective, in that it would not leave the readers
indifferent.
As mentioned previously, there is no consensus, a universally valid interpretation of the

Great Whore even within the feminist scholarship. There are different focuses, which result
into different interpretations, or readings, as interaction with the text is achieved to
various degrees.
The possibilities cover the chronological development of the image as well as mark the
transition from socio-historical gendered-informed interpretations to feminist-critical ones.
In the following, therefore, I will start by presenting the political perspectives implied in the
image of the Great Whore. For authors such as Schüssler-Fiorenza, Kim and Rossing, the
political undertones of the image of the Great Whore are far superior to the corporeal
dimension.
The chief reference of Babylon as city is envisioned in its contemporary dimension–Rome

(Schüssler-Fiorenza). Alternatively, it could be applicable to any postcolonial context (Kim).
With Rossing, the political identification of Babylon prompts ultimately to a moral choice of
readers between two gendered alternatives, the Whore (evil) and the Bride (good).
Already with readings such as the above, the literary character of the Apocalypse and of
the Great Whore in particular gains more importance. Interpretations emphasizing the
103
implications of literary character have at core the (gendered) metaphor of the Great
Whore. By establishing intertextual links with various traditions, such as the Old Testament
(Sals), or by appeal to Graeco-Roman traditions (Huber), the image expands its
interpretative horizons.
The contrast between the Great Whore and the Bride is the strategy commonly applied in
order to obtain a better understanding on how the first gendered image operates. With
Räpple, the metaphor’s power of influencing readers is stressed.
Gradually, the metaphorical readings are no longer the focus of analyses such as Pippin’s,
who develops a literal reading of the Apocalypse and the Great Whore, having seriously
damaging consequences on women’s lives nowadays.
Considering the impact of the text of the Apocalypse on readers, sociological readings
explain the implications of the gendered image of the Great Whore, relevant for
contemporary realities.
For authors such as Roose, Glancy and Moore, the realities of the lives of prostitutes in
John’s day inspired the creation of the Great Whore.
However, the relevance of the text extends to postmodern contemporary readers in

particular context, respectively The Netherlands (Vander Stichele) and United Sates of
America (Ipsen). In these contexts, the image of the Great Whore is read from the prism of
sex workers, who are marginalized. By extension, the appellative ‘whore’ functions as part
of society’s demonization of women in general.
The mythological (Yarbro Collins) and rhetographical (Carey) perspectives also complete
the spectrum within which the image of the Great Whore operates and manages to
communicate relevant messages for contemporary readers.
To certain extent and various degrees, all these perspectives have in common the
rhetorical forces of the metaphorical expression found in the depiction of the Prostitute,
which Knust identifies in the slander discourse. There is a documented long history of
attempts to include the textual references pertaining to sexual discourse into the category
of ancient rhetorical tools.337 Sex was used ‘to think with’, that is to mark the boundaries
of Christian identity,338 to delimit the borders between ‘us’ and ‘them’.
337
Cf. Jennifer Wright Knust, Abandoned to Lust. Sexual Slander and Ancient Christianity (Gender, Theory and
Religion), New York: Columbia University Press, 2006.
338
Knust, Abandoned to Lust, 1.
104
As a disclaimer, I would like to highlight the fact that these options are not clearly
differentiated from other gender-informed ones, given the interdisciplinary character of
feminist analyses in general.
Political focuses on the Great Whore
Such readings focus on the image of the Whore as a political symbol, as the Great
Prostitute stands for the collective enemy, the corporate evil contemporary to John,
namely Rome.
Sometimes, the one-to-one correspondence between Babylon and Rome can be extended
beyond the latter; therefore it could apply to any politically exploitive regime.
Cities in the Ancient Near East were often described by feminine metaphors,339 and
exegetes have been oscillating in finding the origin for that. As per psychological
formulation, the city was “evidently a place of protection, nurture and provision”.340 It was
also placed “in continuity with a long tradition of biblical and extrabiblical writings”, where
the πόλις and the γυνή “stand for human communities or groups, either in faithful
relationship to God, or in rebellion and infidelity.”341
In this context, such image is referred to as “dead metaphor”, i.e. “a metaphor so deeply
imbedded in the culture as to be virtually invisible, but nonetheless the source of everyday
assumptions and speech,”342 as expression of “conventional language”.343
339
This assumption should however be taken with particular caution in what regards the actual placing of this
tradition, in history. As noted by Peggy L. Day, The Personification of Cities in the Hebrew Bible, in: Fernando
Segovia, Mary Ann Tolbert (eds.), Reading from this Place, 283-302, 286, the presupposition of an old
tradition in depicting females as cities, although based on numismatic proof of Aloysius Fitzgerald (The
Mythological Background for the Presentation of Jerusalem as a Queen and False Worship as Adultery in the
Old Testament, in: Catholic Biblical Quarterly 34/1972, 406-413, 406) is refuted by George Francis Hill in
Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Phoenicia, London: British Museum, 1910, who places the existence of such
coins to the second century BCE and later, thus the evidence “postdates the biblical phenomenon of
personifying cities as females” (Day, The Personification of Cities, 301).
340
Katheryn Pfisterer Darr, Isaiah's Vision and the Family of God (Literary Currents in Biblical Interpretation),
Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1994, 126. For similarity of views cf. Frymer-Kensky, In the Wake of the
Goddesses, 172, Sals, Die Biographie, 87, ft.132.
341
Edith M. Humphrey, A Tale of Two Cities, 83.
342
Julie Galambush, Jerusalem in the Book of Ezekiel: The city as Yahweh’s Wife, (Society for Biblical Literature
Dissertation Series 130), Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1992, 20, 36.
343
“For its feminine figuration of the imperial city as ‘whore’, Revelation not only uses the conventional
feminine metaphor for a city or a country –a verbal practice that is still in vogue today –but also relies on the
prophetic language of the Hebrew Bible that indicts Jerusalem and the people of Israel for idolatry, which is
metaphorically linked to prostitution, a figure of speech which was by then conventional language and would
105
With the depiction of the Great Whore-Babylon, grammatical gender is an accident, since
“[…] then, as today, cities and countries were construed as feminine.”344
Exegetes employing this strategy try to prove is that the image of the Whore is contained in
the larger image of the city, i.e. that womanly aspect is subsumed to an aspect of the city.
The arguments for such claim are the references to Babylon in 14:8 and 18. With these
backgrounds in mind, readings of this sort elaborate on the horrors of the Roman rule.
In particular, the political character revolves around the later explicit identification of the
gendered apparition in 17:3 with a city, respectively in 17:18. The judgment and
destruction of the one also named as ‘whore’ and ‘woman’ is placed into a ‘default frame’,
respectively, a larger prophetical frame of the OT, which condemns either Israel (Hos 5:3),
or individual cities345 such as Jerusalem, Tyre, Nineveh. We are speaking therefore of an
original appropriation and actualization of the gendered imagery referring actually to a city.
With the previously mentioned cities, prostitution, as a rhetorical feature ranks high being
a dimension of expressing their unfaithfulness to God by engaging into idolatry-based acts.
Additionally, the name of the Whore activates the oracle against Babylon in Jer 51.346
Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza is the chief-advocate for a more positive reading of

Apocalypse, in which the Whore is just a metaphor. It is clear that “the rhetorical-symbolic
discourse of Revelation clearly understands [Babylon] as an imperial city and not an actual
woman”,347 since the author of the Apocalypse was shown to be “familiar with the
have been understood by the hearers/readers of Revelation as such.” (Schüssler-Fiorenza, The Power of the
Word, 135). In Schüssler-Fiorenza’s view, language is conceived as “convention or tool that enables readers to
343
negotiate and create meaning in specific contexts and situations”
344
Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza, Invitation to the Book of Revelation, Garden City, NY: Doubleday&Co., 1981,
95-96.
First, I translate and read the grammatically masculine language of Revelation as conventional generic
language (…). Second I translate and read the sexist language and female images in Revelation first as
‘conventional’, language which must be understood in its traditional and present meaning contexts. Whoring
and fornication as metaphors for idolatry, as well as the symbolic understanding of Israel as bride and wife of
Yahweh, are part and parcel of the prophetic apocalyptic tradition. They must be subject to a feminist critique,
but their gendered meaning cannot be assumed to be primary within the narrative contextualization of
Revelation. Cf. Schüssler-Fiorenza, Vision of Just World, 1991, 13.
345
Cf. Richard Bauckham, The Climax of Prophecy: Studies in the Book of Revelation, Edinburgh: T&T Clark,
1993, 345. Also Sals, Die Biographie, xiii, 20, 189.
346
Pierre Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2004, 485. Cf.
Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy, 345.
347
106
feminine coding of the dualistic cultural pattern of ethical choice found in the Graeco-
Roman and Jewish literature”.348
As a result, “[…] the harlot symbolizes cities as the places of human culture and political
institutions and do not tell us anything about the author’s understanding of actual
women.”349 In this view, the harlotry acts associated with the Whore, namely, fornication,
and all the derivatives refer most probably to idolatrous stances.
From the above, it is clear that such formulations take into account the political character
rather than the corporeal, in an attempt to whitewash the Great Whore.
As Schüssler-Fiorenza distances herself from the corporeal dimension of the gendered

character in the Apocalypse 17-18, she marches with the insistence on what Babylon
stands for, namely ‘imperial cult’, ‘exploitation’, ‘wealth’, ‘splendour’, ‘ruthless power’.350
Critically, however, chapter 17, especially in the beginning lines does not support such
claims textually, since it is not a city, which is turned into a woman, but rather the
opposite.
Moreover, some explanations of the Seer are taken literally to describe contemporary
realities, being read through the prism of actual history, while some are not to be
considered so.
Elements such as the ‘beast’, the ‘kings’, the ‘seven hills’, the ‘city with dominance’ point to
Rome, and the Roman rule.
However, the doublet of the Whore, namely the Beast, the chronology of the kings
attempted by most of historical-critical scholars, which has produced uncertain lists,351 as
well as ‘waters’ are neither descriptive of Rome, nor is there any evidence of Rome being
depicted as seated on a beast. Neither is the eschatological war accurate,352 nor are in view
of recent data more recently persecutions resulting into martyrs.353
348
Elisabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza, Babylon the Great: A Rhetorical-Political Reading of Revelation 17-18, in:
David L. Barr (ed.) The Reality of Apocalypse: Rhetoric and Politics in the Book of Revelation (Society of Biblical
Literature Symposium Series 39), Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2006, 243-269, 264.
349
Schüssler-Fiorenza, Vision of a Just World, 96.
350
“Finally, I do not read Revelation just in terms of the sex and gender system but with reference to the
Western patriarchal system and its interlocking structures of racism, classicism, colonialism and sexism. Such
a reading will, for instance, pay attention not only to the sexual characterization of the figure of Babylon but
also to its description in terms of high status, ruling power, egregious wealth and divine aspirations.”
Schüssler-Fiorenza, Revelation: Vision of Just World, 14.
351
Cf. Aune, Revelation 17-22, 946-950.
352
Cf. the detailed presentation in Aune, Revelation 17-22.
353
Cf. Leonard Thompson, Reading the Book of Revelation, 29-30. Cf. idem, Ordinary Lives. John and His First
Readers, in: David L. Barr (ed.) Reading the Book of Revelation. A Resource for Students, London/Boston: Brill,
107
It is not in any way my intention to glide over such identification of the Great Harlot with
Rome, for it may be, beyond any doubt, a very accurate identification in the dynamics of
the Apocalypse.
Another aspect in the political interpretation of Apocalypse 17 (cf. Apocalypse 18) is also
conceived in colonial terms, where the amalgamation of wealth and luxury corresponds to
the degree of exploitation applicable to any colonialist state of this world.354
With Jean Kim,355 the Whore is not only depicted as oppressor, she is at the same time a
victim, “the destroyer to be destroyed.”356 A metaphorical reading does not excuse her
behaviour as either an oppressor, or an oppressed. Such reading would have as support the
violent depictions of actions against the innocent on behalf of the Whore, but also against
women, for which the Whore stands for.
Distancing from the text should be imposed in an attempt to conceive the construction of
the gendered image as aiming at transmitting a message. The Whore of Babylon is nothing
but a literary figure, not a woman in flesh and bone, thus incomparable to a real prostitute.
Her depiction rests on a mere literary convention, a commonplace, or topos argues

Barbara Rossing, who develops Fiorenza’s theory of reading the symbolic world of the
Apocalypse in terms of a “fitting response to its historical- rhetorical situation”,357 where
the portrayal of the Great Whore stresses the dimension of the city metaphor.358 By
developing the idea of a literary topos buttressed by prophetic and Graeco-Roman city
traditions, the language “is safeguarded in scholarly interpretation, a lively concept is
turned into a dead metaphor.”359
2004, 25-49, especially 31fff. Also, Ian Provan, Foul Spirits, Fornication and Finance. Revelation 18 from an
Old Testament Perspective, in: Journal for the Study of New Testament 64/1996, 81-100, 97.
354
Enrique Dussel, Ethics and Community (trans. Robert R. Barr), Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1988, 28.
355
Jean K. Kim, Uncovering Her Wickedness: A Inter(con)textual Reading of Revelation 17 from a Postcolonial
Feminist Perspective, in: Journal for the Study of New Testament 73/2002, 61-81, 73.
356
See Kim, Uncovering Her Wickedness, also Caroline Vander Stichele, Just a Whore. The Annihilation of
Babylon According to Revelation 17:16 (no pagination), available at http://www.lectio.unibe.ch/00_1/j.htm
(retrieved 21.10.2009). Cf. eadem, Re-membering the Whore: The Fate of Babylon According to Rev 17:16, in:
Amy-Jill Levine, Maria Mayo Robbins (eds.), A Feminist Companion to John’s Apocalypse, 106-121, 106-121.
357
358
Cf. Barbara Rossing, The Choice between Two Cities: Whore, Bride, and Empire in the Apocalypse,
Harrisburg: Trinity International Press, 1999, chapter 3.
359
Rossing, The Choice, 15.
108
At the level of the Apocalypse, the Whore of Rev 17 is usually compared and contrasted
with other female images of the Revelation, to which it relates. It is opposed to the Woman
clothed with the Sun (12: 1-2), who is a positive figure or even to the description of the
Bride in 19:1-7, 21:2), sharing in common, the denomination –woman, γυνή (2:20,
12:1.6.13, 17:3.4.6.9.18, 19.7, 21:9) –thus dichotomizing them into good and bad women.
Judgment as a result of impurity or impure acts attaches to Babylon to a significant
extent.360
Additionally, Rossing develops in her rhetorical analysis two ancient literary topoi of the
‘evil woman’ vs. the ‘good woman’. The stereotyped rhetorical construct is rooted in the
contrast between the evil and good woman, which is present in Biblical wisdom traditions
(Prov 1-9)361 and in Greco-Roman sources (Xenophon, Memorabilia. 2-1.21-22). The main
rhetorical methods to describe the woman are personification prosopopoiia,362 visual
description ekphrasis and comparison synkrisis.363
In citing texts where vices are portrayed in human form364, the description of the Prostitute
mirrors the description associated with the topos of the ‘evil woman’ where gaudy attire,
purple and gold and jewels and cup were recurrent motifs.365
By linking the images of the ‘whore’ and ‘bride’ with the city imagery, readers of the
Apocalypse are presented with two ethical options as ‘vice’ or ‘virtue’ are feminized and
eventually they are persuaded to take the right decision.366
By appealing to the rhetorical strategy, the feminine images collude with the city tradition
so interchangeably367 that the gendered images in Apocalypse bear no consequences for
reading, since they are means descriptive of a rhetorical strategy, thus restricting, to a
good extent, the implications of a metaphorical language.
Rossing interprets the images behind the language, as actions taken against the city, and
not a person,368 as for her, the feminine imagery is secondary to the city imagery.369
And so, the choice the readers are left with is not a gendered choice but rather a political
choice.370
360
Marshall, Gender and Empire, 29.
361
The garb of the prostitutes echoes the one of Prov7:6-17. (Rossing, The Choice, 77).
362
The personified characters serve as examples. Cf. Rossing, The Choice.
363
A contrast or comparison drawn between two elements” Rossing, The Choice, 23.
364
365
Rossing, The Choice, 38, 77-78.
366
367
368
She thus debunks what Pippin has argued, namely that the destruction of Babylon corroborated with her
torture and rape is actually the one of a real woman. Rossing, The Choice, 87-90.
369
Rossing, The Choice, 144f.
109
Although mainly political in focus, the above mentioned interpretations unveil the
fecundity of the interpretations of the gendered image of the Great Whore Babylon far
beyond the political.
It could therefore be depoliticized, by holding on to the essence of the image. Such
readings will be presented in the following.
With the above dimensions, the image of the Great Whore construes “as the symbol of the
archetypal enmity against God or the sign for the general decadence of all civilization”,
more positively, “as calling for appreciation of the transience of life or a symbol of the
fleeting character of wealth and power.”371
Despite their plausibility, these types of approaches are limiting the expressivity of the
language as well as metaphor, by reducing the image to one dimension, thus enforcing one
singular type of decoding as the accurate one. The items pertaining to the domain of
‘woman’ are thus functional to the extent they have a political, economical or ethical
relevance. Gender is accidental.
However, the main critique Huber encounters with these readings concerns the
impossibility of translating the imagistic language of the text into propositional language.372
Nevertheless, these approaches insist on the presentations of potential ancient
backgrounds for the city metaphor.
Literary Readings of the Great Whore
These focus on close textual readings either considering the intratextual references with
the Apocalypse or the intertextual references with other texts of the Bible.
The observation above is extremely important for understanding the manner in which the
depiction of the Great Whore functions. Although, at times, not explicitly mentioned, I am
very well aware of the difference in nuances that intertextuality poses, in particular with
references to allusions and echoes.373 All these are structures according to themes and/or
370
Rossing, The Choice, 165, 183. “The choice for the good woman that the author of the Revelation wants us
to make is not a gendered choice, nor an individualistic choice but rather a political choice”.
371
372
Huber, Like a Bride Adorned, 39-42. She offers as an example the equation between the ‘fine linen of the
Bride’ of the Lamb with ‘the righteous deeds of the saints’ (19:8).
373
Steve Moyise, Intertextuality and the Study of the Old Testament in the New Testament, in: idem (ed.),
The Old Testament in the New Testament: Essays in Honour of J. L. North (Journal for the Study of the New
Testament: Supplement Series 189), Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2000, 14-41; Steve Moyise,
110
individual elements identified in the presentation of the Great Whore. I will point to them
as the current analysis develops.
In the following, I will not limit myself to presenting some of the most renowned
intertextual references, but I will also present their shortcomings, as these represent an
aspect usually oblivious with the proponents of such an approach. As a result,
intertextuality does not function in terms of a perfect match of one text with other(s), but
is rather reminiscent in an original way of standardized correspondences.
Nevertheless, this endeavour, namely that of overemphasizing the political character of the
image in detriment to the generic one is obviously quite hard to ascertain for the
postmodern readers of the Apocalypse, especially if she/he is not trained in a specific
tradition of interpretation of the Church.
This argument deems pertinent the discussion on the relevance of the apocalyptic text for
the 21st century readership, especially from the vantage point of a reader-response
strategy informed by a gender-informed perspective.
With chief intertextual references, the descriptive texts provided by Ezekiel,374 Jeremiah
are most pertinent.
Ezekiel 16:10-13 mentions “fine linen”, and “costly garments”, “jewels” (v.11), “gold and
silver” (v.13) as well as “crown and bracelets” (v. 12), when describing the young virgin
adorned by God.
I clothed you with embroidered cloth and with sandals of fine leather; I bound you in fine linen and covered
you with rich fabric. I adorned you with ornaments: I put bracelets on your arms, a chain on your neck a ring
on your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head. You were adorned with gold and
silver, while your clothing was of fine linen, rich fabric, and embroidered cloth.
Intertextuality and the Book of Revelation, in: Expository Times, 104/1993, 295-298; Gregory L. Linton,
Reading the Apocalypse as Apocalypse. The Limits of the Genre, in: David L. Barr (ed.), The Reality of
Apocalypse. Rhetoric and Politics in the Book of Revelation (Society for Biblical Literature, Symposium Series)
Atlanta: Society for Biblical Studies, 2006, 9-41; Jon Paulien, Criteria and Assessment of Allusions to the Old
Testament in the Book of Revelation, in: Steve Moyise (ed.), Studies in the Book of Revelation, 113-129;
Gregory K. Beale, John’s Use of the Old Testament in Revelation (Journal for the Study of New Testament.
Supplement Series 166), Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998, 13-59.
Also Richard B. Bays, Stefan Alkier and Leroy Huizenga (eds.), Reading the Bible Intertextually, Waco, TX:
Baylor University Press, 2009; Timothy K. Beal, Ideology and Intertextuality: surplus of Meaning and
Controlling the Means of Productions, in: Danna Nolan Fewell, Reading Texts Between Texts: Intertextuality
and the Hebrew Bible, Louisville: John Knox Press, 1992, 27-40.
374
Cf. Ruiz, Ezekiel in the Apocalypse. Also, Albert Vanhoye, L’utilisation du livre d’Ézékiel dans L’Apocalypse,
in: Biblica 43/1962, 436-476, 441-442 (cf. Rossing, The Choice, 73).
111
With Ezekiel, woman’s body parts feature ornaments,375 contrasting sharply with her
nakedness.
However, such juxtaposition should be cautiously dealt with. With Ezekiel, there is a focus
on body and bodily ornaments –named by Huber Yahweh’s “voyeuristic gaze”.376
John is not interested, unlike Ezekiel in the details of the woman’s body –the description
mainly aims at ornaments rather than body parts –he expresses fascination over the
view/appearance as a whole.
Moreover, from the list in 17:4 as a whole, only gold is mentioned in Ezek 16:13.377
Additionally, Kowalski sees the difference between Ezek 16:10-13 and Rev 17:4 in the fact
that the Whore is not adorned by God.378 The use of a perfect participle in medium form
would exclude the divine intervention in offering social status.
In a similar fashion, Jer 3:16-24 envisages the evil woman/prostitute fully covered in jewels.
Sometimes adornment was associated with adultery, an idea which repeatedly referred to
Israel’s lusting after and worshipping foreign gods (Ezek 16:17-18, 23, Hos 2:13).
“Just as red apparel, ornaments of gold and heavy makeup were inappropriate for modest
women, so the loose woman’s superficial attempts to improve her looks to stave off
destruction were laughable and filthy:”379
And you, O desolate one, what do you mean that you dress in crimson, that you deck yourself with ornaments
of gold, that you enlarge your eyes with paint? In vain you beautify yourself. Your lovers despise you; they
seek your life. (Jer 4:30)
Jer 4:30 maintains two elements of the description of the Whore in 17:3, namely,
references to ‘scarlet’ and ‘gold’ (cf. also 17:16).
Other notable examples include Isa 1:21-31, which bears references to Jerusalem: the once
faithful city is now a whore, and its corruption has reached unimaginable quota.
Restoration is promised, as the city is transformed into a “city of righteousness, a faithful
city” (1:26).
Isa 47 features indictment against Babylon, being mostly relevant if compared with the
following chapter in the Apocalypse, namely Rev 18.
375
Huber, Like a Bride Adorned, 100.
376
377
378
Kowalski, Die Rezeption des Propheten Ezechiel, 181.
379
Kim, Uncovering Her Wickedness, 72.
112
Cognates of ‘prostitute’ are descriptive of Tyre in Isa 23 and Nineveh, the “bloody city”.
Especially in the last example, references to Rev 18 are more pertinent, since they focus
more on the economic trade pursued by Nineveh with the surrounding nations, similar to
Babylon’s.
In the Apocalypse, another dimension worth noting is the Exodus. This entails a very
important aspect in the further detailed presentation of the Great Whore, especially
concerning the religious overtones. The attire of the Great Whore resonates with priestly
ornaments380: scarlet features with the description of the tabernacle in Exod 26:1, 36:8,
purple as well as gold are also mentioned (Exod 25:4-5, 26: 1.29.36.37, 27:16, 28:5-8,
36:34).
In the characterization that follows this section, the Whore makes an unsuccessful attempt
to imitate God: her posture, adornment and pretension of power is continually unmasked
by divine emissaries throughout the unfolding of the apocalyptic eschatological scenario.
With reference to the Great Whore, Ulrike Sals takes Babylon as a Biblical construct,
referenced in many prophetic writings to depict more than a geographical unit, especially
with the reception of some of the OT texts such as Jer 50-51 and Rev 17-19.
From data provided by these texts, she sketches a biographical document of Babylon in its
dual nature, namely of a ‘city’ or ‘kingdom’, as well as a ‘woman’ and ‘principle’, as
portrayed in the apocalyptic text. Her work is a contribution to the metaphorical image of
the city as woman, a contribution to gender research with reference to Biblical texts, as
well a contribution to intertextuality of the/and with other Biblical texts, from an
exegetical, theological and cultural perspective.
The very popular contrasting paradigm in the characterization of the Whore, namely the
contrast between two gendered characters, the Whore Babylon and the Bride of Lamb
takes on a different dimension as in the following.
The contrast with the Bride of the Lamb is very evident, not only at a textual level but also
thematically.
As the Bride’s opposite, the Great Whore joins the side of the evil, including also women in
the Apocalypse, along with Jezebel of Rev 2, whom Humphrey considers “seemingly a local
380
Huber, Like a Bride Adorned, 98 (ft.36).
113
manifestation of ‘Babylon’.”381 The compatibility between the two will be explored in depth
as the current analysis unfolds.
Language actually contributes very much to the Great Whore’s delineation. To stress that
even better, there is the close parallel construction of the textual introduction of the
Whore and the Bride of the Lamb, as well as the contrast in clothes colouring and the
further associations.
Lynn Huber revolves on the well-established contrast and chooses to emphasize the Bride
over the Whore, as depicted in Roman social discourse. In her studies,382 she develops the
wedding imagery, as depicted with the prophets of the OT (mainly Ezekiel 16, Hosea 1-2,
Isa 61:10)383 and also shaped by Graeco-Roman metaphors and myths in maintaining
traditional gender roles.
Therefore, in idealizing the Bride, John develops an anti-Roman perspective, “heretofore
directed at political, economic, and religious elements of the Empire, to Roman social
discourse as well” with the help of the Whore image, i.e. Rome, showing a far from ideal
picture than what is propagated in the Roman empire, namely “a sexually promiscuous
woman and the ‘mother of prostitutes’ (17:5).”384
Huber uses the conceptual metaphor theory, however with reference to the imagery of the
Bride in her book “Like a Bride Adorned: Reading Metaphor in John’s Apocalypse”. If one
desires to understand the metaphoric language behind the above mentioned imagery
adequately, full weight should be given to the associations evoked by the “source
domain”—which, in the case of Rev 17, would be the all too familiar figure of the brothel
worker in the Roman society.385
Eva Maria Räpple belongs to the proponents, who view the metaphorical language of the
Apocalypse as the missing link with the visual arts. The very nature of language as dialogical
381
Edith M. Humphrey, A Tale of Two Cities and (At Least) Three Women. Transformation, Continuity and
Contrast in the Apocalypse, in: David L. Barr (ed.), Reading the Book of Revelation. A Resource for Students
(Society for Biblical Literature 44: Resources for Biblical Studies), Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2003, 81-96, 84.
382
Cf. Lynn R. Huber, Unveiling the Bride: Revelation 19.1-8 and the Roman Social Discourse, in: Amy-Jill
Levine, Maria Mayo Robbins (eds.), A Feminist Companion to John’s Apocalypse, 159-179.
383
Brenner, Pornoprophetics, 63. cf. Doyle, The Apocalypse of Isaiah Metaphorically Speaking, 227.
384
Huber, Unveiling the Bride, 172.
385
See Huber, Like a Bride Adorned. This is also valid for the understanding of the 144,000 male virgins; also
cf. eadem, Sexually Explicit? Re-reading Revelation’s 144,000 Virgins as a Response to Roman Discourses, in:
Journal of Men, Masculinities and Spirituality 2/2008, 3-28.
114
provoking “playful creativity” and participation on the behalf of the reader/audience386
puts a strain on the interpreter, whose imagination is crucial in the interpretation of
symbolic images. Because the Apocalypse is full with metaphorical language, a literal
reading and understanding of it would cause nothing but obstacles for the
reader/interpreter.387
The reader’s role is crucial for acquiring meaning.
The image of the city as a metaphor is essentially “an image designed to incite the
senses”,388 for “the female characters in the Apocalypse effectively stimulate a ‘feeling
mind’”.389 Räpple acknowledges the importance of a heightened awareness of with any
Biblical interpretation of the imaginative visualization and thought, which primarily stem
from the readers’ active response to the text. It is for this reason that the audience of
Apocalypse is encouraged to construct their identity just as the ‘Bride’ enters into a new
relationship to the Lamb.
Acknowledging the two-dimensionality of the metaphor, respectively the political and the
human, Räpple concedes that the latter “consciously or unconsciously ensures emotional
appeal […] affective responses to the text […] incites imagination and evokes the response
of reader/audience”.390
According to Räpple, there might be a usable future for the complex composition of the
metaphor of the woman-city in the Apocalypse, provided we consider the aspect of the
city-woman as community.391
Like her predecessors, she channels the focus on the political character rather, using
gender to construct various realities of readers, either pertaining to the covenantal
relationship to God,392 expressing utter sinfulness,393 or aiding at the appropriation of an
abstract image, such as the city, by its communal associations.394
In virtue of the latter associations, the ontological level is touched upon, as the “metaphor,
city community comes alive, receives a human body, identity and human face.”395
386
Räpple, The Metaphor of the City, 27.
387
388
389
390
391
Räpple, The Metaphor of the City, 127fff.
392
393
394
395
115
Insisting on the more existential approach, I could add that “sexuality, especially in Biblical
tradition has always been an essential metaphor that refers to humanity centered in a
relation between God and human being as well as human beings among each other.” 396
Part of the visual character of the vision of the Great Whore in Apocalypse 17, assigning the
Whore moral values is also encountered in the rhetographical images in the Apocalypse.
More literary examples include Toril Moi’s understanding of the Whore as situated at the
limit of symbolic order. Subsequently, such a depiction would construe women at the limit
between man and chaos, remaining always marginal either in the vilification of women or
in their exaltation by the male culture.397
At the opposite pole in the literary spectrum lie the literal interpretations of the Great
Whore as per Tina Pippin’s view.
Pippin is attempting at a carnal interpretation of the Whore of Rev 17. Her reading is
ahistorical, reflecting “postmodern sensibilities that recognize that texts are not generally
susceptible to an interpretative ‘answer’, but rather evoke ‘readings’ from specific readers
with their own unique interests and commitments” conceived in this case “to resist
misogyny”.398
The women’s interest stems from the identification with the images presented, so argue
the feminists who legitimize the removing of the context for the proper understanding of
the text in question, when attempting a contemporary gender analysis.399 Such
identification is performed in the process of the reading the Apocalypse and is a part of the
readers’ response. As a result, the character of the Whore is drawn ideologically and
theologically and marked with explicit sexual signifiers, among which practicing immorality
and beguiling the community are only some examples. Because it implies the identification
with a male perspective and rejoicing over the judgment of the whore (Rev 18:20, 19:2),
the text alienates the female readers400, being nothing but a ‘pornoapocalypse’401 and
displaying misogynist view.
396
397
Toril Moi, Sexual/Textual Politics: Feminist Literary Theory, London and New York: Routledge, 1985, 166-
167.
398
Brook and Gwyther, Unveiling Empire, 43.
399
Cf. references to Stenström, Pippin, Selvidge mentioned in the bibliographical list.
400
Pamela Thimmes, Teaching and Beguiling My Servants. The Letter to Thyatira (Rev 2.18-29), in: Amy-Jill
Levine, Maria Mayo Robbins (eds.), A Feminist Companion to the Apocalypse of John, 69-87, 74.
401
Tina Pippin, Apocalyptic Bodies, The Biblical End of the World in Text and Image, London/New York:
Routledge, 1999, 92. This view is also shared by Selvidge, cf. eadem, Reflections on Violence and
Pornography.
116
Tina Pippin vehemently criticizes the negative depictions of not only the Prostitute, but also
the gendered apocalyptic imagery as a whole, prompting thus a severe marginalization of
women, materialized in misogynistic language as well as violence towards them. “Reading
for the ‘lives’ of the females in the text exposes the deep misogyny of the vision of the end
of the world”.402
Pippin reads through the glasses of the gender ideology concluding that the killing of the
Prostitute is not entirely liberating, for it reverberates in an expression of war and
patriarchy.403
Although she agrees to an extent on the cathartic404 character of the above mentioned
episode, her view is different as expressed in the autobiographical voice: “Having studied
the evils of Roman imperial policy in the colonies I find the violent destruction of Babylon
very cathartic. But when I looked into the face of Babylon, I saw a woman.”405
The latter observation stands in opposition to Adela Yarbro Collins’, who interprets
Babylon’s fall as vindictive, cathartic and an outlet for the anger of those in perceived
crisis.406
Given the misogynistic character of the Apocalypse, Pippin sees neither a usable past, nor
future for the women of the Apocalypse, for they are at least textually completely excluded
from the New Jerusalem.407
For Tina Pippin, the Apocalypse can be evaluated in a manner in which the imposition of
the prostitute identity (…) is a misguided patriarchal projection of male phantasy.408 “The
Bride is adorned, in contrast to the stripping and burning of the Whore. The marriage of
the Bride counters the death/funeral of the Whore.”409
Also, the problem with these types of feminist depictions is their overfocus on ‘words’, on
literality. In this manner, they overlook the fact that metaphors are not simple words, but
operate as speech acts in which the author employs a metaphorical phrasing to reach a
402
403
Cf. Tina Pippin, The Heroine and the Whore. Fantasy and the Female in the Apocalypse of John, in: Semeia,
60/1992, 67-82.
404
Both Pippin and in the following Yarbro Collins take the formulation from Aristotle’s Poetics, namely from
the definition of tragedy as “tempering suffering by means of mercy and fear and effecting purification of
those who suffer” (Leonardo, Tarán Gutas Dimitri (eds.), Aristotle, Poetics. Editio maior. (Mnemosyne:
Monographs on Greek and Roman Language and Literature, Supplementum 338), Leiden: Brill, 2012, 122,
also cf. the Greek text, pgs. 166-219).
405
Pippin, Death and Desire, 80; cf. eadem, Pippin, The Revelation to John, 119 (verbatim phrasing).
406
Cf. Adela Yarbro Collins, Crisis and Catharsis: The Power of the Apocalypse, Philadelphia: Westminster,
1984.
407
408
409
Pippin, The Revelation to John, 118-119.
117
particular end, namely that of conveying the ‘speaker’s meaning’ to the audience.410 Words
function together in forming an image complex411, therefore, these should not be read in
isolation.
Similarly, with Marla Selvidge’s formulation, the Great Harlot’s destruction is assessed as a
“gang-rape” and “gang-murder” as a result to the Seer’s jealousy of the powerful position
of the woman.412
The image of the Whore is the motif arduously discussed with the feminist theologians.
It may still be considered, simultaneously, an oppressive text, legitimating sexual violence
of all sorts413 and/or pornography414in other contexts and communities (e.g. feminist anti-
pornography activists in Europe, or contexts in the so-called Third World where women’s
rights activists work against trafficking and sex tourism).415
Sociological Readings of the Great Whore
The article by Hanna Roose416 deals with the visually and auditory spectacular mise-en-
scène of the fall of the Great Harlot. An iconographic approach defines images in terms of
‘reality constructs’, enlightening on “how prostitution was perceived in Asia Minor in John’s
days and if this perception can add new facets to the interpretation of Revelation 18.” 417
She argues that Rev 18 is based on an ancient stereotype from everyday life regarding old
prostitutes, “i.e. prostitutes that have lost their sexual attraction and have therefore been
410
Cf. Macky, The Centrality of Metaphors, 8-25.
411
Cf. the terminology of Ulrike Sals also refers to Rev 17-19 as to a ‘Bildkomplex’ in: Sals, Die Biographie, 52.
412
Selvidge, Reflections on Violence and Pornography, 281f.
413
Cf. Stenström, The Book of Revelation. A Vision of the Ultimate Liberation or the Ultimate Backlash?, 24:
“The spectrum includes sexual harassment, rape, child abuse, pornography, prostitution, battering, mental
abuse within intimate relationships”.
414
For a list of feminist studies in this area, cf. Stenström, The Book of Revelation. A Vision of the Ultimate
Liberation or the Ultimate Backlash?,25, ft. 84.
415
Hanna Stenström, Is a liberating feminist exegesis possible without liberation theology?, retrieved at
http://www.iiav.nl/ezines/web/LectioDifficilior/2002/No1/No1/stenstroem.pdf (no pagination), (15.03.2012).
416
Hanna Roose, The Fall of the ‘Great Harlot’ and the Fate of the Aging Prostitute. An Iconographic Approach
to Revelation 18 in: Annette Weissenrieder, Friederike Wendt and Petra von Gemünden (eds.), Picturing the
New Testament. Studies in Ancient Visual Images (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen Zum Neuen Testament
II 193), Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2005, 228-252.
417
Roose, The Fall of the ‘Great Harlot’ and the Fate of the Aging Prostitute, 231.
118
pushed ‘out of business’”418 as reflected in texts and visually depicted in statues. As a
result, John reinterprets the above mentioned idealized stereotype also linking it with the
OT understanding on judgment anchored in the Apocalypse’s rhetorical strategy revolving
around ‘one day’ (18:8) and ‘one hour’ (18:10.17.19).419
As a result, John envisions a reversal of roles, that would impose after the Fall, the
originally ‘outsiders’ upon kings, merchants and ship-owners.
Similarly, Jennifer A. Glancy and Stephen D. Moore look into the aspect of the social
realities in John’s time and adduce historical relevant data of prostitutes in the Roman
Empire in an attempt to better delineate the appellative πόρνη, which John so frequently
conjoins with Babylon. By doing this, they go against the more bookish interpretations of
the Prostitute, offered by some of the Biblical scholars, who account for the existence of
such an appellative, due to the mostly literary connections with the OT, or other political or
literary convention of the day. “It seems reasonable to us to suppose that the term would
have conjured up first and foremost in the midst of the urban Christians addressed in the
Revelation a certain category of flesh and blood person that one encountered with
considerable frequency in the streets, a fixture of the urban landscape, as opposed to a
figure of high literature, or a literary, or philosophical topos, or a scriptural type.”420
The latter understanding draws principally from the prophetic material in the Hebrew
Bible,421although as Glancy and Moore conclude “we suspect that she (i.e. Elizabeth
Schüssler-Fiorenza) imputes an overly cerebral experience of the πόρνη metaphor to the
original audiences, who coolly process it as a “figure of speech” principally drawn from “the
prophetic language of the Hebrew Bible”. 422
An analysis grounded in the contemporary realities is more consistent with the orientations
of postmodern feminist theory.
As the interest regarding the corporeality of the imagery of the Great Whore increases,
some consider the text offensive due to the calling of a woman prostitute, others perceive
it offensive due to the abusive use of the whore identity.423
Caroline Vander Stichele interprets the image of the Great Whore from the perspective of
the socio-economic realities in the Netherlands, 424especially with reference to the lives of
418
419
420
Glancy and Moore, How Typical a Roman Prostitute, 557.
421
422
Cf. Glancy and Moore, How Typical a Roman Prostitute, 551-569.
423
Ipsen, Sex Working and the Bible, 169.
424
Vander Stichele, Just a Whore, also cf. eadem, Re-membering the Whore, 106-121.
119
the real prostitutes in the Red Light District. She argues against the city dimension,
identified primarily in the metaphor of the Great Whore, since such fact is an attempt
much too frequently employed in order to explain away425 and therefore neglect, if not
overlook all the gender implications of such a metaphor.
Vander Stichele also elaborates on offensive language and she argues that within a
patriarchal society,426 to compare the enemy to a woman is a means of ridiculing and
denigrating him on the one hand, and of ascertaining one’s own male superiority on the
other.
Relating to lives of real prostitutes is also the analysis of Avaren Ipsen, an activist for sex
workers as well as Biblical scholar.
Her book Sex Working and the Bible427 aims to empower the marginalized readers of the
Bible to take attitude with reference to the Biblical texts evaluating negatively the
profession of sex working. She is convinced of the ideological contextual character
informing our reading perspective, therefore blends Biblical stories on real prostitutes with
pastoral concerns. Her contribution furnishes a valuable insight on the manner in which
whores are perceived in the 21st century environment of United States.
The apocalyptic vision of the Great Whore (17:1-19:10) is examined against the background
of violence addressing the sex workers, as part of other Biblical stories involving
prostitutes, namely Rahab (Joshua 2 and Joshua 6:22-25), Solomon and prostitutes (1Kgs
3:16-28), the woman who anointed Jesus in Mark 14:3-9, Luke 7:36-50, Matthew 26:6-13,
John 12:1-8.
As a result, the negative feminine imagery of the Revelation points to a “sexualized
violence against women” which “is one of John’s primary modes of depicting God’s
judgment.”428 It is thus obvious how certain readings have developed a dangerous
potential.
Additionally, her analysis has postcolonial undertones, where violence features in a context
delineated by domination, exploitation as well as a strong ideology of power. John’s
Apocalypse sets sexualized violence as integral to the Seer’s “anti-colonial, or more
accurately anti-Roman cry for justice and to his vision of an immolated Lamb who with his
own blood will purchase the oppressed for God.”429
425
Cf. Vander Stichele, Just a Whore.
426
Vander Stichele, Re-membering the Whore, 114.
427
Avaren Ipsen, Sex Working and the Bible, London: Equinox Publishing Ltd, 2009.
428
John W. Marshall, Gender and Empire, Sexualized Violence in John’s Anti-Imperial Apocalypse, in: Amy-Jill
Levine with Maya Robbins (eds.) A Feminist Companion to the Apocalypse of John, London, New York, 2009:
T&T Clark International, 17-32, 19.
429
120
Ipsen is interested in the evaluation and possible liberation from destructive functions of
the language of ‘whore’ in its historical context, as well as today. She does so by voicing the
muted voices of sex workers. Ipsen attempts to analyze the slander word as an ambiguous
type of parody, not necessarily directed to Rome, but possibly to actual prostitutes, as part
of John’s community.430
The offensive language is quite possibly an effective rhetorical strategy designed to
provoke important necessary realizations. The symmetry with regard to Revelation’s
control of the Whore Babylon and the accounts of violence conducted against prostitutes,
on the one hand, on the other, the ‘whore rhetoric’ exists as legitimizing rape, as well as
domestic violence in the exhortation ‘kill the whore’. 431
Mythological Focus
The tendency towards an abstractization of the Whore-image was very well addressed in
the analysis of its mythical character as goddess Roma, another dimension of the
personification of Rome.
There are numerous scholars,432 either historians of religions themselves or inspired by the
history of religion, who have explored this dimension in depth.
Adela Yarbro Collins marches on the historical identification of the Whore of Rev 17 with
Rome, writing that “in Revelation, idolatry is focused on a goddess, Roma.”433
However, she elaborates on the mythical character of the Great Whore. Off all her
appellative, she especially focuses on her maternal character.
As a result, the mother-Whore of Apocalypse 17 develops the myth of the Great Mother434,
who hides the two sides of one character: “the good mother, who nourishes and lavishes
430
Her approach to Scripture is inspired by life in American ghettos. Her discussions with the sex workers in
her study resonate well with the offensive terminology found in the hip-hop music.
431
432
E.g. A chronological overview would include Gunkel, Schöpfung und Chaos; Wilhelm Bousset, Die
Offenbarung Johannis, Göttingen: Vanderhoeck und Ruprecht, 1906; Franz Boll, Aus der Offenbarung
Johannis: Hellenistische Studien zum Weltbild der Apokalypse, Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1964; Yarbro Collins, The
Combat Myth; Bruce J. Malina, On the Genre and Message of the Revelation: Star Visions and Sky Journeys,
Peabody: Hendrickson, 1995; Jacques M. Chevalier, A Postmodern Revelation: Signs of Astrology and the
Apocalypse, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997.
433
Adela Yarbro Collins, Insiders and Outsiders in the Book of Revelation and Its Social Context, in: Jacob
Neusner and Ernest S. Frerichs (eds.), To See Ourselves As Others See Us: Jews, Christians, “Others” in Late
Antiquity (Studies in the Humanities), Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1985, 187-218, 214. Also, eadem, Feminine
Symbolism in the Book of Revelation b, 121.
121
affection, and she is also the wicked mother who devours and destroys.”435 No matter how
appalling it may be, at least from a gender perspective, the Great Whore of chapter 17 is
the only textually mentioned mother –μήτηρ of the Apocalypse.
This ambiguity is not found only in the figure of the Prostitute but also features in the
entire spectrum of gendered manifestations of the feminine imagery in the Apocalypse.436
Signalling a departure from the historical character of Apocalypse to a symbolic one, the
focus thus changes from historical to mythical thinking and concepts.
The Great Whore could also allude to a metaphorical compositional complex figure
inspired from the mythical figure of the Queen Ruler.437 She has along with other queens
(Queen Mother, Queen Consort, and Queen Jezebel) a mythic character, playing on a
variant of the chaos monster Tiamat –the mother who would destroys her children and
who is herself destroyed.438 Nevertheless, a political intent of the imagery is almost always
depicted in these struggles for power and control.
Other sources note “the ancient Near Eastern understanding of goddess as protectors of
particular peoples or cities, […] often called the Fortune of the city,”439 rooted in the
widespread440 practice of deities taking consorts.441 Because every city had a patron, his
434
“The great prostitute of chapter 17 is the Terrible Mother. Her character as a prostitute symbolizes the
seductive and charming power of the Great Mother’s lure toward self-dissolution in the unconscious sea of
participation, of non-individuation”. (Yarbro Collins, Feminine Symbolism in the Book of Revelation a, 30; Cf.
for an identical phrasing, eadem, Feminine Symbolism in the Book of Revelation b, 128).
435
Yarbro Collins, Feminine Symbolism in the Book of Revelation b, 127.
436
437
Barr, Women in Myth and History, 58.
438
Amy Jill-Levine, Introduction, in: Amy-Jill Levine, Maria Mayo Robbins (eds.), A Feminist Companion to the
Apocalypse of John, 1-16, 4.
439
The cult of the goddess Roma probably achieved popularity due to its practicality: its permanency was ensued
despite the Roman officers and magistrates who changed frequently. However, the cult of the city goddess
was officially admitted to Rome only in A.D. 118, by Hadrian dedicating a temple to Venus and Roma (Court,
Myth and History, 149).
440
Zimmermann, Geschlechtermetaphorik und Gottesverhältnis, 405. Cf. Huber, Like a Bride Adorned, 93.
441
Moughtin-Mumby, Sexual and Marital Metaphors, 8 ft. 28 and ft.29. She mentions a series of authors
supporting such claims, among whom A. Fitzgerald, The Mythological Background for the Presentation of
Jerusalem as a Queen and False Worship as Adultery in the Old Testament, in: Catholic Biblical Quarterly
34/1972, 403-416, idem, Btwlt and bt as Titles for Capital Cities, in: Catholic Biblical Quarterly 37/1975, 167-
173, M. E. Biddle, The Figure of Lady Jerusalem. Identification, Deification and Personification of Cities in the
Ancient Near East, in: K.L. Youngers Jr., B. F. Batto, W. W. Hallo (eds.), The Biblical Canon in Comparative
122
consort was usually envisioned as feminine. The Mεγάλη Tύχη (deified city) tradition is
also acknowledged by other scholars442 and attested throughout the Empire on coins.
The main distinction that Judaism records is that female city personifications are namely
never goddesses and have almost always a negative image.443 This commonplace shifts
from a deification tendency found amongst Israel’s neighbours towards a theological
understanding of this phenomenon.
Rhetographical Focus
This refers to feminine images, building on the dichotomic apocalyptic worldview and using
rhetography as analytical lens. In the Feminist Companion to John’s Apocalypse, Greg Carey
delves into rhetography, which he defines as “the rhetoric of the senses, to dramatize the
difference one woman and another”, exploring the different “kinds of wealth –what can be
touched, tasted, sounded, and smelled” as conventional depictions of gender in
Mediterranean Antiquity.444 Images of women are used as vehicles, because they are
“more influenced by their senses than their intellect and thus open to evil influence
through external stimulation.”445
Apocalypse uses various images of wealth to differentiate between contrasting feminine

characters, representing wealth associated with the Beast and wealth associated with the
Lamb. 446
Carey develops his analysis within the well-known contrast scheme between the decadent
Whore and the modest Bride. Within the parametres set by the sensory rhetoric, vibrant
colours (Apocalypse 17), jewelry (Apocalypse 17), rich tastes and odours (cf. the cargo list
in Apocalypse 18), melodic sounds (Apocalypse 18) which are describing the Whore’s
domain are contrasted with the modesty and white linen clothes of the Bride. Whereas
Perspective, also Galambush, Jerusalem in the Book of Ezekiel, 20f drawing actually on previous works
mentioned by Fitzgerald.
442
Among others cf. Ruben Zimmermann, Geschlechtermetaphorik und Gottesverhältnis: Traditionsgeschichte
und Theologie eines Bildfelds in Urchristentum und antiker Umwelt (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen Zum
Neuen Testament, II 122), Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2001, 405; cf. Sals, Die Biographie, 2004.
443
Galambush, Jerusalem in the Book of Ezekiel, 26.
444
Greg Carey, A Man’s Choice: Wealth Imagery and the Two Cities of the Book of Revelation, in: Amy-Jill
Levine, Maria Mayo Robbins (eds.), A Feminist Companion to John’s Apocalypse, 2009, 147-158, 147.
445
Carey, A Man’s Choice, 147.
446
123
Babylon is the “decadent, sensually coded woman”, New Jerusalem is “a modest virgin
prepared for her wedding day.”447
This presentation is construed as favouring ascetic aesthetics, namely “the abstract and
pure bride over the more specific and sensual Whore.”448
Indeed sensual imageries arising from the description of clothes and jewelry “are
customarily employed by the authors to add to the sensual depiction of their characters,
especially in the scenes of the banquet and feast which have a transformative function
between death and restoration.” The aim of such descriptions of terrifying female imagery
is “to expose male desire by revealing the voyeuristic male as subject to seductive female
powers.” 449
Considering the male audience of the Apocalypse, Carey concludes that the choice in the
Apocalypse essentially implies “men choice between a woman of substance and agency
and a woman reduced to passive ideal.”450 This ‘choice’ between the two feminine
depictions is actually perceived as “fulcrum for feminist ethical assessment.”451
Moreover, when it comes to the political implications of such choice, the contrastive
scheme encompassing the two gendered images reinforces the righteousness of choice of
ascetics. The result is that the text devalues anything related to Imperial Rome, for
transience is definitory of this choice.
The main limitation which a gender-informed reading brings about is that no matter how
much we would read into the female images, be they real or fictional, allegorical or
metaphorical, one thing is clear, namely that these images are limiting and limited linguistic
constructs452 and the women are stereotypically depicted (as mothers, whores, brides) in a
binary honour-shame system.453
Since the feminist interpretation acknowledges the value of the historical-critical method
overall, it is limited in accounting for some of the images of the Apocalypse, and as a result,
they cannot be explicated by and for modern readers.
447
448
449
Kim, Uncovering her Wickedness, 75.
450
Carey, A Man’s Choice, 158. Kim, Uncovering her Wickedness, 75.
451
452
453
Cf. Hanna Stenström, Feminist Research for a Usable Future: Feminist Reception of the Book of Revelation,
in: William J. Lyons, Økland, Jorunn (eds.), The Way the World Ends? The Apocalypse of John in Culture and
Ideology (Bible in the Modern World 19), Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2009, 240-266.
124
The feminist perspective intervenes in this context and adduces its contribution to the
field. The Great Whore of Babylon is subsequently an image abundant with textual, social
and visual relevance.
The Great Whore as constitutive to Slander Discourse
A very interesting example is the slander discourse as per Jennifer Knust’s perspective.
With the image of the Great Whore, John employs a persuasive strategy with the function
to “persuade his listeners, influence the values they maintained, promote certain courses
of action and ‘incite a verdict of innocence or guilt’ on the societal situation of his
readers.”454
This persuasive strategy could be labelled as rhetorical and it entails the literary devices
designed to get the reader to respond to a text in a certain way.455
Apart from the necessity to include cultural context as a type of shared knowledge, gender
is a mere corollary to sex discourse, being used as rhetorical trope to defame enemies of
Christianity. In light of these, the polarity that is ensued encompasses moral categories of
‘good’ and ‘bad’. However, “‘good’ and ‘bad’ sexual behavior is not given, natural and
obvious; these categories are produced and enacted within history.”456
Power and status are under main criticism, as targets of rhetorical writings: “Charges of
debauchery, unrestrained lust, and the like illuminate cultural assertions about sex and
morality, while providing evidence of competitive power relations between individuals and
the groups they claim to represent.”457
Regarding the vision of the Great Whore in Apocalypse 17, the application of certain
cultural stereotypes with regard to the perception of both males and females could be
relevant.
Demonization of female sexuality, by appealing to the jargon of sexual immorality is
highlighted in πόρν- cognates: ἡ πόρνη (17:2.5.15.16; 18:3.9), πορνεύω (17:2.18:3.9) and
πορνεία (17:2.4; 18:3; 19:2).
454
Diehl, ‘Babylon’: Then, Now, and ‘Not Yet’, 182 quoting David Arthur DeSilva, Seeing Things John’s Way:
The Rhetoric of the Book of Revelation, Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009, 18.
455
Cf. John F. A. Sawyer, The Role of Reception Theory, Reader-Response Criticism and/or Impact History in
the Study of Bible: Definition and Evaluation, (no pagination), available at
http://bbibcomm.net/files/sawyer2004.pdf (last accessed, 15.09.2013).
456
457
125
“If a woman was accused of sexual licentiousness, she was also likely to be accused of excessive adornment
and concern for her appearance”, among others, “she adorns herself with expensive, ostentatious clothing,
perfumes and cosmetics; her passions are insatiable; she seeks unlawful intercourse with whomever she can,
458
wherever she can […].”
Starting with associated cultural stereotypes, the rhetorical purpose would be that John is
simply continuing the along the lines of the tradition that “Christian authors frequently
defined themselves against outsiders in sexual terms”459, thus highlighting “their own
virtue against the vice of others, including Roman emperors, Roman citizens, and Roman
governors.”460 In other words, “the insistence that (true) Christians are sexually pure
pervades this literature.”461
Subsequently, faith in Christ and temperance and self-restraint contained in the word
σωφροσύνη are utterly incompatible with the above-described practices.
In another order of ideas, as per the depiction of the Great Whore in the Apocalypse, sex
has a propagandistic function. “Propaganda is a transaction of verbal (rhetorical)
communication designed by its initiator(s) to persuade the recipients of communication to
accept its message.”462
Reading the techniques and devices advanced by Athalya Brenner when reading prophetic
texts, I regard them to be valid for the text of the Apocalypse. Among these,463 use of
stereotypes such as the ones mentioned above (whore, mother, woman), the name calling
and name substitution (whore, Babylon, mother of harlots), as well as their repetition and
promotion are aiding in the persuasion process.
Evidencing only the male’s perspective in the narrative –by appeal to the authority
conferred by God464 –encompass the criteria of selection and exaggeration and (possibly)
lying. In John’s account, the Great Whore is thus modeled as anti-hero.
David Aune465 identifies the courtesan topos in the depiction of the Great Whore.
458
459
460
461
462
Athalya Brenner, Pornoprophetics Revisited: Some Additional Reflections, in: Journal for the Study of Old
Testament 70/ 1996, 63-86, 66.
463
Brenner, Pornoprophetics, especially 66-68.
464
Brenner, Pornoprophetics, 68.
465
Aune, Revelation 17-22, 935.
126
Certain commonplaces in meretricious display of the Prostitute employed by the moralist
writers,466 revolve on various personifications of vices (incontinence, profligacy,
covetousness, flattery), as well as on a particular way of dressing, quality of clothing,
jewelry.
Attire and adornment help shape an identity, for they provide information, delineate,
respectively aid the enhancement of one’s external bodily persona, as the Whore is most
certainly eye-catching in terms of display. If only we record the Seer’s reaction to this vision
in v. 6a, these have no other role, but to assign an “erotic capital” onto the Whore’s body.
Additionally, parallelism with the vv. 1-6 of Apocalypse 17 is provided by Swete,467
Rossing,468 Aune,469 who point out a text similar –Cebes Tabula 5.1-3 about a beautiful
woman named Deceit (Ἀπάτη), seated on a throne, while holding a cup from which people,
who drink are lead astray. Her drink is called “distraction” and “ignorance”.470
In view of the traits presented earlier, Ἀπάτη shares great similarity with the Great Whore,
in what regard posture, attire, drinking, as well as chief-activity.
One can easily notice from the above, that Jennifer Knust’s discourse has very much in
common with Aune’s observations concerning the functions of the ancient topos of the
prostitute, as well as with Barbara Rossing’s literary approach of the topos of the evil
woman.
However, unlike Knust, only Rossing refers to the political implications of such literary
tropes, for the former also includes denigrations “within a tradition of representation in
which women could figure as signifiers in discussions about men and the larger society”.471
Nevertheless, the manner in which Knust directs the critique to men resembles Kim’s472 for
she argues that all the shortcomings of society, including the discourse on whores are to be
blamed upon men unable to reserve the honour of a household,473 thus contributing to the
idea of a shared blame.
466
The ancient writers and moralists, such as Porphyry, De Antro Nympharum 14; Cebes, Tabula 9.1-4; Lucian,
Dialogues of the Courtesans, 286, 294-297, 321, Piscator 12; Alciphron, Letters of the Courtesans 9.1, 12.2,
17.5), Juvenal, Satires, vi.122f dealt with the specifics of the courtesan’s cosmos.
467
Swete, Commentary on Revelation, 216.
468
469
470
Cf. Cebes in England. English Translations of the Tablet of Cebes from Three Centuries with Related
Materials. Edited with Introductory Notes by Stephen Orgel (The Philosophy of Images), New York/London:
Garland Publishing Inc., 1980, 66-67. Also, Swete, Commentary on Revelation, 216; Aune, Revelation 17-22,
936; Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, 488 (f.13), Rossing, The Choice, 80f.
471
472
Cf. Kim, Uncovering her Wickedness.
473
127
In the same rhetorical framework of belittling one’s enemy, Aune and Vander Stichele
explain that the depiction of the enemy as a woman was a means of denigrating him,
belonging of the ‘second’ sex, and thus ascertaining one’s male superiority on the
denigrated one. 474
In other words, “Greeks conceived of the various kings of Babylon as effeminate people
who lived like women, wore dresses, makeup and jewels and were therefore regarded
negatively as examples of unmanly behaviour”.475
The purpose of such creation is to raise aversion and thus solidarity among the members of
an audience.476
Assessment
In particular, the description of the Great Whore in Apocalypse 17 is generically classified

as ‘apocalypse’. It occurs in form of a vision, in which occurs mediated communication
between a divine emissary and a Seer. The feminist focus is evidenced however, not with
the Seer, or the angelus interpres, but with the manner in which the gendered character
embodying the Great Whore operates at the level of the Apocalypse. The textual
composition of the character and its function within the larger frame of the vision are the
main coordinates of the current gender-informed endeavour.
Because generic interpretation brings ever so deepening aspects in a text, I appreciate in
this way the openness and indeterminacy of language just as any feminist exegetical
endeavour.
Nevertheless, just because the approach undertaken is subsumed by nature to a
postmodern perspective, it does not mean that this scriptural passage “means practically
everything or anything, and that it evokes the most peculiar ideas”.477
Still, the propensity of the analysis is literary, even if social, political, cultural, and visual
aspects will be included.
By ‘literary’, I understand the fact that the vision of chapter 17 is indeed a text transmitting
a message, which is actualized by the interpretative effort of the readers, having the
feminist outlook as analytic glasses.
474
475
476
477
Krzystof Sonek, Truth, Beauty and Goodness in Biblical Narratives. A Hermeneutical Study of Genesis 21:1-
21, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2009, 132.
128
All these mentioned, I insist however on reading the vision of the Great Whore as
‘apocalypse’.
Although the interest solely and exclusively in the figure of the Whore itself is limited from
a gendered perspective, there are studies larger in scope, that deal with the various
aspects of the gendered metaphor.
Because of the different approaches of the current theme, sometimes such interpretations,
part of the history of effects (Wirkungsgeschichte) that the current text had, are
contrasting and competing with each other. Out of the these interpretations, I focus only
on those which have a gender-related character and subsequently establish in academic
field in the 20th century, as well as in recent years.
Due to the growing interest of interdisciplinary studies within the gender-informed field,
interpretations vary according to how much the theological message is immersed in other
research fields. The degree of involvement with other disciplines dictates various readings
as well as various focuses, which can extend beyond the theologically-charged content.
As I mentioned previously, the range of interpretative possibilities is well represented:
from perceiving the Whore of Babylon in her carnality, in her femininity, to reducing her to
a literary, rhetorical, political figure, thus defeminizing her completely. Also, the
interpretations above cover the spectrum ranging from a corporeal identification to ‘just a
metaphor’, from a text in which a woman is both victimizer and victimized, to a political
liberative text, in the light of justice being served, from a powerful social model to an
ethical and rhetorical literary model as well as also bearing iconographical references.
The gendered image of Apocalypse 17 encompasses also the metaphoric options, from
politicized to depoliticized, that is from a political symbol, most often identified with Rome,
but applicable to any politically exploitive regime, while also stressing its mythical
character, drawing from Ancient Near Eastern mythology as well as Hellenistic
environment.
The postmodern outlook addresses more and more contemporary realities, therefore
(involuntarily) aiding in gradually contouring the misogynistic content of the Great Whore
of Babylon. If the metaphorical reading is preferred, many feminists object to it for its
violence and misogyny.
Readers (reading without context) are usually confused at the distinction made between a
literal and a non-literal reading of ‘whore’ cognates, where we actually position our
gendered imagery.
In order to distinguish between the various uses within the text, scholarship usually
distinguishes between meanings of πορνεύω to 2:14. 20, 17:2, 18:3.9, πορνεία 2:21, 9:21,
129
14:8, 17:2.4, 18:3, 19:2. In addition, πόρνη is used figuratively of a power that is hostile to
God, and God’s people in 17:1.5.15-16, 19:2. The exceptional literal uses in vice lists are in
9:21, 21:8, and 22:15. 478
I believe that educating the readers with regard to the sources of the imagery on
prostitution in John’s time is as crucial as focusing on the gendered aspect of the
metaphor.
Additionally, stressing on the attitudes of readers while reading, these are increasingly
emotional. Within a range that encompasses anger to pity, readers are very often left with
mixed feelings. With regard to the Apocalypse, in particular chapter 17, readers, who
seriously contemplate the carnality of the imagery are ambivalent: on the one hand they
feel empowered by how beautiful, powerful and glamorous the prostitute is portrayed,
perceiving her as a sublimated and repressed goddess-like creature479 and on the other
hand they feel appalled by the bloodthirsty, morally filthy harlot.
Considering the above, I would not go as far as asserting that the image of Great Whore in
the Apocalypse is entirely negative and degrading,480 although I am ready to accept it is not
necessarily liberating.
Such an assumption rests on the acknowledgement of the metaphorical force of the image
as well as its influence on the ‘feeling mind’.
The image is also rooted in cultural assumptions and so the text could be criticized at this
level.
However, by appeal to the con-text, that is the literary, as well as the non-literary
surroundings of the text, the image transmits much more than what it conveys at a literal
level. In this way, gender is employed for the image to achieve effectiveness.
In Part II intend to show what, how and why certain elements in the compositional texture
in the characterization of the Great Whore were extracted and preferred over others.
As a result, the singularity of the image in the vision of Apocalypse 17 is seriously
questioned.
Additionally, I am not fully conceived by the pure socio-political relevance of the image in
the manner Vander Stichele, Jean Kim and Avaren Ipsen are. Although an important
478
Cf. πορνεία in 9:21; πόρνος (one who practices sexual immorality) in 21:8, 22:15 in Paul Trebilco, The Early
Christians in Ephesus from Paul to Ignatius (Wissenschaftiche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 166),
Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2004, 545, (ft.164).
479
480
Barr, Women in Myth and History, 60.
130
dimension in the construction of the image, this aspect fails to entail all other dimensions
regarding the Whore, hence the necessity for a holistic approach.
Looking into the gendered constructs in the text on the one hand, and on the other hand,
in the cultural context in which there were issued seems a pertinent endeavor, these stand
in opposition with some of the assumptions in the postmodern gendered-informed
readings.
It is for the reasons above that the current dissertation is scholarly situated among the
postmodern approaches in analyzing the depiction of the Great Whore as emerging from
the vision of Apocalypse 17 that insists on the insufficiency of the data provided by a pure
historical-critical reading, as Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza’s.
At the same time, I prefer to keep away from a pure literal interpretation, such as the one
of Tina Pippin and Marla Selvidge.
By insisting on the untranslatability of the metaphorical construction used to depict the
Great Whore, I affiliate myself along the line of Eva-Maria Räpple, Greg Carey and partially
gain inspiration from Barbara Rossing, Lynn Huber, Hanna Roose. Although with different
focuses, the above mentioned authors have in common to various degrees the enlarging of
the scope of the exegetical interpretations. Until recently, domains such as Greco-Roman
literature, culture and visual arts remained largely unsearched and so they could provide
valuable input in the current interpretation.
I believe that constientization resides in embracing the negative aspects in the presentation
of the Great Whore.
The scope of the current paper is partially found in what was enunciated above: relating
the image of the Great Prostitute to a well-established tradition is to make the image more
understandable for today.
I believe that reading with context should not necessarily lead to disposing of the text, but
rather coming with formulations that are in essence gender-sensitive. So far, this attempt
has been understood as whitewashing the Whore.
Although, it seems John did not know any concrete women in flesh and blood, except
Jezebel,481 supported by the contemporary orientations of feminist studies, I cannot accept
that the negative depiction of the real prostitute in everyday life does not carry an
emotional charge meant at the change in the behaviour of the original, as well
contemporary audience.
481
Sutter Rehmann, Die Offenbarung Johannes, 729.
131
The approach I am currently following helps me identify better the possible reading and
understanding of the feminine imagery of Apocalypse 17. As such, it assists me in shaping
the distance between the ancient world and the contemporary one, with regard to
language and means of expression of the divine.
To understand the same God as enemy and friend, as tormentor and saviour, to read the
same Bible as enslaver and liberator, that is the paradoxical challenge of feminist
hermeneutics. 482
That is why reader’s response criticism needs to be extended beyond the first women’s
subjective experience with the text.
There is a certain attitude of fronde associated with liberationist readings of the
Apocalypse in general. However, strictly from a gender-informed perspective, the Great
Whore does not seem to be in any case liberating for the contemporary readers. It can be
at its very best an incentive for them in critically researching more into the depictions and
roles of women in ancient societies as well as now. In doing so, raising awareness on the
oppressive nature of androcentric formulations is imperious.
482
Mary Ann Tolbert, Defining the Problem: The Bible and Feminist Hermeneutics, in: Semeia 28/ 1983, 113-
126, 125, also Yarbro Collins, Feminist Perspectives on Biblical Scholarship, 25-26.
132
Part II: The Vision of the Great Whore in Apocalypse 17:1-6
Introduction
Chapter 17 of the Apocalypse operates as an appendix483 to the last of the patterns of

sevens –seals, trumpets and bowls of wrath, all of which spread textually from 4:1 to 16:21
–namely, the vision of the seven vials comprising 15:1 to 16:21.484
A great earthquake (16:8) accompanies the divine proclamation of the fall of Babylon, as
well as a plague of hailstones (16:21). The destruction of the Great Whore is part of a larger
section dealing with the annihilation of God’s enemies, which brings about victory for
Christ and his followers (17:1-21:8).485
These will be followed by the description of the New Jerusalem, epilogue and final blessing
(21:9-22:21).
The treatment of the Great Whore in the Apocalypse occupies from beginning to the end a
considerable textual portion. Her description and detailed punishment –by contrast with
any other gendered character, irrespective of its ethical quality ascribed spans over two
chapters out of 22, respectively from 17:1 to 19:4.
Although it is referred to as a future event,486 the judgment is depicted as accomplished
only later, in Rev 19:1-10 when it is followed by an acclamation of God’s justice.
483
Yarbro Collins, The Combat Myth, 32; Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza’s formulation as per “appended
interlude to the bowl septet” (eadem, Justice and Judgment, 172), also Felise Tavo, Woman, Mother and
Bride: An Exegetical Investigation Into the "Ecclesial" Notions of the Apocalypse (Biblical Tools and Studies),
Leuven: Peeters, 2008, 29: she parallels the ‘Babylon Appendix’ (17:1-19:10) to the ‘Jerusalem Appendix’
(21:9-22:5). Cf. Austin Farrer, A Rebirth of Images: The Making of St. John's Apocalypse, New York: State
University of New York Press, 1986, 45.
484
Yarbro Collins, art. The Apocalypse (Revelation), 1012, cf. David Aune, Revelation 17-22 (Word Biblical
Commentary 52C), Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1998, 882-891, Beale, The Book of Revelation, 812-46.
Another perspective on Apocalypse 17 opts for listing the current vision among the explanatory visions of the
Apocalypse, representing the heavenly response to the prayers and outcries for justice uttered by the
witnesses. (Schüssler-Fiorenza, Vision of a Just World, 93).
485
If one moves forward in the text, the following subthemes occur: Babylon (17:1-19:10), Satan (20:1-10),
unbelievers (20:11-15), overcomers (21:1-8). Beale, The Book of Revelation, 136.
486
In view of larger context created by the Apocalypse, the fall of Babylon the Great is prefigured already in
14:8 –ἔπεσεν ἔπεσεν Βαβυλὼν ἡ μεγάλη ἣ ἐκ τοῦ οἴνου τοῦ θυμοῦ τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς πεπότικεν πάντα τὰ
ἔθνη –Cf. 18:2 for a verbatim introduction.
133
Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; for his judgments are true and just; he has
judged the great whore who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and he has avenged on her the blood of
his servants –Ἁλληλούϊα· ἡ σωτηρία καὶ ἡ δόξα καὶ ἡ δύναμις τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν; ὅτι ἀληθιναὶ καὶ δίκαιαι αἱ
κρίσεις αὐτοῦ· ὅτι ἔκρινεν τὴν πόρνην τὴν μεγάλην ἥτις ἔφθειρεν τὴν γῆν ἐν τῇ πορνείᾳ αὐτῆς, καὶ
ἐξεδίκησεν τὸ αἷμα τῶν δούλων αὐτοῦ ἐκ χειρὸς αὐτῆς (19:1-2).
The current study focuses preponderantly on the description of the Whore as featured in
the vision of Apocalypse 17:1-6. As depicted in the text, the figure of the Great Whore is
portrayed as a drunken woman and cannibalistic whore, intoxicated by human blood,
ostentatiously adorned and astride a hideous Beast.
This vision develops a female imagery, i.e. an image that expresses in some way a woman’s
–in this case, a whore’s –dependence on male characters, permeated by sexual undertones
and inspired from the adornment and bejewelment of women in general.
Her depiction is primarily expressed in the use of derogatory terms –together with their
cognates. The catalogue of her sins lists fornication (πορνεία), extravagance, impurities of
religious and immoral nature (βδέλυγμα), possibly murder.
All these are incompatible with the ascetic worldview of the Christian perspective favoured
in the Apocalypse.
Biblical scholarship, despite the various orientations, including some of the gender-
informed perspectives acknowledges to various extents, the fact that the Great Whore of
Apocalypse 17 is in fact a metaphor, particularly a gendered metaphor and rapport
themselves to various intertextual traditions to support their argumentation, in a quest for
this metaphor’s correct interpretation.
This goes beyond the literal understanding of the text, though a metaphor rests in
acknowledging the power of the words, as signs that “represent things or realities other
than themselves.”487 Words operate in reference to other realities or things. Here lies the
core understanding of a metaphor, essentially “a splendid example of intertextuality”.488
Additionally, the elusiveness of a metaphor is constitutive just as that of language. The
words behind the image are very powerful. They are paired with a history of
interpretations, as well as certain associations, irrespective of the context where they are
read.
Metaphor does not apply to a unidimensional existence, but is brought to life, or activated
by readership.
487
Huber, Like a Bride Adorned, 2007, 58 in discussing Augustine’s semiotic theory. Cf. Janet Martin Soskice,
Metaphor and Religious Language, Oxford: Clarendon, 1985, 15.
488
Jean-Pierre Ruiz, Ezekiel in the Apocalypse: The Transformation of Prophetic Language in Revelation 16,17-
19,10 (European University Studies: Theology Series 376), Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1989, 65.
134
The social relevance of the image is also an important dimension to elaborate upon.
In interpreting any metaphor, the text is very important. However, equally, if not more
important is the information outside the text. Readers bring to the interpretations cultural
assumptions, social conventions, various types of experience, as well as associations.
Subsequently, an image such as the Great Whore aims at awaking certain associations in
the readers, on the one hand with regard to the feminine sexuality. On the other hand,
such image does stem from a rich religious background, where it oozes much more
plurivalent associations than the explicit sexually-connoted ones.
Therefore, it is important how the image of the Great Whore is interpretatively handled,
especially because its formulation is grounded in the actual perception of women.
As such, on the one hand, it speaks from our realities, on the other hand, it could
potentially lead to a certain condemnation of feminine immoral behaviour to be found in
contemporary social realities.
Literary or theological writings include cultural assumptions, stereotypes, where role
assigning and division feature as atemporal social components of society.
As a result, literature is contextualized. Either theological or belletristic literature entails to
a certain extent a mimetic character in reference to life, while concomitantly reflecting life
back to us.
Metaphors “rely on conventions of society as well as influence individuals’ and societies’
view of reality.”489 Nevertheless, they portray reality not in an absolute way, but only
partially,490 leaving open possibilities of interpretation, evoking meaningful perspectives.
In other words, by creative use of traditions, linguistically, new, unencountered images are
shaped aiming to move in some way the reader, as well to actively engage his/her mind in
the reading process.
The engagement is always different, informed by various contexts and accomplished to
various degrees. The manner in which we perceive and understand metaphors is
“fashioned through and grounded in experience and culture”.491
Context and experience are key parameters in adequately grasping the essence of a
metaphor. These are not to be analyzed separately, since experience occurs always in a
type of a context, such as a socio-historical one.
489
Mary E. Shields, Circumscribing the Prostitute. The Rhetorics of Intertextuality, Metaphor and Gender in Jer
3.1-4.4 (Journal for the Study of Old Testament Supplement Series 387), London: T&T Clark International,
2004, 76. Cf. Sals, Die Biographie, 3.
490
Cf. Räpple, The Metaphor of the City, 44-45.
491
Richard Bailey, Conceptual Metaphor, Language, Literature and Pedagogy, in: Journal of Language and
Learning, vol 1(2)/ 2003, 59-70, 59 also available at
http://webspace.buckingham.ac.uk/kbernhardt/journal/jllearn/1_2/bailey.html (last accessed 12.01.2013).
135
Metaphors are intrinsically connected with culture: they are shaped and subsequently used
according to a specific set of cultural assumptions. In this context, a metaphor is “a
reflection of the author’s individual worldview.”492
Additionally, metaphors build on shared knowledge among individuals adhering to certain

cultural norms. It is for this reason that they also have a communal aspect.493
Subsequently, John, the author of the Apocalypse uses indirect language to ‘cultivate
intimacy’,494 grounded in the familiarity necessary to understand the metaphorical
expressions. The engagement or participation strengthens the communal495 aspect
between the reader and the writer on the one hand, and people and socio-cultural
groups496, on the other hand.
However, apart from what is aid, there is also a lot implied.
‘Decoding’ is never fully achieved and so, it triggers unlimited imaginative possibilities. The
Biblical metaphor in particular has God, as the culmination of referential possibilities.497
Besides a communicative function498, a metaphor has a cognitive value in that it “has the
ability to reorganize our thoughts, introducing associations and assumptions that we would
perhaps not ourselves imagined, or even desired.”499
As a result, a “metaphor is one of the most powerful, if not subversive, tools of
persuasion.”500 The rhetoric of innuendo501 is John indirect rhetorical strategy to
characterize, accept or reject those who threaten his worldview, by means of creating a
dualistic narrative world and contrasting characters. 502 Indirect communication is
community-bound.
492
Elena Semino and Gerard Steen, Metaphor in Literature, in: Raymond W. Gibbs Jr. (ed.), The Cambridge
Handbook of Metaphor and Thought, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008, 232-246,
239.
493
Ted Cohen, Metaphor and the Cultivation of Intimacy in: Sheldon Sacks (ed.) On Metaphor, Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1978, 3-12, 6.
494
This type of ‘special’ intimacy is built between the implied reader and the implied speaker (cf. Cohen,
Metaphor, 3-12), being “the bond which unites those who are reasonably deemed capable of hearing it –and
indeed, uttering it –with understanding” (cf. David E. Cooper, Metaphor, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1986, 156).
495
Cohen, Metaphor, 6.
496
Cooper, Metaphor, 166.
497
498
Nielsen, There is Hope for a Tree, 31.
499
Moughtin-Mumby, Sexual and Marital Metaphors, 1.
500
Moughtin-Mumby, Sexual and Marital Metaphors, 1.
501
Duff, Who Rides the Beast?, 71-83.
502
136
This is a powerful rhetorical strategy having a “strangely persuasive power because of its
remarkable ability to bind together a community.”503
i. Identifying the Problem
It is very difficult to counterpoise the two compositional dimensions (i.e. the human and
the political) of the tridimensional composition of the gendered metaphor in Rev 17
displays, namely ‘whore’-‘woman’-‘city’.
By this, I would like to point out, on the one hand, at the gap existing between the analyses
following the historical-critical method and the feminist-critical approaches.504 On the
other hand, I would also like to underline the discrepancy resulting in different focuses with
the different orientations of various feminist approaches.
Because the theoretical aspects were described previously, I will not repeat the entire
discussion. I would however like to mention the underlying Ricoeurian schism between the
‘substitutionary’ understandings of the metaphor as opposed to the ‘tensive’
understandings.505 The schism operates as a parallel to the discrepancy with regard to the
two interpretative approaches mentioned previously.
Subsequently, with ‘substitutionary’ formulations, the meaning is ‘translatable’ into
propositional language, whereas, the ‘tensive’ understanding corroborates meaning from
various sources, without focusing on the ‘translatable’. The latter opinion is characteristic
of the postmodern approaches and opens up multiple interpretative directions.
This separation can be formulated as bearing generic markers, with the traditional
substitutionary view emphasizing androcentrism and the tensive view relying more on self-
awareness when engaged in the reading process, thus resisting androcentrism.
Feminist analyses belonging to historical-critical method usually do not usually identify a
generic problem in the Apocalypse, just like the feminist-critical approaches.
With feminist-critical readings, the gendered metaphor questions the givenness, the
naturalness of androcentrism in Biblical texts.
503
Duff, Who Rides the Beast?, 80.
504
Although the schism described above does not entirely fit the current feminist-oriented concerns, the
latter registers a far more varied palette of orientations that include even some analyses pertaining to the
historical-critical method, with a different focus, however.
505
Ricoeur, The Rule of the Metaphor, 4.
137
Without exception, exegetes employing the traditional approaches read early, already in
the analysis of the introductory verses of chapter 17, the reference of the last verse of the
chapter, namely the one regarding the identification of the Whore with a ‘city’ (or even
Apocalypse 18 as a whole).
In cases such as the above, the corporeality is underfocused and the political dimension is
overfocused.
Additionally, the discontent with the treatment of metaphor of the Great Whore,
constitutive of gender-informed approaches is given from several perspectives.
First, it should be noted that the textual image of the Great Whore occurs as gendered.
This character is not only belittled by derogatory names, but also depicted in manner to
activate and consistently cultivate repulsive feelings on the behalf of readers –as Prime
Enemy of the Christian community.
Then, a further point is given by the cognitive value of the (gendered) metaphors.
In the depiction of the Great Whore, the cognitive gain is limited, especially since the
character depicted does not change whatsoever throughout the apocalyptic drama, but
persists in wickedness and arrogance. This may be conceived as one of the chief reasons
for her utter punishment and destruction following in the next chapter(s).
Since the analysis in isolation of the Great Whore bereaves the readers from a good chunk
of pertaining to the essence506 of the metaphor, one should look into the intratextual
contrastive schemes in the Apocalypse deeply informed by generic markers. The
presentations of four gendered manifestations articulate two contrastive pairs: Jezebel and
the Great Whore on the one hand and on the other hand, the Woman clothed with the Sun
and the Bride of the Lamb.
The contrastive dualist scheme offers insights on the type of relationship God has with the
created world, as well as with the faithful followers, respectively that of ultimate
protection and comfort, no matter how desperate the current situation may be.
In view of the larger picture unfolding in the apocalyptic scenario, I personally fail to
understand the rejection of the cognitive gain the metaphor of the Great Whore advances.
Otherwise, the problem with feminist-critical presentations of Apocalypse 17 resides in the

fact that these do not usually expand beyond verse 3, or 4 of the same chapter.
506
Peter W. Macky, The Centrality of Metaphors to Biblical Thought: A Method for Interpreting the Bible
(Studies in the Bible and Early Christianity 19), Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 1990, 49.
138
At the maximum, they include verse 16 as a rhetorical device, where the acts of violence
awaiting the Whore are narrated. These actions are usually subsumed to the larger theme
of violence against God’s enemies in general, and against women in particular, as depicted
in the Apocalypse of John.
Almost without exception, such a truncated analysis overemphasing the human aspect in
the tridimensional metaphor reinforces the existing contemporary negative stereotypical
depictions of women, as well as female sexuality. In this manner, these analyses legitimize
occasionally the male physical violence against women, which is paradoxically the very
essence a feminist analysis tries to eradicate.
With such analyses, the political character of the gendered metaphor is minimized in
favour of a more generic reading.
Additionally, with the same feminist critical orientation, various reading strategies could
become retrodictive, by overlooking the sources which prompted the creation of the
gendered metaphor. An example would be the accusation of misogyny507 attributed to the
Seer and permeating the apocalyptic text.
Gender issues were not even ‘issues’ at the moment when the Apocalypse of John was
written. A pertinent gendered-informed exegetical analysis of the text should wisely take
into account that such a development is a modern phenomenon and should formulate it in
a postmodern framework.
ii. The Construction of the Gendered Metaphor
It was stressed several times already that the corporeal dimension is very important with
the metaphor of the Great Whore.
While this makes the metaphor highly effective in term of readers’ reception, the corporeal
dimension is not singular.
Given its references to Babylon, the image in question includes also the political dimension.
Thus, the non-Biblical name of the Great Whore Babylon emerges and progressively
develops three compositional dimensions, being read as ‘whore’, embodied in a ‘woman’
and named like a ‘city’.
I am extremely particular about this order of reading the dimensions. It is actual the result
of close reading without being too much involved in the OT intertextual references that
preclude the political aspect to the generic one.
507
Cf. among others Tina Pippin, Death and Desire, 105, Catherine Keller, Apocalypse Now and Then: A
Feminist Guide to the End of the World, Boston: Beacon Press, 1996, also Garrett, Revelation, 469-474.
139
The dimensions mentioned above comprise the text at explicit, as well as implicit levels. It
structures as a complex image.
Subsequently, the explicit referents entail aspects belonging to sexuality, gender and
politics, while the implicit level adduces valuable information with regard to a certain
interpretation of historical realities, and a religious character of the object interpreted.
In the following, closer attention will be offered to both what is given in the text and what
is inferred from what is given in the text.
Textual Compositional Elements
Before analyzing in detail the corresponding relations between compositional elements of

the generic metaphor in Apocalypse 17, I would like to note, that it is not a single word that
denotes a metaphor, but certain relations between words. Words and relations between
the words construct this image. It is only corroborated, not individually that these words
form into a metaphorical device.
To exemplify what I mean, I would like to state that the image of the Apocalypse 17 means
much more than the sum of individual words. These form a metatextual entity by
associating in a given co(n)text508 ‘whore’ with ‘woman’ and with ‘city’.
The image complex comprises a visual movement from general to particular and from
down to up, mostly evident in the subunit of vv. 3-6.
Starting with a general view on the setting of the vision, namely the desert, the narrative
description notes closely a woman seated on a beast as the main focus of the vision. It goes
on to include information on the clothes and the jewels she is wearing, on the inscription
on her forehead, as well as the content of the cup she holds in her hand. The vision
concludes with naming her state of mind –drunk, as well as the source of her inebriation –
the blood of the saints and of the witnesses to Jesus (17:6).
As the description unfolds before our eyes, one firstly notes the Beast, its scarlet colour, its
ten horns and seven heads serving as a throne for the woman. Upwards in the description,
the woman follows, donning expensive attire, perceived as so, by naming the colours she
wears, (scarlet and purple), completed by pearls, other precious stones and gold. She holds
a golden cup in her hand with a description of the content, as well as a name on her
508
By ‘cotext’, I mean the “immediate literary context” (cf. Peter Cotterell and Max Turner, Linguistics and
Biblical Interpretation, London: SPCK, 1989, 16).
140
forehead. Although not offering any information on the facial features, the Seer notes her
advanced state of drunkenness.
Irrespective of the cinematic movement, from general to particular, or from downwards to

upwards, the description of the vision, the reader is also provided with a reaction of the
Seer, respectively marvel.
The gendered character in the vision is introduced the great prostitute (πόρνη), visually
depicted as a woman (γυνή) and identified as the great city (ἡ πόλις ἡ μεγάλη).
Ulrike Sals509 considers two important stratal components in the composition, which
feature textually: the woman (γυνή) and the city (πόλις).
Their cognates predominate in different chapter: woman predominates in chapter 17,
while city in chapter 18.
However γυνή and πόλις have certain anchoring points in which the concepts blend with
each other, namely in 17:18 –καὶ ἡ γυνὴ ἣν εἶδες ἔστιν ἡ πόλις ἡ μεγάλη ἡ ἔχουσα
βασιλείαν ἐπὶ τῶν βασιλέων τῆς γῆς.
The semantic field associations are enriched by additional concepts of whore pertaining to
the dimension of ‘woman’ and Babylon, belonging to the dimension of ‘city’, united
accordingly by the attribute μεγάλη.
These concepts function differently in the text: they act as anchoring points in 14:8 and
17:5, where they unite the references to ‘Babylon’ with the ‘city’ –ἔπεσεν ἔπεσεν Βαβυλὼν
ἡ μεγάλη ἣ ἐκ τοῦ οἴνου τοῦ θυμοῦ τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς πεπότικεν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, as well
as to the ‘woman’ with ‘Babylon’ –καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ μέτωπον αὐτῆς ὄνομα γεγραμμένον,
μυστήριον, Βαβυλὼν ἡ μεγάλη, ἡ μήτηρ τῶν πορνῶν καὶ τῶν βδελυγμάτων τῆς γῆς, where
the possessive pronoun αὐτῆς is indicative of the noun ‘woman’ from the previous two
verses.
At this level, some amendments are needed.

The dimension of woman, referred textually is secondary to that of whore, just as Babylon
is to that of city.
Subsequently, only after the Seer is invited to see the judgment of the Great Whore (17:2),
does he see a woman (17:3), whom he further describes and who bears the title on her
forehead ‘Babylon the Great, mother of whores’(17:5).
Moreover, surprisingly, it not Babylon that is identified as a city, but the woman in 17:18
“and the woman that you saw is the great city”.
In addition to that, not all four referents are united by the attribute great –μεγάλη. The
woman is lacking such characteristic.
509
Sals, Die Biographie, 81.
141
A close reading to the text is imposed for it may alter the traditional exegetical orientation
of the analysis of the vision of Apocalypse 17, responsible for creating the gulf in the
academic guild.
I do agree however with Sals on the acknowledgement of the two stratal components, the
human and the political, in addition to the fact that the cohesion of this complex needs to
sought for and no elements should be analyzed out of co(n)text, as well as in isolation from
each other.
With respect to the vision of 17:1-6, the human aspect is much more elaborated than the
eventual political undertones.
John constructs it by means of presenting certain items in the characterization of the
‘woman’.
Textually, she is introduced as promiscuous whore who sits on many waters, (v.1) and the
kings of the earth have committed fornication with her (v. 2). The inhabitants of the earth
also share in the inebriating effects of the ‘wine of her fornication’ (v. 2).
Further, the Whore, identified as woman by the Seer is depicted as ‘sitting’. This time only
her seat is a scarlet beast (v.3).
She is in the following depicted as wearing extravagant clothes and jewelry, wearing
expensive fabric of scarlet and purple and is bedecked in gold, precious stones, and pearls.
The amalgamation of luxurious items showcases the fact that the Great Whore is definitely
a character to behold, dressed to impress.
Her name is revealed on her forehead. It is constitutive of her identity, probably even more
than her glamorous appearance: the name of Babylon –a city charged with emotional
connotation and more specifically with an ethical or moral value –followed by an
apposition that is not at all flattering: ‘mother of whores and of earth's abominations’.
Later on she is drunk, but the source of her inebriation, respectively blood of saints and of
witnesses to Jesus causes a WOW-effect on the Seer that leaves room for further
interpretation.
Implied Elements
The textual data is assessed from a different perspective, other than the pure textual one.
Elements can be inferred, either by means of evaluating the co(n)text in which they occur,
by comparison with similar textual situations or by means of relation with other characters
depicted in the Apocalypse.
Since what is textually said about the Great Whore was amply mentioned above, what is
not said, or what is implied about her is far more interesting.
142
The gendered depiction in Apocalypse 17 is introduced and delineated by her sexuality,
namely, a whore. Under this heading should be understood all the subsequent negative
characteristics.
Every verse in the vision of vv.3-6 adduces important elements pertaining to the complex
image of the Great Whore. Such elements were on several occasions referred to as the
analysis of the vision was elaborated.
The first two verses depict a lifestyle without God, where a chaotic promiscuous activity is
lead.
Fulfilling carnal desires rooted in instincts definitely shape for the readers the parametres
within which the gendered character operates.
Additionally, the Whore vision ties a figurative complex of greatness and power, either by
means of adjectives describing the Whore (μεγάλη) or by her posture (καθημένη). The
Great Whore is depicted twice as ‘seated’ (v.2.3), or ‘sitting’, a participle describing God in
the throne room (cf. 5:13, 6:16, 7:10.15, 19:4, 21:5) or God’s acolytes (cf. 6:2.4f, 19:11.18).
Closely connected to this aspect, the larger vision, also encompassing chapter 18
evidentiates figures of government, in virtue of her naming herself queen (βασίλισσα), but
also if one considers her alliances with the kings of the earth (βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς), with the
magnates of the earth (μεγιστᾶνες τῆς γῆς).
Another figurative complex united in the textual structure of the Whore is wealth, by
means of the luxurious items she is wearing (v.4), as well as economically profitable
associations depicted extensively in chapter 18.
Wealth comes paired with power, for it expresses status. The colours denoting her clothes,
respective ‘scarlet and purple’ are indicative of prosperity in Ancient World, given the
difficulty to procure these dyes.510
Surprinsingly, she is the only textually mentioned ‘mother’ in the Apocalypse, however, her
love generates [daughter]-whores and abominations on earth (v.5).
The terms delineating the Great Whore, respectively ‘whore’, ‘woman’, ‘mother’, bear a
negative stamp and evaluation. Even if, these do not relate to a certain woman in flesh,
they do incorporate aspects from the human existence, as well as an abnormality with
relation to the social roles of women in general.
The name she is wearing on her forehead (Βαβυλών) brings to memory a sad period in the
history of Israel as the kingdom that destroyed the First Temple.511 It carries an important
510
Cf. Part II for an extensive treatment of the two colours.
143
religious and political load, becoming the epitome of destructive power.512 Among the
associates of this name, one could list the opposition to God,513 “not only geographically
and politically, but also personally”, 514 the complete embodiment of evil. The adjective
describing Βαβυλών is great –μεγάλη bears also associations of ‘grandeur’, ‘luxury’,
‘splendour’.
Pamela Thimmes is convinced that naming conventions function to establish “boundaries
and polarities”, “a way of controlling […] how they (i.e. women in the Apocalypse) are
interpreted; they do not have real names, or their own names, only symbolic names.”515
In the Great Whore’s hubris, she became an imitator of divine attributes, evident from the
content of cup, her posture and self-evaluation. The Great Whore thus becomes an anti-
God figure and in this context, her punishment is well deserved.
Her wickedness, as well as arrogance are also inferred by her association with the Beast,
notorious for its destructive effects on the people of God throughout the Apocalypse (cf.
chapters 12 and 13).
Later on, the Great Whore is depicted drunk (v.6), but the source of her inebriation,
respectively ‘blood of saints and of witnesses to Jesus’ makes her impious (asebousa),
insolent (hubrizousa) and contemptuous (kataprhousa).516
Overall, an assessment of her extravagance (polutelês) results in a doubtful noble origin, as

well as well possibly point to her scheming character, in which arrogance is a chief-
attribute.
Ambivalence also characterizes the feminine figure of Apocalypse 17: wealth and fame
contrast with the consequences of her actions, her dominant position and the
proclamation of her end.517
511
Bernard McGinn, art. Babylon.Christianity, in: Hermann Spieckermann et al. (eds.) Encyclopedia of the
Bible and Its Reception (vol. 3), Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter, 2011, 274-276, 274.
512
Ulrike Sals, art. Babylon, Hebrew Bible/ Old Testament, in: Hermann Spieckermann et al. (eds.),
Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (vol. 3), 260-266, 261.
513
McGinn, ‘Christianity’, 275.
514
McGinn, ‘Christianity’, 276. Cf. Räpple, the Metaphor of the City, 156.
515
Thimmes, Women Reading Women in the Apocalypse,136.
516
For the respective denominations cf. the description of a hetaira of Allison Glazebook, The Bad Girls of
Athens: The Image and Function of Hetairai in Judicial Oratory, in: Christopher A. Faraone, Laura K. McClure,
Prostitutes and Courtesans in the Ancient World, 125-139, 127.
517
Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati, Zwischen Gericht und Heil. Frauengestalten in der Johannesoffenbarung, in: Biblische
Zeitschrift 43/1999, 72-91, 85.
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On a textual level, the contrast between what is written and what is meant is evident in the
following paraphrasing applicable to the entire chapter 17: the whore is not a woman, the
woman is not a city, and the city is not Babylon.
The message this metaphor gives is that eventually the prostitute (i.e the Great Whore) is
not woman, but a city. And here lies the core of the feminist substance of this gendered
image. Glossing over the generic essence of the vision and referring to the destruction of
Babylon as to that of a city obfuscates a good chunk of the compositional element of this
current metaphor, namely the human dimension.
In the following, I will show various approaches to the metaphorical reading the Great
Whore, each of these attempting to explicate the mystery of the woman –τὸ μυστήριον τῆς
γυναικὸς (v. 7).
As mentioned previously, these are associated with the traditional methods, in which a
one-to-one correspondence between various compositional elements is highly
appreciated. They also attempt at analyzing the generic character with reference to
commonplaces in literary tradition, as well as rhetoric.
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1. Introduction to Vision: vv. 1-2
In the introductory verses of the Apocalypse 17, the revelation is predominantly visual.
When reading this excerpt as integrative part in the Apocalypse, there are at least two
ways of viewing these two verses.
One could move backward, but also forward in the text of the aforementioned book. These
strategies correspond to a text-oriented reading, consisting of exegetical analysis of
keywords.
A detailed analysis based on subunit-divisions will follow. Among them, the first sub-unit
17:1-2 will comprise analyses of the text itself, aiming towards an understanding of the text
on a semantic and syntactic level.
A subsequent analysis of the context will represent the stepping-stone in the creation of
the “horizon of expectation” and will include mostly moving backward, and occasionally
forward in the text.
Intertextual connections with the OT will be established at this point mostly thematically.
The purpose of such a theoretical endeavour is to assess further some of the elements in
the text, putting them in an intra- and intertextual dialogue with both Apocalypse and Old
Testament. Thus they will prove that understanding the intertexts can form and enrich our
horizon of expectation.
Further, occasionally a hermeneutics of suspicion will be applied. This will revolve mainly
on focusing on, rather than glossing over some corporeal aspects. If the analysis of the
image is entirely dependent on an OT background, it results into an untimely identification
of the Great Whore with its political manifestation.
Analysis of subsequent sexual language will be provided, as well as its value assessment,
without diminishing the metaphorical character in the construction of the image.
1.1 Introducing the Protagonists
17:1 a Καὶ ἦλθεν εἷς ἐκ τῶν ἑπτὰ ἀγγέλων

τῶν ἐχόντων τὰς ἑπτὰ φιάλας
17:1 b καὶ ἐλάλησεν μετ᾽ ἐμοῦ λέγων•
17:1 c δεῦρο, δείξω σοι
146
τὸ κρίμα τῆς πόρνης τῆς μεγάλης
τῆς καθημένης ἐπὶ ὑδάτων πολλῶν,
(And one of the angels having the seven bowls spoke to me saying: Come, I will show you
the judgment of the Great Whore, seated upon many waters)
So far, the setting of the vision is not specified. Up to this point, the last deictical reference
was Apocalypse 15:5, where the Seer is witnessing in heaven, the opening in the temple of
the tabernacle of testimony (ὁ ναὸς τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ). The Seer’s
visionary setting occurs in a temple in heaven.
Since the text does not signal any change in location from 15:5 onward, we would have to
assume that at the point when the angel is addressing the Seer (17:1), the setting of the
vision must be located in the same place, respectively in a heavenly temple.
In the next sub-section, we will notice that the Seer will be transported to another location.
Regarding information on the plot and the characters as provided by the introductory verse
of the chapter, an oversimplified perspective would envisage an angel inviting the (human)
narrator to witness the judgment of the Great Whore situated ‘upon many waters’.
The conjunction καί is an indicator of the fact that this section is at a textual level
cohesively dependent on the previous section. It posibly continues the events narrated
earlier.
As previously mentioned, the agent or initiator of this scene is an angel, in Greek ἄγγελος.
This occurrence is not at all unusual for the Apocalypse. The book is permeated with
angels.518 These heavenly creatures are extremely important for the apocalyptic
literature,519 where they usually feature as active emissaries of God, as well as instruct.
A variety of functions is attributed to them throughout the Apocalypse. Angels operate as

servants (7:11.15), a function which they share with humankind (9:10, 22:8-9). There are
also guardian angels (2-3), mentioned as the angels of the seven churches. They can be
angels of doom, as they announce phases of the final judgment (10:1-7, 14:6-7): its initial
processes (5:1-2, 14: 14-16), as well as involvement in it (8-9, 15-16, 20:1-3). Possibly as a
council, they will witness Christ’s denial of those who, in turn, denied him (3:5, cf. 14:10).
518
Angels occur usually together with other characters, as part of the heavenly court, respectively, being
usually depicted as standing before God and the Lamb (cf. the seven spirits (1:4, 4:5), the four creatures (4:6),
the twenty-four elders (4:10, 11:6, 14:3), as well as a great multitude (7:9) ). Their role can also be portrayed
in a military fashion (19:14.19).
519
To name only some examples, compare references to Zech 1:9, Dan 7:16, 2 Esdr 10:28-59, also Rev 5:5.
147
One of the seven angels having the seven bowls
In this particular case, the angel is referred to by the indefinite pronoun εἷς. We could
assume either that he has not been mentioned before, or that his identity in itself is not
important. However, the gentivus partitivus construction “ἐκ τῶν ἑπτὰ ἀγγέλων τῶν
ἐχόντων τὰς ἑπτὰ φιάλας” (of the seven angels having the seven vials) points to his
immediate identification with the group of the seven angels.
Another angel presented similarly (εἷς ἐκ τῶν ἑπτὰ ἀγγέλων τῶν ἐχόντων τὰς ἑπτὰ φιάλας)
appears in Rev 21:9, offering the Seer guidance in the New Jerusalem (21:9-22:5).
This description acts in a twofold manner: on the one hand, it denotes group-identity
while, at the same time, it links the vision to the preceding part, namely the heptad of the
bowl-visions.
The Greek term, φιάλη is defined by BDAG as “bowl, specifically a bowl used in
offerings”.520 In the following, I will use ‘vial’ and ‘bowl’ interchangeably.
Such bowls are possibly related to the golden bowls full of incense (φιάλας χρυσᾶς
γεμούσας θυμιαμάτων) in 5:8, holding the prayers of the saints.
Rev 15:7 further specifies the number of the golden bowls, as well as their content in a
different phrasing than in 5:8, respectively as “seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God”
(γεμούσας τοῦ θυμοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ).
The angelic group as a whole is actively involved in carrying out the plagues introduced in
15:7 by pouring (ἐκχέω) of the seven vials of wrath of God (ἑπτὰ φιάλας χρυσᾶς γεμούσας
τοῦ θυμοῦ τοῦ θεου).
The plagues struck the earth (16:1) and are in order, malignant sores (16:2), sea
transformed into blood (16:3), fresh water transformed into blood (16:4-7), people
scorched as a result of the contaminated sun (16:8-9), darkness as a consequence of
pouring the bowl on the seat of the Beast (16:10). The drying up of the Euphrates paved
the way for the kings from the east’s gathering for the battle (16:12-16). Lastly, the
520
W. Bauer, F.W. Danker, W.F. Arndt, F.W. Gingrich (eds.), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament
and Other Early Christian Literature, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000, BibleWorks (v.8), (hereafter
abbreviated BDAG) s.v. φιάλη. Its meaning can range from a ‘saucepan’ to a ‘cup’, referring more likely to a
‘cup’; cf. Isa 51:17.12, as per Ben Witherington III, Revelation (New Cambridge Bible Commentary),
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003, 207.
148
contamination of the air (16:17), resulting into flashes of lightning, peals of thunder and
voices and an earthquake (16:18) led to a three part division of the great city (16:19),
affecting islands and mountains (16:20), as well as being accompanied by hailstone (16:21).
These are better viewed as judgments, “bowls of wrath” (16:1, 15:1) effecting God’s
punishment.
As such, the judgments connote with the Exodus plagues (Exod 7-12)521 considered
“both a literary and a theological model for the bowls”.522
Just like in the Exodus, “the goal of all seven bowl judgments is to demonstrate not only
God’s incomparability and just judgment of sinners, but ultimately his glory (so 15:8, 16:9,
cf. 11:13, 15-16, 15:4, 19:1-7) so again the main point of God’s glory is highlighted”.523
As a result, searching in the immediate context of these verses could significantly

contribute to enabling the reader to clarify further his/her identity and role within this
excerpt. The angel thus functions as an anchoring point with the previous subsection. From
the context where the angel operates, the pronunciation of a divine judgment will follow.
Spoke to me
This angel speaks (ἐλάλησεν) with the Seer.

It is not uncommon that angels speak. One hears them on multiple occasions in the
Apocalypse addressing different groups, as well as John, the Seer (cf. 7:3, 10:9, and
14:6.8.9.18, 17:1, 18:21, 19:7 and 21:9).
Not only do angels speak, but they are featured among other speaking characters, ranging
from named to unnamed, from the exalted Christ (1:17) and the elders (7:13) to
unidentified voices in 4:1, 11:1, 18:2.524
As mentioned previously, whenever the angels belonging to the group of seven speak, they
usually bring forth proclamations of divine judgments (cf. 14:6.8.9.18). So, this is yet
another reason to expect such a proclamation from the angel in 17:1.
521
The plagues list water turned to blood killing all fish and other water life (Exod 7:14-25), amphibians (Exod
8:1-8:15), lice or gnats (Exod 8:16-19), beast or flies (Exod 8:20–30), disease on livestock (Exod 9:1-7),
incurable boils (Exod 9:8-12), hail mixed with fire (Exod 9:13-35), locusts (Exod 10:1-20), darkness (Exod
10:21-29), death of the first-born of all Egyptian families (Exod 11:1-12:36).
522
Beale, The Book of Revelation, 148.
523
524
Also cf. Collins, Towards the Morphology of a Genre, 6.
149
As shown above, the angel engages in a dialogue with an interlocutor.525 The narratorial
voice is referred by pronouns the ﬁrst (μετ᾽ ἐμοῦ cf. 17:1b) and second person singular (σοι
cf. 17:1c), pointing to the fact that the account is reported in the 1st person singular. These
corroborated show that John, the Seer referred to in Rev 1:1 is the narrator.
The verbal construction526 ἐλάλησεν μετ᾽ ἐμοῦ is phrased iden?cally in 21:9. Up to this
point in the lecture of the text of the Apocalypse, the phrasing in 17:1 is the first instance
of an angel speaking to the Seer.
In other words, the Seer is revealed the divine message of Jesus Christ (ἀποκάλυψις Ἰησοῦ
Χριστοῦ, cf. 1:1) mediated through his angel527 (διὰ τοῦ ἀγγέλου αὐτοῦ), while being in the
Spirit (ἐγενόμην ἐν πνεύματι, cf. 1:10) on the Lord’s Day (ἐν τῇ κυριακῇ ἡμέρᾳ, cf. 1:10) as
part of the heavenly ascent.528
He is commissioned to write in this book what he sees –ὃ βλέπεις γράψον εἰς βιβλίον 1:11
(cf. 1:19, 2:1.8.12.18, 3:1.7.14, 14:13, 19:9, 21:5 that are merely repeating this delegation).
As evident from the above, the Seer’s perspective and voice predominate in the
Apocalypse, as visions unfold.
525
Collins, Towards the Morphology of a Genre, 6.
526
Smalley considers it Septuagintalism (cf. Smalley, The Revelation to John, 426).
527
The existence of angels has been connected to that of the distantness of God, who is understood to dwell
in the midst of myriads of angels to whom he delegates the performance of various tasks. (Himmelfarb,
Revelation and Rupture, 90).
Martin Hengel suggests, “the whole angelology was an indication that the figure of God has receded into the
distance and that the angels were needed as intermediaries between Him, creation and Man”. (Martin
Hengel, Judaism and Hellenism. Studies in their Encounter in Palestine during the early Hellenistic Period, (vol.
1), Philadephia: Fortress Press, 1974, 233).
While Hengel legitimates the distance between God and this world, Martha Himmelfarb gives an account for
the existence of angels as intermediaries in the apocalyptic writings as an attempt to overcome the distance
between humanity and God.
She continues that, the heavens are full of angels precisely to assure human beings of the contact with the
sphere of divine, if only its periphery. (Himmelfarb, Revelation and Rupture, 90).
In the same vein, Himmelfarb correctly suggests “the heroes of the Bible talked with God, but the heroes of
the apocalypses, overall talk with angels”. (Himmelfarb, Revelation and Rupture, 90).
528
Heavenly journeys have precedents not only in Palestinian Judaism but also in the Greek tradition where
journeys to the otherworld are known from the classical period. Cf. Harold W. Atridge, Greek and Latin
Apocalypses in: Semeia 14/1979, 159-186.
In the Greco-Roman world, Collins traces otherworldly journeys back to Parmenides and even Homer
(Collins, Morphology of a Genre, 16).
Another taxonomy divides the revealed visions in the course of the journey into two types: they can be
symbolic visions, whose images are not intended to be literally true, but whose interpretation refers to
heavenly and earthly beings and events (Dan 2:7) and visions of heavenly beings, places, events. (Yarbro
Collins, Cosmology and Eschatology in Jewish and Christian Apocalypticism, 11).
150
While dialogue occurs quite frequently in the Apocalypse up until this moment, John’s
interlocutors were either the exalted Christ (1:9-20; 4:1) or one of the twenty-four elders
(7:13-14).
In the following, the Seer is noting in direct speech the scope of the angel’s coming and
speaking to him.
As initiator,529 the angel’s actions are described as following: he came –ἦλθεν (17:1a),
spoke – ἐλάλησεν (17:1b) and said –λέγων (17:1b). In 17:7, the angel will question,
respectively explain the vision, in the manner of an angelus interpres530 using verbs from
the stem (i.e. λέγω).
The particle δεῦρο and the combination of these verbs (ἦλθεν, ἐλάλησεν, λέγων) appears
verbatim in the Apocalypse, in 21:9. There, it introduces another vision concerning a
woman, the antithetic character of the Great Whore of 17, i.e. the Bride of the Lamb.
Regarding the movement implied by ἦλθεν and δεῦρο, it is unclear whether the movement
is oriented upwards or downwards.
Although, semantically, I would interpret the first (ἦλθεν) as the angel coming (down) to
the Seer, the particle δεῦρο (17:1b), also implying movement531 may suggest that the Seer
is moving (up) in the direction of the angel, at the invitation of the latter.
The object of such an encounter is that the angel intends to ‘show’ –δείξω (17:1c) ‘the
judgment’ –τὸ κρίμα ‘of the Great Whore sitting on many waters’ –τῆς πόρνης τῆς
μεγάλης, τῆς καθημένης ἐπὶ ὑδάτων πολλῶν (17:1c).
In this way, our expectation as readers is not confirmed: we do not see the angel of the
heptad carrying out judgment, just like previously. He merely shows (δείξω) it.
529
The divine revelation is mediated in a vision by intermediaries, who play an essential ubiquitous role in the
apocalypses.
530
Since angels have been connected with interpretation, the expression angelus interpres (lit. the
interpreting angel) has been coined. (Michael Stone Apocalyptic Literature, in: idem (ed.), Jewish Writings of
the Second Temple Period. Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, Qumran Sectarian Writings, Philo, Josephus,
(Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum, vol 2: Van Gorcum, Arsen), Philadelphia: Fortress
Press, 1984, 383-441, 383).
Interpreting angels become frequent with later prophets such as Ezekiel (40:3-44:4), Daniel (7:16; 8:16-19;
9:22; 10:14) and Zechariah (chapters 1-6). Such books feature angels who assist the respective prophets in
understanding the visions of divine origin.
531
Joahnnes P. Louw, Eugene A. Nida (eds.) Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic
nd
Domains, (vol.1, 2 ed.), New York: United Bible Societies, 1988, 1989, s.v. Drunkenness, (§ 88.283-88.288),
723.
151
It can be inferred the angel in question does not have an active role in effecting the
judgment: God is the one giving judgment over her –ἔκρινεν ὁ θεὸς τὸ κρίμα, 18:20 (cf.
19:2). He merely shows532 the Seer what is God-given.
The interpretation of mysteries provides the semantic context533 in which this verb
operates.534 Such an interpretative path actually anticipates the nature of the Whore’s
identity.
The judgment of the Great Whore
The judgment of the Great Whore –τὸ κρίμα τῆς πόρνης τῆς μεγάλης 17:1c –is the object
of this enterprise, the core of our text.
Inferring from the future form of the verb (δείξω), the judgment is envisaged as an event
expected.
However, such an understanding would be rendered quite ambiguous especially if I relate
it later in my analysis with following intratexts535 in the Apocalypse. In this manner, her
sentence appears to be a past event, an event already accomplished.
The judgment –τὸ κρίμα repeats an already familiar motif of the Apocalypse, which
frequently associates with divine agency (cf. 14:7, 16:7, 19:2, 18:10.20, and 20:4). Its
cognates, such as κρίνω and κρίσις appear mostly after the seven bowls (18:8.20, 19:2.11,
20:12-13, cf. 11:8). The ones targeted are the Beast, the Whore and the dead.536
Proclaiming divine judgment(s) is an extension of God’s attributes.
In judging, God is righteous –δίκαιος (16:5) and mighty –ἰσχυρός (18:8). The judgments are
carried out in righteousness –ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ κρίνει (19:11), being effected according to
deeds – κατὰ τὰ ἔργα (18:6, cf. 20:12-13), or because of avenging the blood of God’s
servants – ἐξεδίκησεν τὸ αἷμα τῶν δούλων αὐτοῦ (19:2).
These act as a response to the summoning formulated in 6:9-10, when the souls of those
who had been slaughtered for the word of God and for the testimony they had given –τὰς
ψυχὰς τῶν ἐσφαγμένων διὰ τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ διὰ τὴν μαρτυρίαν ἣν εἶχον (6:9) cried
532
In the Apocalypse, the verb δείκνυμι occurs eight times (1:1, 4:1, 17:1, 21:9.10; 22:1.6.8) having as subject
always an angelus interpres. (Aune, Revelation 17-22, 928).
533
Smalley, The Revelation to John, 426; Aune, Revelation 17-22, 928.
534
It could be compared with 3 Bar. 2:6 “And the angel of the powers said to me, Come, and I will show thee
the mysteries of God.”
535
The intratexts I refer to comprise the judgment anticipation in 14:8, or 16:19, or as well as its
accomplishment in 18:2 and acclamation in 18:20 (cf. 19:2). These references pertain to the Whore, further
identified as ‘Babylon’ (17:5), ‘the great city’ (17:18).
536
Matthew Streett, Here Comes the Judge: Violent Pacifism in the Book of Revelation (The Library of New
Testament Studies), London, New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2012, ft. 86, 210.
152
out with a loud voice "Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long will it be before you judge
and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?" –ἕως πότε, ὁ δεσπότης ὁ ἅγιος καὶ
ἀληθινός, οὐ κρίνεις καὶ ἐκδικεῖς τὸ αἷμα ἡμῶν ἐκ τῶν κατοικούντων ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς; (6:10).
In view of the above, God’s judgments (αἱ κρίσεις) are delineated by the following
adjectives, translated by “true and righteous” –ἀληθιναὶ καὶ δίκαιαι αὐτοῦ (19:2, cf.
16:5.7). Considering the ethical context within which these operate one can then clearly
understand the reason behind the Greek text consistent mentioning of judgment and
justice, and not of ‘punishment’.537
Additionally, in the Apocalypse, divine judgment takes place on ‘the great day of wrath’ –ἡ
ἡμέρα ἡ μεγάλη τῆς ὀργῆς as in 6:17.538 It comprises the wrath of God (15:7) materialized
either in wine of God’s wrath (14:10) –ὁ οἴνος τοῦ θυμοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ, or wine press of God’s
wrath (14:19) –ἡ ληνὸς τοῦ θυμοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ, or the seven golden bowls filled with God’s
wrath (15:7) –ἑπτὰ φιάλας χρυσᾶς γεμούσας τοῦ θυμοῦ τοῦ θεου.
In view of the nature and extent of divine judgment as shown in the Apocalypse, what
follows will bear not only an important print on the one to be judged. Everything or more
exactly anything about to unfold before the Seer’s eyes is commissioned and carried out in
a divine fashion, well deserved and potentially cathartic for the readership.
Some of these aspects will be further taken up and analyzed in detail, especially with
generic relevance to the manner in which the Great Whore has been punished.
Further, we reach at the core of our analysis, i.e. the mysterious figure of the Great Whore
–ἡ πόρνη ἡ μεγάλη –sitting by/near/on many waters –τῆς καθημένης ἐπὶ ὑδάτων πολλῶν
in 17:1c.
The referent –τῆς πόρνης τῆς μεγάλης is a genitive construction pertaining to the judgment
(τὸ κρίμα). The two genitives are interpreted differently:539 the first genitive (τῆς πόρνης) is
an objective genitive, the second, a descriptive genitive (τῆς μεγάλης).
The objective genitive construction revolving around Whore –πόρνη bears two distinctive
marks: one is the definite article ἡ in the genitive and the other is the adjective μεγάλη.
The definite article could be interpreted in two ways: it could simply point to the formation
of the genitive, referring, in this case, to an instance pertaining to an introduction of a
(new) character. Conversely, the article can establish textually an anaphoric reference to
the subsequent uses as in 17:5.15.16 and 19:2.
537
538
The NT context, in which divine judgment as wrath has a strong eschatological component is supported by
the intertextual connections with Luke 21:23, Rom 5:9, Eph 2:3, Col 3:6.
539
Cf. Aune, Revelation 17-22, 928-929, also Beale, The Book of Revelation, 848.
153
Judging by the fact that up until now no similar reference to any character identified as ‘the
Great Whore’ was made, one could then infer that the definite article accompanying the
noun πόρνη may actually point out the fact that John’s original readership could have
easily deciphered the identity of the Whore, which remains elusive for the modern
reader.540
Even more so, the subsequent titles or names associated with the Whore, namely ‘Babylon’
–Βαβυλών (v. 5) and ‘city’ –πόλις (v.18), both accompanied by the adjective great –μεγάλη
form an intratextual link with 14:8. Here the judgment over Babylon is proclaimed –ἔπεσεν
ἔπεσεν Βαβυλὼν ἡ μεγάλη.
In view of these links, attempts at identifying the character were made concluding with a
political identification of ‘Babylon’ with Rome.
Such attempts are in my view much too early established by an academic scholarship
employing a historical-critical approach to the text.
An early identification to what ‘Babylon’ is, namely a city does not, on the one hand
correspond textually to the perception we get at this point as readers from the text. The
appellative ‘Babylon’ occurs at an ulterior moment in the presentation of the Great Whore.
Up to that point, the character was called both ‘whore’ and ‘woman’.
On the other hand, as soon as Babylon is equated with Rome, the politicizing of the
gendered image is endured. As such, the direction in the exegetical analysis is
compromised. The choice described above bears thus an aggravating influence on the
manner in which we assess the triple metaphorical levels of the gendered image in
question.
It would dictate an immediate and all too familiar intertextual identification with some of
the OT prophetic texts. Such an early identification would automatically opt for a non-
literal understanding of ‘prostitution’, and by extension of ‘prostitute’.
In this manner, the image complex of the Great Whore loses a significant amount of its
metaphorical content.
We encounter textually the referent πόρνη as the designator for the character’s judgment.
This appellative is used subsequently, either directly (17:5. 15. 16, 19:2), or by reference to
cognates of it such as πορνεία (17:2.4, 19:2), πορνεύω (17:2, 18:3.9), as well as by means
of pronominal possession (17: 2.4.16, 18:3).
540
Smalley, The Revelation to John, 426.
154
The definition of the “whore” and the meaning of “whoring” are core issues in the current
study. With this appellative, we reached the first layer of the metaphorical composition
surrounding the character of the Great Whore.
A Biblically relevant definition conceives a ‘whore’ in terms of “a woman who practices
sexual immorality as a profession”, being expressed idiomatically for example, as ‘one who
acts like a she-dog’, ‘one who sells her vulva’, one who sells herself’, ‘one who receives any
man’.541
This behaviour has been consistently rebuked throughout the Bible. Some examples
include Deut 22:28ff, Acts 15:20.29: 21:25, 1 Cor 6:12-20542, Matt 15:19, Mark 7:2, Rom
1:29, Gal 5:19, Rev 9:21.543
‘Fornicating’ –πορνεύω belongs to the same semantic field like ‘committing adultery’ –
μοιχεύω. The second term involves the breaking of the covenantal connection between
spouses, acting thus against the sacredness and permanency of the family.
Different expression of fornication and adultery can be taken literally544 and non-literally,
that is spiritually.545 In the second case, these refer to spiritual infidelity to the Lord,
especially via the connection with the idolatrous cults as depicted in OT (1 Kgs 14:24, cf.
15:12; 22:38.47).546
The abundance of sexual-charged imagery in the Apocalypse as a whole is well
documented textually. Early in the Apocalypse, in the seven messages, practicing
fornication and/or committing adultery (μοιχεύω) are evoked in 2:14. 20-22 (such terms
are repeated in 9:21, 14:8, 17:2, 4, 18:3, 9, 19:2, 21:8, 22:15). There is usually a traditional
distinction between the two uses as presented in the following.
Apocalypse notes a figurative use of sexual-related imagery as a “power hostile to God and
God’s people in 17:1.5.15.16, 19:2”547
541
Louw-Nida, Greek-English Lexicon, s.v. πόρνη (§ 88.275), 771-772.
542
Madeleine S. Miller, J. Lane Miller, s.v. Harlot, in: eadem, Harper’s Bible dictionary, New York: Harper
&Row, 1973, 245-246, 246.
543
544
The transgression involving engaging in adulterous behavior (μοιχάω) is discouraged in NT in Matt 5:27f.
32, 19:9, Mark 10:11.12, Luke 16:18, John 8:4, Rom 2:22.
545
Taken as infidelity shown to God, fornication is very common with Jer 3:6-10; Ezek 16:15-22, 23:1-49; Hos
4:12-13 5:3, when referring to the unfaithful Israel, being most often conceived of in marital or covenantal
terms (Lev 17:7, 20:5-6; Num 14:33, 15:39; Deut 31:16; Judg 2:17, 8:27, 1 Chr 5:25, 2 Chr 21:11, Psalm 73:27).
As such, it occurs in Isaiah (1:21) Hosea (1:2, 2:4, 4:15, 9:1), Jeremiah (2:20, 3:2.9.13, 5:7.11, 13:27), Ezekiel
(6:9, 16, 23, 43:7.9).
546
Robin Parry, Prostitution, in: Joel B. Green et al. (eds.), Dictionary of Scripture and Ethics, Grand Rapids:
Baker Publishing Group, 2011, 639-641, 640.
547
Trebilco, The Early Christians in Ephesus, 545 (ft. 164).
155
Trebilco notes fornication features in “the exceptional literal use in vice lists such as in
9:21, 21:8, and 22:15.”548
The current study, due to its gender-related content aims at critically assessing the nature
of fornication as depicted in Rev 17.Thus I embrace, rather than gloss over the sexual
content of the semantic field repeated excessively in the vision of the Great Whore.
Additionally, besides different terms denoting fornication and prostitution, images with
sexual content are often contrasted with images of purity, including references to virgins
(14:4), pure bride (19:7-8, 21:1-2, 21:9), the steadfast (22:7).
It is my contention, that fornication and adultery images reach their climax in the Whore
vision. These are initiated in the epistolary proclamations of the first part of the
Apocalypse, which are connected thematically and intratextually with the Great Prostitute
of chapter 17.
In particular, the epistolary proclamations I am interested in occur specifically 2:20-22. In
the community of Thyatira, a gendered character, identified symbolically as Jezebel, a self-
entitled prophet –ἡ λέγουσα ἑαυτὴν προφῆτιν (2:20) has her deeds –τὰ ἔργα catalogued as
adulteries –τοὺς μοιχεύοντας in 2:22, although she is not textually named ‘prostitute’.
The larger context in which the sexual image of adulteries operate encompasses Jezebel’s
activity of teaching and leading [God’s] bond-servants astray –διδάσκει καὶ πλανᾷ τοὺς
[ἐμοὺς] δούλους, so that they commit acts of immorality –πορνεῦσαι and eat from what
was sacrificed to idols –καὶ φαγεῖν εἰδωλόθυτα (2:20).
Although the critique against Jezebel targets possibly a real contemporary persona of the
Seer’s,549 ‘Jezebel’ is here a symbolic name, just as later ‘Babylon’ is.
The original Jezebel, the foreign wife of Ahab, queen of the Northern kingdom has been a
notorious person. Some of her ignominious acts consisted of persecuting the prophets (1
Kgs 18:4), bringing foreign gods to be worshipped (1 Kgs 18:19), being accused of harlotries
and sorceries” (2 Kgs 9:22).550
Since her deeds were against God’s chosen ones, negative associations have been attached
to her name.
By using similar images and phrases, the Seer is constructing in the Apocalypse the profile
of the womanly-faced evil. The accusations brought to the Whore comprise ‘whoring’
(17:2.3), ‘deceiving’ (18:23) and ‘drinking blood’ (17:6).
548
Trebilco, The Early Christians in Ephesus, 545 (ft. 164).
549
Sutter Rehmann, Die Offenbarung Johannes, 727; cf. Paul B. Duff, Who Rides the Beast?, 89.
550
Gale Yee, Art. Jezebel, in: David Noel Freedman (ed.), Anchor Bible Dictionary (vol. 3), New York:
Doubleday, 848-849, 848.
156
As soon as textual pieces of information gather, the actual connection with Jezebel can be
extended far beyond the generic aspect. One could safely assert that the other markers,
such as idol worshipping could possibly prompt a secondary referential context, which will
be further enlarged by references to OT.
Establishing intratextual as well as intertextual connections with the ancient Sidonian
queen serves to confirm further the horizon of expectation of the reader. Not only that the
real Jezebel once paid with her life for the transgressions against the people of God (1 Kgs
18:21-26) and the apocalyptic Jezebel was threatened with death, so the judgment of the
Great Whore will most likely imply losing her life tragically, as it will be confirmed textually
in 17:16.
One should however note that the demise of Jezebel in the Apocalypse is never described
or witnessed; it is only implied as part of the destruction of all God’s opposing forces in Rev
19.551 The connection regarding her demise can only be established via the OT references.
Moreover, I would like to point out that according to textual information, Jezebel’s
adulteries result into two abominations, i.e. fornication and consuming food sacrificed to
idols, a nuance many exegetes552 do not discern. As a result, eating εἰδωλόθυτα as an
explanation occurs as an explanation to what fornication stands for.
If these references are not kept and analyzed separately, it can result, very early in my
analysis into a change of focus as I have previously stressed. As a result, the corporeal
meaning of prostitution subsides then in favour of the economic-political associations,
which are though relevant for the OT context, they are at this point, too premature to
establish and evaluate.
As stated earlier, the Great Whore is accompanied by the descriptive adjective ἡ μεγάλη
(cf. 17:1c, 19:2) having multiple references. 553
551
Marla Selvidge, Powerful and Powerless Women in the Apocalypse. A Conflict of Passions, in: Marla J.
Selvidge, Woman, Violence and the Bible, Studies in Women and Religion (vol. 37) New York: The Edwin
Mellen Press, 1996, 117-128, 120.
552
Among them, Brian K. Blount, Revelation. A Commentary (New Testament Library), Louisville: Westminster
John Knox Press, 2009, 312, Paul B. Duff, Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing. Literary Opposition and Social Tension
in the Revelation of John, in: David L. Barr, Reading the Book of Revelation. A Resource for Students, Leiden/
Boston, Brill, 2004, 65-80, 72.
553
For all the references, cf. Louw/Nida, Greek-English Lexicon s.v. μέγας, μεγάλη, μέγα. The adjective implies
variety of uses and reference among which references to a large quantity, §59.22, 597, §78.2, 685; a large
size, a reference to dimensions §79.123, 706; being great in terms of status, §87.22, 736); pertaining to being
surprising in terms in view of being important, §25.207, 311.
157
Interestingly enough, this adjective occurs frequently554 in the Apocalypse mostly within
auditions and visions,555 describing nouns such as φωνή (5:2.12: 6:10: 7:2.10; 8:13; 10:3;
14:7.19. 15. 18; 16:17; 19:17) and χάλαζα (11:19). These instances are translated by
“strong” –μάχαιρα (6:4), respectively “great” and “heavy”.556 The adjective also determines
the nouns ἡ πόλις (16:19, 17:18, 18:10.16.18, 19) and Βαβυλών (14:8, 17:5, 18:2.21),
where is translated as “great”.
Regarding its usage within the Great Whore vision, I would like to make two remarks.
Considering the three dimensions of the gendered appearance I mentioned in the previous
section, namely ‘whore’, ‘woman’, ‘city’, the adjective μεγάλη accompanies ‘whore’ twice
(see above) and the city ‘Babylon’ (17:5.18 cf. 14:8, 16:19 also 18:2.10.16.18.19.21). It
never appears as a characteristic of the ‘woman’ or of ‘fornication’.557
In order to denote the intimate association between ‘great’ and ‘whore’ in German, the
word ‘Erzhure’558 was coined translated in English by ‘archwhore’.559
Since the adjective applies to the city (and) Babylon, it points to the greatness, power and
importance, underlined in hints to the royalty, presumptuousness, and heavenliness of the
Whore (cf. Rev 18).
All these are uncharacteristic of the Whore’s counterpart, i.e. the Bride of the Lamb.560
Seated upon many waters
It can also mean surprising, strange, cf. θαῦμα μέγα; important persons (οἱ μεγάλοι only in the plural,
persons of important or high status), §87.40, 738; ὁ μεγιστάν, μέγιστος, pertaining to being very important,
§65.53, 627, also in the plural, §87.41 cf. §87.40.
554
The NT records 194 occurrences of the various adjectival forms of μέγας, μεγάλη, μέγα, out of which 80
appear solely in the Apocalypse (Sals, Die Biographie, 85).
555
556
To render the English equivalents of the mentioned words, I currently use the translations found in the
NRSV.
557
Sals, Die Biographie, 85 (ft. 120).
558
R. Bergmeier, Die Erzhure und das Tier: Apk 12,18-13,18 und 17f.: Eine quellen- und redaktionskritische
Analyse, in: Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt: Geschichte und Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren
Forschung II 25.5/1988, 3899-3916, cf. Sals, Die Biographie, 85.
559
Cf. Hans Urs von Balthasar, Explorations in Theology (Vol. 2): The Spouse of the Word (trans. John Saward),
San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1991.
560
158
Further information is provided in the portrayal of the Great Whore. She is described as
“seated upon many waters” –καθημένη ἐπὶ ὑδάτων πολλῶν.
I evaluate the previously analyzed adjective as well the topographical reference as
pertaining to the Whore’s static description.
Variants of the participial construction τῆς καθημένης feature elsewhere in the Apocalypse.
The posture is mentioned with “the one sitting on the throne” –ὁ καθήμενος ἐπὶ τῷ
θρόνω561 (4:2; 7:1.15; 21:5).
These occurrences indicate a delineation of God’s power and imply worship given by the
living creatures (4:9), twenty four elders (4:10), as well as creatures (5:13) as their only
salvation (7:10).562 Sitting on the throne would also connote with a “rule of mercy, justice
and righteousness (e.g. Isa 16:5).”563
An eschatological dimension564 is associated to the image of sitting on a throne, namely of
God sitting as judge.565
The Great Whore as the focal point of chapters 17-18 also associates concepts of ‘rule’ and
‘power’ in Rev 18:17 “κάθημαι βασίλισσα” (I sit as queen).
It could be inferred by this association that the Whore may be imitating God.566 Moreover,
given the fact she is judged may open up a variety of interpretative possibilities for her
actual situation. These could include perhaps expectations of some sort of abuse of power,
intolerable before God.
561
If we are go further, we may compare it with the Book of Acts 7:56, where Stephen has a vision of the Son
of Man “ἑστῶτα”at the right hand of the Father. Jesus is referring to the same instance as “ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ
ἀνθρώπου καθήμενος ἐκ δεξιῶν τῆς δυνάμεως τοῦ θεοῦ” (Luke 22:69), something which Col 3:1 attributes to
Christ” ὁ Χριστός ἐστιν ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ θεοῦ καθήμενος”. In the Apocalypse, the reference to the ‘one who sits
on the throne’ appears 12 times.
562
Christianne Zimmermann, Die Namen des Vaters. Studien zu ausgewählten neutestamentlichen
Gottesbezeichnungen vor ihrem frühjudischen und paganen Sprachhorizont (Ancient Judaism and Early
Christianity, vol. 69), Leiden: Brill, 2007, 263. She suggests that the scene of throne room is an idealized
projection of the Roman court ceremonial. (Christiane Zimmermann, Die Namen des Vaters, 264; also Streett,
Here Comes the Judge, 58; Witherington, Revelation, 123; Craig Koester, Revelation and the End of All Things,
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001, 75).
563
Räpple, The Metaphor of the City, 78-79.
564
John 12:15 associates the image of the coming king with ‘sitting’.
565
Sals, Die Biographie, 135; Streett, Here Comes the Judge. He conceives the heptads (seals, trumpets, and
bowls) as manifestations of God’s power as eschatological judge, cf. Judgment, in: Leland Ryken et al. (eds.),
Dictionary of Biblical Image, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1998, 470-474, esp. 472f.
566
Rossing, The Choice, 67. She conceives the posture as a deliberate contrast to the enthroned God (Rev 4)
such as in 4:2.9-10, 5:1.7.13, 6:16, 7:10.15, 19:4, 20:11, 21:5.
159
The preposition ἐπί has a spatial significance having the meaning “on, upon” (Matt 9:9;
14:25, Luke 22:30; Rev 3:20),567 but Aune suggest to translate it as “beside, by” (Matt
21:19, John 21:1), given the impossibility of “how is one to visualize the whore on many
waters”.568
I would prefer to preserve the first meaning of ἐπί as “on, upon”. This could probably
match closely the intention of the narratorial voice to shock by presenting us a grandiose
figure.
Subsequently, in view of the preceding participle, namely καθημένη, I understand “on,
upon” to imply a relation of dominance.
This claim is supported by v.15 of the same chapter, where “many waters” upon which the
Whore is sitting are interpreted as ‘peoples, crowds and nations and languages’ –λαοὶ καὶ
ὄχλοι εἰσὶν καὶ ἔθνη καὶ γλῶσσαι.
Further, the relation of dominance implied by posture is further buttressed by v.18 of

chapter 17, when the Whore is interpreted by the angel as ‘the great city’ having dominion
over the kings of the earth –βασιλείαν ἐπὶ τῶν βασιλέων τῆς γῆς.
This relation is actually earlier alluded to, namely in v.2: the Whore’s “dominion” enslaves
both kings of the earth –οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς as well as inhabitants of the earth –οἱ
κατοικοῦντες τὴν γῆν.569
Besides the political dominance implied by 17:18 her location is very important from an
economical point of view. The Whore’s position implies unlimited means of transport, the
ability of uniting logistically many places. In view of these, ‘waters’ could potentially imply
dissolution of boundaries, just as the desert (17:3) will.570
In the line with commercial undertones, ‘prostitution’ possibly stems from the verb
πέρνημι, translated as ‘to sell abroad, to export, to sell as slave on the sea’.571 The noun ἡ
πόρνη could be understood as ‘as the one bought abroad’572, or as ‘the buyable’.
567
Louw-Nida, Greek-English Lexicon, s.v. ἐπί; ἐν ; εἰς, § 83.23, §83.47, 716.
568
569
Cf. the following subsection (17:2).
570
571
Leslie Kurke, Coins, Bodies, Games, and Gold. The Politics of Meaning in Archaic Greece, Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 1999, 178.
572
Stavroula Leontsini, Die Prostitution im frühen Byzanz (Dissertationen der Universität Wien 194), Wien:
VWGÖ, 1989, 22-25; cf. Edward E. Cohen, Free and Unfree Sexual Work: An Economic Analysis of Athenian
Prostitution, in: Christopher A. Faraone, Laura K. McClure (eds.), Prostitutes and Courtesans in the Ancient
World, 95-124, 103-108.
160
However, an interesting observation shows that nowhere in the Apocalypse is the Whore
depicted as ‘bought’, or having the status of a ‘slave’. No mention of any earnings for
sexual favours is also encountered.573
On the contrary, the Whore is luxuriously dressed (vv.3-4), rules over the kings of the earth
(v.18) and is portrayed as main supplier of any merchandise that can be commercialized
(18: 11-13).
Actually, other groups of people become rich by associating with her (cf. 18:3.9.11.15.19) –
especially with the city dimension of the gendered metaphor discussed.574
The explanation given later in v.15 to the ‘many waters’ in conjunction with the association
of the ‘waters’ with groups of ‘peoples’ seems to correspond with the OT images of threat
as depicted in Psalm 144:7. Here the Psalmist addresses a supplication to God, to save him
from the mighty waters, out of the hand of aliens –ἐξ ὑδάτων πολλῶν ἐκ χειρὸς υἱῶν
ἀλλοτρίων.
It could also resonate as well with instances of punishment effected by God by means of
waters described in Isa 8:6-7, 17:12-14; 28:17, Jer 47:2.
Water in the Apocalypse may be both positive and negative.

In Rev 12:15, the woman pursued by the dragon escapes only because the earth has
opened its mouth and swollen the water like a river –ὕδωρ ὡς ποταμόν, whereas in the
last chapter of the Apocalypse (22:17), the water of life –ὕδωρ ζωῆς is offered as a gift.
However, given the actual context where ‘great waters’ operate and considering all the
associations established so far, one could infer that ‘waters’ here tend toward a negative
connotation.
The operating context can also be extended textually, namely to the Whore being depicted
as ‘sitting on a beast’ (17:3) –καθημένη ἐπὶ θηρίον κόκκινον and to the ‘beast rising out
from the sea’ –ἐκ τῆς θαλάσσης θηρίον ἀναβαῖνον in 13:1. Such images are used to depict
enemies of God.
Leaving aside the Biblical context, another implication ascribed to ‘waters’ in contemporary
times commonly designates the negative picture of the super-powerful, namely of the
‘feminine super-powerful’. 575 This connotation has sexual implications.
573
Sutter Rehmann, Die Offenbarung Johannes, 735.
574
575
Klaus Theweleit, Männerphantasien (2 vols.), Stromfeld: Roter Stern Verlag, 1977-1978, here vol. 1, 236-
297.
161
Nevertheless, I evaluate the above observation as an over-sexualized reading of the
topographic dimension, as with Marla Selvidge:
As in every other passage involving a metaphor or image of a woman, the writer is
interested in her sexual abilities and influences. She seems to have an unquenchable sexual
desire which extends to all of the nations.576
An interpretation such as the above is an example of reading-in the Biblical text, with little
textual support.
References to sexuality taken ad literam are extremely important in contouring the
corporeal dimension of the Great Whore in 17:1.
Both the ‘whore’ and the ‘waters’ are described by adjectives in 17:1c, which seem to be
semantically related577 i.e. the waters are πολλοί and the whore is μεγάλη. When
translated into English, μεγάλη becomes “great” and πολλοί is translated as “many”.
The difference between the two semantically related adjectives seems even more
ambiguous in translating, when we analyze in context the genitival phrase ὑδάτων πολλῶν,
translated by “many waters”.
To exemplify, πολύς is rendered in OT by the adjective “mighty” (2 Sam 22:17, Psalm 18:16,
29:3, 32:6, 93:4, 144:7), implying a negative connotation, an instance when God’s power is
shown overcoming threatening forces of the disorder, chaos. By contrast, the same
adjective is translated in the Revelation with “many” (cf. 1:15, 14:2, 19:6).
Taken as a whole, the phrase “ἐπὶ ὑδάτων πολλῶν” echoes the text of Jer 28:13 in which,
the reference to the city of Babylon (!) ἐφ᾽ ὕδασι πολλοῖς578 is part of the doom oracle
against the unrepentant city.
This intertextual connection will be explored in the following section dealing with the Great
Whore’s name, i.e. Babylon featuring in v.5.
Further, the locative “ἐπὶ ὑδάτων πολλῶν” seems to be quite ambiguous, when we
compare it to the other references in the same chapter pertaining to the Great Whore.
Although every time referred to as ‘sitting’ –καθημένη, the location of the Whore in 17:3 is
no longer ‘upon many waters’, but ‘on a scarlet beast’ –ἐπὶ θηρίον κόκκινον, and in Rev
17:9, she is depicted as ‘sitting on seven hills’ –ἑπτὰ ὄρη εἰσίν, ὅπου ἡ γυνὴ κάθηται ἐπ᾽
αὐτῶν.
576
Selvidge, Powerful and Powerless Women, 163f.
577
Louw-Nida, Greek-English Lexicon explains πολύς, πολλή, πολύ (§59.1) as the upper range of a scale of
extent, but probably somehow less than for μέγας, μεγάλη, μέγα (§78.3), 685. Cf. the coming explanation of
the genitive ὑδάτων πολλῶν (17:1).
578
Here, the NAS version uses “mighty” to render the adjective.
162
This evidences also the fact that with apocalyptic imagery, the fluidity of depicted images is
high, so multiple referents can describe one entity.
This is an example how exactly Apocalypse operates with tensive579 multivalent symbols.
The definite article in the genitive (τῆς) preceding the ‘whore’ (ἡ πόρνη), as well as the
determiner ‘great’ (μεγάλη) and the precise reference to her location –ἐπὶ ὑδάτων πολλῶν
could allude to the fact that the Seer may have had someone or something in mind to
whom such a description could be applicable.
In this case, the symbolic usage of such words, as well as the preference for description
rather than naming could have been possibly dictated by some kind of external censorship.
Stylistically, as mentioned previously, the phrasing of 17:1 appears verbatim in 21:9 to

introduce again a text regarding a woman –the wife of the Lamb: Καὶ ἦλθεν εἷς ἐκ τῶν ἑπτὰ
ἀγγέλων [ ] καὶ ἐλάλησεν μετ᾽ ἐμοῦ λέγων· δεῦρο, δείξω σοι τὴν νύμφην τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ
ἀρνίου (21:9). This is clearly antithetical suggesting that the Harlot is thus, the demonic
counterfeit of the Bride of Christ.
579
Schüssler-Fiorenza enlarges on the purpose of the use of tensive symbols in the following: “the multivalent
images and tensive symbols of Revelation elicit emotions, feelings, and convictions that cannot, and should
not, be fully conceptualized” (Schüssler-Fiorenza, Vision of a Just World, 31). In view of this cf. Boring’s
definition: “A tensive symbol, […] sets up tension in the mind […]and by involving the hearer-reader in the act
of communication convey a surplus of meaning that cannot be reduced to propositional language, or to one
level of meaning ” (M. E. Boring, Revelation-Interpretation, Kentucky: John Knox, 1989, 57).
163
1.2 Provisional Assessment (1)
The negative connotation of the elements featured in the description of the Great Whore is
contained in each semantic unit.
The first verse forms a superscript for the entire chapter.580 It introduces the theme of the
chapter, namely that of ‘the judgment of the Great Whore’.
I pursued the analysis by breaking down the larger unit into smaller subunits and analyzed
them verse by verse.
The exegetical analysis was pertinent to a text-oriented approach, but also included the
reader component in the reading process.
By this strategy, I aimed at reducing some anticipations ensuing from the intertextual
associations with the OT as much as possible. Such an option remains, in my view,
adequate to reader’s actual pace, who gains information as the narration unfolds,
permanently looking intratextually into what was previously read, rather than anticipating
what follows.
Ignoring the importance of such an approach would result into an interlocking reading.
Overemphasizing the secondary intertexts can dictate over the course of the analysis,
resulting into a gloss over the corporeal generic component of the metaphor of the Great
Whore, as I have amply evidenced.
I started by placing the subunit within the general framework of the Apocalypse that
receives anchoring points in the character of the angel –his identity and affiliation with the
angels conducting the plagues of the last heptad, as well as in the thematic component,
namely of judgment, predominant with the previous sections.
Slowly, the reader’s general horizon of expectation receives contours, waiting to be
confirmed or infirmed by what will follow.
The one, whose judgment we are about to witness, is introduced as the ‘Great Whore’,
followed by a topographical reference.
Therefore, the first verse of chapter 17 evidences the perspective of the potential581
accuser (angel as emissary of God), as well as witness (the Seer, John), but never of the
accused (the Great Whore). The masculine perspective dominating the entire section is
relevant from a gender-informed optic, for it is rooted in an androcentric cultural system.
580
Alan Johnson, Art. Revelation, in: The Expositor’s Bible Commentary (Hebrews-Revelation vol. 12), Grand
Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1981, 399-603, 555.
581
The choice for “potential” is prompted by the fact that in the Apocalypse, angels are carrying out the
divine sanctions. The act judging does not pertain to them; it is of divine origin, an attribute of the ‘one who
sits on the throne’.
164
The sexual identification of the character is permeated by an androcentric perspective.
Following this, the ‘whore’ is inscribed in a contrasting stereotypical system of shame.
Additionally, the intratextual associations such as those referring to Jezebel (2:20-22)

corroborated with the intertextual ones adduce a spiritual extension to whoring, namely
idolatry.
A possible economic aspect confirmed further by the topographical reference bearing

political undertones highlighted that the character of the Whore is a delineation of evil.
The Great Whore appears as gendered, her posture imitates God and possibly, for this
reason, she is punished.
The resemblance with Jezebel automatically sets the Whore is an antithesis with the Bride
of the Lamb (21:9). This opposition entails an ethical dimension.
To explicate the generic contrast between the sexually pure (represented by the Great
Whore) and the impure (represented by the Bride of the Lamb), the phrasing of 17:1 is
identical with the Bride’s introduction in chapter 21. Here (most probably) the same angel
will show the Seer τὴν νύμφην τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ ἀρνίου –the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.
This parallel will be developed, once the elements pertaining to the description of the
Whore will gather to form the contrast even more pregnant.
165
1.3 Reasons for Judgment
17:2a μεθ᾽ ἧς ἐπόρνευσαν οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς

17:2b καὶ ἐμεθύσθησαν οἱ κατοικοῦντες τὴν γῆν
ἐκ τοῦ οἴνου τῆς πορνείας
αὐτῆς.
(With whom the kings of the earth have fornicated and the inhabitants of the earth have
been inebriated with the wine of her fornication)
The second verse of chapter 17 is evidencing, what I interpret as the reasons for the
twofold indictment of the Whore. Described previously as “great” and “sitting on many
waters”, the Great Whore is the one with whom the kings of the earth have fornicated and
the inhabitants of the earth have become inebriated with the wine of her immorality –μεθ᾽
ἧς ἐπόρνευσαν οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς καὶ ἐμεθύσθησαν οἱ κατοικοῦντες τὴν γῆν ἐκ τοῦ οἴνου
τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς (17:2).
Her judgment will also conjoin with God’s remembering her sins piled up to heaven as in
18:5 (cf. 16:19) –ἐκολλήθησαν αὐτῆς αἱ ἁμαρτίαι ἄχρι τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ ἐμνημόνευσεν ὁ
θεὸς τὰ ἀδικήματα αὐτῆς.
The current verse is further contouring the Great Whore’s description. She was described
visually as great –μεγάλη, and seated upon many waters –καθημένη ἐπὶ ὑδάτων πολλῶν,
now, her actions speak on her behalf: she engages in ignominious acts (whoring, and
drinking abuse), which could make her judgment justified.
As such, two groups of people are put in connection with the Great Whore –οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς
γῆς (17:2a) and οἱ κατοικοῦντες τὴν γῆν (17:2b).
From a syntactic point of view, 17:2a and b evidence a parallel construction.
Markers of this parallelism are the identical arranging of words in 17:2a and 2b, the
coordinating conjunction καί, which is uniting two semantically equivalent units as well as
the inversion of the subject with the verb. Especially the latter observation could
emphasize the gravity of the actions evoked, rather than the actors.
By virtue of the phrasing, we notice a continuation of the sexually related language in this
verse.
166
If in the first verse, the term ‘whore’ was mentioned only once, now in one single verse,
three cognates of πόρν-: ἧς (deitic for πόρνη), ἐπόρνευσαν, and πορνείας occur. This
overemphasis may suggest the gravity of her deeds and implicitly the just judgment on her.
These act as to confirm our horizon of expectation.
Both ‘whoring’ and ‘drinking’ are part of the same group of condemnable actions, which
account for the designation of the figure in 17:1b as ‘whore’.
The Great Whore is defined through disgraceful liaisons with other(s), respectively οἱ
βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς and οἱ κατοικοῦντες τὴν γῆν. She can be called prostitute in view of her
devious behaviour in relation to masculine (!) other(s).
Neither the kings, nor the inhabitants are described in detail, unlike the Whore previously.
Instead, they are unidimensional, characterized by their actions: committing fornication
(πορνεύω) and drinking abuse (μεθύω).
Both groups are described by the genitival construction ‘of earth’ –τῆς γῆς, respectively ‘on
earth’ –τὴν γῆν, although each is differently involved with her –one, through fornication (οἱ
βασιλεῖς […] ἐπόρνευσαν, 17:2a), the other through drinking abuse (οἱ κατοικοῦντες […]
ἐμεθύσθησαν […] ἐκ τοῦ οἴνου τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς, 17:2b).
In view of what has been shown above, the descriptive adjective accompanying them, τῆς
γῆς may be interpreted negatively at least at two levels.
In the Apocalypse, ‘earth’ as God’s incomplete582 creation could be seen as antithetical to
‘heaven’. The former is the place where all the abominations related to humans take place.
God’s apocalyptic plagues, carried out by his angels affect primarily the earth, its fauna,
flora, human life (6:4.8.10; 8:7; 9:3; 14:9; 16:18). Earth is where Satan was cast (12:7-9) the
reign of the Beasts and dragon (13:4) par excellence, as well as the Whore’s (17:18), who
has corrupted the Earth with her immorality –ἔφθειρεν τὴν γῆν ἐν τῇ πορνείᾳ αὐτῆς (19:2).
Further, if we analyze grammatically the two aorist verbs in 17:2, the kings are the subject
of the active verb ἐπόρνευσαν, i.e. fornicated (17:2a). The angel refers to the Whore
passively (μεθ᾽ ἧς).
With the inhabitants on the earth, the situation is opposite: they ἐμεθύσθησαν, i.e. were
made drunk (17:2b). Here, the verb in the passive implies that the Whore played an active
part: the intoxicating liquor belonged to her (ἐκ τοῦ οἴνου τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς).
Such a phrasing may function as an excuse for the inhabitants.
582
Cf. Tobias Nicklas, Freiheit oder Prädestination? Gedanken zum Menschenbild der Johannesapokalypse.
Paper held during the Conference of Colegium Biblicum Lovaniese (23-25 July 2015), Leuven (no pagination).
167
At least with the inhabitants of the earth, the phrasing could be described as them
requiring some sort of inebriation to follow the Whore, for such a state would imply losing
clear mind (and eyes).
In this context, maybe ‘fornication’ could be explained as portraying a similar status to
being drunk, at least in what concerns the end results.
Additionally, actions such as following the Whore inebriatedly could point to their
temporality, or transience. Contrasted with the natural state of sobriety, the inhabitants’
loss of mind is but a mere aberration inflicted to them, short-termed by nature of things.
From a stylistical perspective overall, 18:3 is almost a verbatim repetition of 17:2.

In 18:3, the differences between the two excerpts are minor: the two groups involved with
the Great Whore are enumerated in a different order, while the merchants are also added:
“for all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her immorality, and the kings of
the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth
have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality” –ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ οἴνου τοῦ θυμοῦ τῆς
πορνείας αὐτῆς πέπωκαν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη καὶ οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς μετ᾽ αὐτῆς ἐπόρνευσαν
καὶ οἱ ἔμποροι τῆς γῆς ἐκ τῆς δυνάμεως τοῦ στρήνους αὐτῆς ἐπλούτησαν.
The kings of the earth fornicated with her
The mention of the kings adduces significant data to the portrait of the Great Whore. As
we may have inferred from the previous verse, her economic dominance implied by her
location, gains now a political dimension.
The association with the kings involves throughout the Apocalypse, together with other
semantically related words, such as ‘crowns’ (2:10, 3:11, 14:14) and ‘throne’ (4:10, 7:11,
11:16, 19:4) a reference to ‘power’, or ‘dominion’ –ἐξουσία as in 2:26, 9:3, 11:6, 13:2.4.12,
14:18, 16:9, 17:12.13, 18:1, 20:6.
This presumption is confirmed in the last verse of the chapter 17: the Whore has
“dominion over the kings of the earth” (17:18), delineating further the type of association
existing between the Whore and the kings of the earth.
In view of the political dimension of this association, the corporeal aspect, delineated by
πορνεία is again overlooked in favour of a non-literal interpretation583 of sexual
promiscuity.
583
168
This happens quite hastily and can be at this level submitted under scrutiny.
Earlier in my analysis, I contended that the Whore’s posture and name containing the
adjective μεγάλη might allude to having some sort of influence.
This intuition seems to be confirmed in view of her connections with “the kings of the
earth”.
However, considering the relationship between the Whore and the kings, the opposite can
also be argued: despite being active in higher societal circles, she is only a whore, when
defined in relationship with the kings.
Except for this mentioning, there are two more instances in Rev 18, where the association
between the Whore and the kings is defined as ‘fornication’ –πορνεία (18:3.9).
In 18:9, excerpt for fornication, the kings of the earth are also accused of having lived in
luxury (οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς οἱ μετ᾽ αὐτῆς πορνεύσαντες καὶ στρηνιάσαντες), rendered by
the verb “στρηνιάω”, which has the following explanation “to live sensually by gratifying
the senses with sexual immorality”.584 The same verb will appear in connection with the
merchants (18:3).
Referring to these intratexts, namely 17:2, 18: 3.9, is interesting to note how fornicating
with the kings of the earth –ἐπόρνευσαν οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς (17:2), becomes living
sensually with her (the same kings of the earth) –οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς οἱ μετ᾽ αὐτῆς
πορνεύσαντες (18:9) and in 19:2 meaning “corrupting” all earth –ἔφθειρεν τὴν γῆν ἐν τῇ
πορνείᾳ αὐτῆς. It could be this is pointing to the additional economic dimensions, as well
as ethical impications of sexual imagery.
The term βασιλεύς is itself neutral.585 Nevertheless, here the particular designations
function pejoratively586 just as anything ‘of/on earth’ in the Apocalypse, as explained in the
following.
‘Kings of the earth’ bear a negative connotation, portrayed as the enemies of God (Psalm
2:2, 101:16; Acts 4:26; cf. Rev 17:14). The kings of the earth –οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς are
frequently mentioned in the Apocalypse (6:15, 17:2; 18:3.9; 19:18; 21:24),
584
Louw-Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, s.v. στρηνιάω (§88.254), 769.
585
586
Sals, Die Biographie, 127-127: In contrast to what she calls the ‘real’ kings, who are the believers, followers
of Christ, himself the King of Kings (1:5, 17:14, 19:16), οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς are like kings – ὡς βασιλεῖς (17:12),
being legitimized in their power (ἐξουσία) by the Beast, with whom they reign for one hour – μίαν ὥραν
λαμβάνουσιν μετὰ τοῦ θηρίου.
169
Before 17:2, they were last mentioned in 16:14-21. One could interpret their presence now
in connection with that particular section, as referring to their uniting forces against God at
Armageddon.
Interstingly, as per Nicklas’ observation, in Rev 21:24, the kings of the new earth play a
positive part as they bring their splendor into the New Jerusalem.587
Irrespective of the ulterior associations, the kings will participate in the destruction of the
Whore as depicted in 17:16.
The kings’ fate will include their punishment in 19:8, which is in some aspects, similar to
the Whore’s (17:16): the wedding guests, who are invited to take part in the Wedding of
the Lamb will eat their flesh –φάγητε σάρκας βασιλέων.
The inhabitants of the earth have become inebriated
The other group, οἱ κατοικοῦντες τὴν γῆν are mentioned quite frequently in the
Apocalypse (3:10; 6:10; 8:13; 13:8.14; 17:2.8), but usually with the adjective in the genitive
and accompanied by the preposition ἐπί. Here is the only instance when they are
mentioned both without the preposition and in the accusative (τὴν γῆν).
Their references are again negative as in the case of the kings,588 the “infatuated
worshippers of the Beast”589 (13:8). God sends judgment (3:10, 6:10) upon inhabitants. The
Apocalypse also reports on the inhabitants of the earth, who have been partially punished
with the seven vials plagues, while the rest will be killed by the sword (19:21).
The phrase ‘inhabitants of the Earth’ designates on the one hand the inhabited, civilized
population on Earth. On the other hand, from the perspective of Gods’ creation, the
inhabitants could encompass humanity as a whole (cf. Eph 3:17, Col 1:19).
In the Apocalypse, it remains unclear whether they are the same with the τοὺς καθημένους
ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς (14:6) to whom the gospel is announced.590
Inhabitants of the earth are contrasted to the ones who dwell in heaven οἱ ἐν αὐτοῖς
[οὐρανοὶ/ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ] σκηνοῦντες (12:12, 13:6).
Besides being depicted as inebriated, the inhabitants on the earth are collectively guilty
(implied by 6:10). They are lead astray (2:20, 13:14, 20:3) and carry the image of the Beast
587
Nicklas, Freiheit oder Prädestination? (no pagination).
588
Ruiz, Ezekiel in the Apocalypse, 315.
589
Harrington, Revelation, 173.
590
170
(13:14), worshipping it (13:8.12). Their names are not written in the Book of Life (13:8,
17:8).
Considering the above, the group named ‘inhabitants of the earth’ could be identified as
those excluded from the New Jerusalem, namely “the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted,
the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars” whose place is ‘’in
the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, where there is a second death” (21:8, cf. 19:20-
21, 22:15).
There is a larger context in the Apocalypse in which food and drinking have a negative
connotation591 and conjoin with images of sexual promiscuity.
The implications of eating food sacrificed to idols are disastrous for the community in
Thyatira. Such actions lead to alienation from God, a loss in salvation and potentially death
(2:22-23).592 Similarly, the intoxication of the inhabitants by the Whore, as well as the
Whore’s consumption of blood (v.6) can have equally defiling consequences and death for
the agent, namely the Whore (17:6, cf.18:24).
Additionally, drunkenness as a spiritual blindness is evoked in Isa 29:9-10. Hos 4:11-12
ascribes harlotry, wine and new wine the power to take away understanding. Although no
effect is recorded textually in 17:2b, the allusion is clear: once imbibed, all resistance is
abandoned.
In contrast with images of intoxication by blood and wine, ‘water of life’ is offered for free
in the New Jerusalem (21:6).
Inebriety is usually a condemned behavior, as it is associated with reckless living (Eph 5:18),
lack of moral restraint (Luke 21:34), which should be avoided (cf. Lev 10:9, Deut 21:20; Ezek
23:33, Job 12:25, Sir 18:33, 19:2 and Gal 5:21, 1 Cor 5:11.).593
The wine of her fornication
In 17:2b, the intoxicating source of the inhabitants of the earth is the wine of the whore’s
immorality –τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς.
In the Apocalypse, this phrase appears in connection with whoring, exercised by the Great
Whore in both 14:8 and 18:3. However, the reference in 14:8 is slightly modified: ‘wine’ is
591
Duff, Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing, 72; cf. Sals, Die Biographie, 107.
592
Duff, Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing, 74.
593
Louw-Nida, Greek-English Lexicon, s.v. Drunkenness, § 88.283-88.288, 773.
171
added one more genitive τοῦ θυμοῦ, reading together as “the wine of the wrath594 of her
immorality” –ἐκ τοῦ οἴνου τοῦ θυμοῦ τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς making reference to Babylon.
This image echoes that of the wrath of God in14:10: the worshippers of the Beast will also
drink “from the wine of the wrath of God” –ἐκ τοῦ οἴνου τοῦ θυμοῦ τοῦ θεου (14:10),
meaning they forego punishment.
Moreover, the contrast between the ‘wine of the wrath of Whore’ and that ‘of the wrath of
God’ is intensified. The Whore’s “wine of the wrath of immorality” (cf. 14:8, 18:3) –οἴνος
τοῦ θυμοῦ τῆς πορνείας –is less potent than “the wine of the fierce wrath of God, the
Almighty” –οἴνος τοῦ θυμοῦ τῆς ὀργῆς τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ παντοκράτορος (19:15, 16:19).
The conjoining with drinking wine and punishment is also familiar with Psalm 60:5, 75:9
and especially in Isa 51:17, when Jerusalem is said to have drunk at the hand of the Lord,
the cup of his wrath.
It was previously mentioned that in the Apocalypse, prostitution is linked with idolatry (the
almost parallel description of Jezebel in 2:14.20-21; but also 9:21; 14:8), which may invite a
further cultic connection. In this line, one could interpret the ‘wine of her fornication’ in
connection with the cult of the emperor, where wine offerings were sometimes
required.595 Idolatry associated with foreign cults supports the previous interpretation.
Esther 1:7; 3:15; Daniel 1:5.8, 5:1.3f, as books having a Persian background paint
drunkenness as part of the court routine. 596
594
In BDAG, 365 the alternative translation of θυμός features: θυμός is translated as ‘passion’, so Rev 14:8 is
rendered as the ‘wine of passion of her immorality’ –ἐκ τοῦ οἴνου τοῦ θυμοῦ τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς; cf. Beale,
The Book of Revelation, 755, rendering the genitive construction τοῦ θυμοῦ and τῆς πορνείας as genitives of
cause, purpose of result.
595
596
Madeleine S. Miller, J. Lane Miller, s.v. Drunkenness, in: Harper’s Bible Dictionary, New York: Harper Row,
1961, 144.
172
Verse 2 of chapter 17 adduces new information to the Great Whore, not only by
introducing two new groups with whom she interacts, but also by presenting the reasons
(or justifications) for her divine indictment.
The active engagement of the Whore with the kings and inhabitants of the earth points
further to delineating her realm dominance, namely the earth. Such dominance reinforces
the political and economic undertones of her liaisons, confirming once again the etymology
of harlot – πόρνη discussed previously.
Extensions of this sort point to the different layers of understanding ‘fornication’: on the
one hand fornication entails an explicit illicit liaison, on the other hand, it entails political
and economic undertones, and as a result –idolatry.
One can record a continuation of the sexual language, by means of πόρν- cognates. Only
one verse accommodates three mentions, either by means of a pronominal adjective –ἧς,
or by a verb –πορνεύω and by a noun –πορνεία.
This fact may serve to continue with the masculine perspective initiated from the v.1
onwards.
Political and economic undertones of fornication can act as potential markers of threat, for
their association can destabilize the literal understanding of sexual imagery.
The first two verses delineate also other characters involved in the vision, their standpoint
and attitudes in the text. They contribute to the clarification of the sides engaged in the
eschatological scenario: the martyrs, angels (most probably the narrator) confront the
Whore together with the Beast, kings and inhabitants of the earth.
For this reason, their presentation and fate in the Apocalypse is as negative as the
associations they evoke.
The wine, as the source for the inhabitants’ intoxication brings to mind possible cultic
reverberations of contemporary idolatrous functions. These are meant to contribute
further to the negative context created so far, by relating relate very well with the theme
of judgment as evidenced from the OT intertexts. Such identification further places the
image in the discourse of the social dimension of prostitution, as per the already
(in)famous intratext with the Great Whore, respectively, Jezebel in Apocalypse 2:20-22.
173
A social dimension to understanding fornication is conceived in the following as an attack
on the social body. Eating the wrong food or engaging in the wrong kind of sex597 is
condemned for “in many cultures, prostitution can serve as a metaphor for voracious,
almost limitless mode of consumption that merges the sexual and the material.”598
Keeping the boundaries intact is a means of maintaining the ‘right’ rules governing over
food and sex.
Given the extent and implications of the metaphor of inebriation, these rules can no longer
be kept, resulting thus into a type of chaos that needs to be regulated by divine
intervention. The sanction of the Whore (and later of her associates) is issued for enticing
others, here ‘kings’ and ‘inhabitants of the earth’ to take part in the defiling actions.
We notice how mentioning of fornication, or immorality, just like in the previous verse has
the purpose of further delineating the character of the Whore, by insisting on sexual
termini.
Even if later, the geopolitical dimension by reference to Babylon will be added to the sexual
charge i.e. that of πόρνη, sexual promiscuity will always be a component of the image599
(cf. 18:3.9, 19:2).
On the whole, the first two verses already give a substantial amount of information on the
character of the Great Whore. The information is inferred primarily from the text.
Secondarily it is accrued by means of textual relations established either with similar
contexts (and gendered images!) found in the Apocalypse, as well as with more distant, but
thematically related OT ones.
1.5 Feminist Substance of Interest
The feminist interest focuses in the first two verses on the Great Whore’s gender identity,
as well as sexual conduct.
As mentioned in the Theoretical Part, a reader’s oriented approach evidences that our
understanding is organized into informational blocks throughout the reading process.
597
Paul B. Duff, Who Rides the Beast?, 98.
598
Thomas A. J. McGinn, The Economy of Prostitution in the Roman World: A Study of Social History and the
Brothel, Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 2004, 53-54.
599
174
These blocks are formed on the one hand, by gradually gathering information provided by
the text, on the other hand, information is provided by the intra- and intertextual relations.
With intertexts, a continuous recurrence of motifs or key words in the presentation of the
Whore is pointing to one direction: that the Whore is evil and as such her judgment is
entirely justified.
There are two observations I would like to make regarding these introductory verses.
The non-revised exegetical analyses depicting various applications of the historical-critical
method to be found in exegetical commentaries revolve around an early identification of
the Whore in v.2 with v.5 (Babylon) and strengthen their argument by appeal to v. 18 (city),
maintaining thus the political dimension of the gendered apparition.
As a result, they discuss the image of the Whore sitting on many waters, in view of the
intertextual connections with some of the standard Old Testament prophetic writings.
The immediate step they undertake is the identification of the Great Whore in its political
manifestation as Rome,600 or Jerusalem,601 or even Babylon.602 In other variants, they
600
Cf. among others J. E. Bruns, The Contrasted Woman of Apocalypse 12 and 17, in: Catholic Bible Quarterly
26/1964, 459-463, Adela Yarbro Collins, Revelation 18: Taunt Song or Dirge in: J. Lambrecht (ed.) L’apocalypse
johannique dans le Nouveau Testament, Leuven, 1980, 185-204; C.P. Thiede, Babylon der andere Ort:
Anmerkungen zu 1Petr 5,13 und Apg 12,17, in: Biblica 67/1986, 532-538, Bergmeier, Die Erzhure und das
Tier, Robert B. Moberly, When was Revelation conceived? in: Biblica 73/1992, 276-392, 383-389; Bauckham,
The Climax of Prophecy, Yarbro Collins, Feminine Symbolism in the Book of Revelation a, 20-33, H. Giesen,
Das römische Reich im Spigel der Johannes Apokalypse, In: Aufstieg und Niedergang der romischen Welt II
26.3/1996, 2501-2614, Nelson J. Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce in John’s Apocalypse, Sheffield:
Sheffield Academic Press, 1996, Aune, Revelation 17-22; Beale, The Book of Revelation; C.-H. Hunzinger,
Babylon als Deckname für Rom und die Datierung des 1. Petrusbriefes, in: H. G. Reventlow (ed.), Gottes Wort
und Gottes Land: Hans Willhelm Hertberurg zum 70. Geburtstag, Göttingen: Vanderhoeck & Ruprecht, 1965,
67-77, G. B. Caird, The Revelation of Saint John the Divine, New York: Harper & Row, 1966, 212-213, Ian
Boxall, The Revelation of Saint John (Black’s New Testament Commentaries vol. 18), London: Continuum,
2006, 39-42, Wilfrid J. Harrington O.P., Revelation (Sacra Pagina Series vol.16) Collegeville, Minnesota:
Liturgical Press, 1993, 73, Leonard L. Thompson, The Book of Revelation. Apocalypse and Empire, New
York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990, 13, Christopher A. Frilingos, Spectacles of Empire. Monsters,
Martyrs and the Book of Revelation, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004, 58ff, Yarbro Collins,
Crisis and Catharsis, 121-124, Royalty, Streets of Heaven, 177-209, Schüssler-Fiorenza, Justice and Judgment,
Jacques Ellul, Apocalypse. The Book of Revelation (trans. George Schreiner), New York: The Seabury Press,
1977, 190-201, Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, 486, Garrett, Revelation, 472-473.
601
Margaret Barker, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2000, 279-301, Edmondo F. Lupieri,
A commentary on the Apocalypse of John (trans. Maria Poggi Johnson and Adam Kamesar), Grand Rapids,
Michigan/Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999, 249-281, Josephine
Massyngberde Ford, Revelation. Introduction, Translation and Commentary (The Anchor Bible), New York:
Doubleday &Co., 1975, 285; Alan James Beagley, The ‘Sitz im Leben’ of the Apocalypse with Particular
Reference to the Role of the Church’s Enemies, (Beiheft zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche
175
favour either a historical contemporary reading, or a more ahistorical, or even
transhistorical feature. The Whore becomes the symbol for the “ultimately seductive
expression of secular wrongdoing.”603 An ecclesiological-oriented approach conceives the
church existence in the war against die assimilation of the anti-Christian powers, which
attempt at destroying the Church from inside and outside.604
Such a premature identification leads to a loss of content in the composition of the
metaphor. The acts of harlotry will be subsequently read as idolatry and all the subsequent
meanings channeled to this area.
The rhetorical power of such a use of imagery is then diminished by forcing it into only one
spectrum of interpretation.
Additionally, the order of the semantic construction of the metaphor modifies.
Subsequently, the judgment of the Great Whore becomes the judgment of Babylon the
Great and ultimately the judgment of Rome, obviating the human-gendered character of
both the image as depicted in vv.3-6, as well as the corporeal aspect of her punishment in
the flesh described in 17:16.
In this manner, a gender-informed analysis attempts to render inadequate such a
metaphorical composition. It offers corrections and prompts the need to treat equally all
the textual dimensions and levels of the gendered metaphor, encouraging not to overlook
certain aspects, just because possible intertexts were found and reiterated by the
traditional approaches.
For this reason, the corresponding intertexts with OT writings should be rendered as
secondary in importance.
In addition, the mere fact of the angel invites the Seer to witness the judgment of the
Great Whore offers a masculine perception over the description of the vision. A gender-
informed perspective is interested in the extent to which the divine punishment of evil as
feminine is legitimate, considering its androcentric character.
Wissenschaft und die Kunde der älteren Kirche 50), Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1987, 90-91, J. S.
Russell, The Parousia. The New Testament Doctrine of Our Lord’s Second Coming, Michigan: Grand Rapids,
1999, cf. Kenneth Gentry Before Jerusalem Fell, Tyler, Texas: Institute for Christian Economics, 1989, Don K.
Preston, Who is this Babylon? A Study of Revelation, Ardmore, OK: JaDon Productions, 2006, 1999.
602
Mostly Neo-protestant interpreters tend to interpret ‘Babylon’ as Babylon. Cf. For example, Andy M.
Woods, What is the Identity of Babylon in Revelation 17-18? My Hermeneutical Approach to Apocalyptic
Literature, retrieved from http://www.pre-trib.org/data/pdf/Woods-WhatistheIdentityofBa.pdf (last
accessed 12.10.2012).
603
604
Matthias Rissi, Die Hure Babylon und die Verführung der Heiligen. Eine Studie zur Apokalypse Johannes
(Beiträge zur Wissenschaft vom Alten und Neuen Testament, Heft 136), Stuttgart/Berlin/ Köln: W.
Kohlhammer, 1995, 59-60.
176
Besides the fact that “women are symbolized in male terms either as the ‘whore’ or as ‘the
good woman,”605 I detect among the rhetorical artifices, a derogatory calling of names, also
referred as slander, operating as a rhetorical means of belittling the enemy.
Further, slander in this case does not necessarily imply an objective depiction of reality for
the discourse is constructed already from a biased perspective.606 I have already presented
Jennifer Knust’s arguments concerning the fact that such allegations never point solely to
sex,607 but that in reality, sexual charges are used as tool to assess cultural assertions about
sex and morality of the period and thus show the competitive power relations between
various groups.
Once the legitimacy of a position or group has been linked to a particular definition of sexual virtue,
accusations of sexual vice become a potent weapon for distinguishing insiders from outsiders, policing groups
boundaries, and eliminating rivals. Moreover, sexual slurs […] can serve as an important resistance strategy:
the pretensions of an elite are efficiently skewered by their (supposed) subordinates once the emptiness of
608
their claims to virtue have been exposed.
Such an observation would orientate towards a contemporary understanding of the

dynamics of John’s contemporary groups competing for religious supremacy.
Nevertheless, the ideological consequences of this rhetorical strategy are immediate and
correspond with the androcentric perspective of a patriarchal culture. Their final goal
represents the positioning of readers as opponents of the Whore. In doing so, they may run
the risk of internalizing the masculine gender as normative. A mentally strenuous situation,
respectively immasculation may occur throughout the vision.
Expressed otherwise, in a more corporeal dimension, rather than rhetorical, it would be

interesting to understand to which extent is the one identified as the Great Whore an
actual whore.609
All we have for the moment is a one-dimensional account, in which an image of a woman is
(passively) described. She is introduced as a ‘whore’. This appellative also features in the
account of the witness to the scene of judgment, i.e. John, the Seer whom we cannot
suspect at this moment of biasness.
605
Schüssler- Fiorenza, Vision of a Just World, 13.
606
Cf. Knust, Abandoned to Lust.
607
608
Knust, Abandoned to Lust, 3-4.
609
177
From a sociological standpoint, I will underline in the following the power and potential of
this appellative. Pheterson proffers a list of the prostitute’s offences against cultural norms
comprising seven items: (1) having sex with strangers; (2) having sex with multiple
partners; (3) taking sexual initiative and control and possessing expertise; (4) asking money
for sex; (5) being committed to satisfying men’s lusts and fantasies; (6) being out alone on
the streets at night dressed to incite or attract men’s desires; (7) being in the company of
supposedly drunk or abusive men whom they can either handle (as ‘common’ or ‘vulgar’
women) or not handle (as ‘victimized’ women).610
Considering the technical definition above, when transferring it onto the actual perception
of the image of the Great Whore in the Apocalypse, the following observations occur.
From the description we receive in the vision of Apocalypse 17, the Whore is identified
through her multiple partners. This corresponds to the second attribute of Pheterson’s
definition.
In view of the victimized nature of the ‘inhabitants of the earth’, one can also assume that
the Whore has control and takes initiative (cf. attribute 3).
In addition, the manner in which she is dressed may entail an erotic capital oriented
towards inciting and attracting men, desires (cf. attribute 5).
Tangentially, the economic aspect is also present with the Great Whore (cf. attribute 4),
albeit differently: the Whore herself is presented as prosperous. Also drunkenness is also
mentioned, as part of her company (cf. attribute 7), yet in a different perspective: not only’
the inhabitants of the earth are made drunk from the wine of her fornication’, but also the
Whore is presented as ‘inebriated with blood’.
The contemporary implications such a discourse may purport will be further discussed
when assessing the corporeal dimension of the metaphor in question.
For the moment being, however, the leitmotif of the first two verses implies a negative
assessment of female sexuality at a larger scale, by the associations with kings of the earth,
as well as inhabitants of the same abode.
In contrast to her, as readers we are not currently witnessing the kings and inhabitants’
judgment, but only the whore’s. It is uncertain whether this omission is at this point
connected with their status as victims, possibly implied by the transience of the state in
which they are found.
610
Gail Pheterson, The Whore Stigma: Female Dishonour and Male Unworthiness, in: Social Text 37/1993,
39–54, 46.
178
However, a premature assumption regarding the victimization of the kings and inhabitants
of the earth could be as detrimental as the overstressing the political dimension of the
whore image, in as much as it would prove to be textually inadequate.
One cannot but notice, from what was presented above, that textual punishing of kings
and inhabitants is relatively short, when compared to the length of the whore’s.
Additionally, from a gender-informed perspective, it is relevant to note the textual
importance of 17:1 that intentionally contrasts the reference in 21:9, where the Bride of
the Lamb is presented.
This contrast maintains the dichotomist model in the presentation of gendered images.
Moreover, Rev 17:2 is repeated in the following chapter (18:3) in an attempt to
overemphasize the guilt of the wrongdoers and their just punishment (cf. the textual
parallel with Jezebel).
These points will be presented later, once the portrait of the Whore gains more substance.
179
2. General Overview of the Vision (17:3-6)
17:3a Καὶ ἀπήνεγκέν με εἰς ἔρημον ἐν πνεύματι.

b Καὶ εἶδον γυναῖκα καθημένην ἐπὶ θηρίον κόκκινον,
γέμον[τα] ὀνόματα βλασφημίας,
ἔχων κεφαλὰς ἑπτὰ καὶ κέρατα δέκα.
4a Καὶ ἡ γυνὴ ἦν περιβεβλημένη πορφυροῦν καὶ κόκκινον
b καὶ κεχρυσωμένη χρυσίῳ καὶ λίθῳ τιμίῳ καὶ μαργαρίταις,
c ἔχουσα ποτήριον χρυσοῦν ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτῆς γέμον βδελυγμάτων
καὶ τὰ ἀκάθαρτα τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς
5 Καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ μέτωπον αὐτῆς ὄνομα γεγραμμένον, μυστήριον.
Βαβυλὼν ἡ μεγάλη, ἡ μήτηρ τῶν πορνῶν
καὶ τῶν βδελυγμάτων τῆς γῆς.
6a Καὶ εἶδον τὴν γυναῖκα μεθύουσαν ἐκ τοῦ αἵματος τῶν ἁγίων
καὶ ἐκ τοῦ αἵματος τῶν μαρτύρων Ἰησοῦ.
b Καὶ ἐθαύμασα ἰδὼν αὐτὴν θαῦμα μέγα.
(And the angel carried me away in the spirit to a desert. And I saw a woman seated upon a
scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns.
And the woman has been clothed with purple and scarlet and has been adorned with gold
and precious stones and pearls. In her hand, she had a golden cup full with abominations
and with the impurities of her prostitution.
And upon her forehead, a name, a mystery has been written Babylon the great, the mother
of the whores and of the earth’s abominations.
And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the witnesses of
Jesus.
And upon seeing this, I was greatly amazed.)
2.1. Preliminary Methodical Considerations and Structural Overview
The choice for this particular subdivision is rooted in the understanding of the internal
coherence of the text (vv. 3b-6). More exactly, either the v. 3a belongs semantically to the
previous unit regarding the invitation of the angel addressed to the Seer, or it can be
interpreted as an introduction to the actual vision unfolding before the John’s eyes.
180
To illustrate the latter option, I consider verses 3a and 6b frame this sub-unit.611 The
structure thus formed encompasses the following sequences: the Seer is taken to the place
of the vision (17:3a), he sees the Whore and the Beast on which she is seated (17:3b). The
description of the Beast (17:3b) and the Whore (17:4-6a) follow, as well as the Seer’s
reaction (17:6b) is recorded.
Moreover, the location of the vision in rapport with the preceding and the following parts
contributes to the coherence of the larger passage.
There are actually two manners of linking the verses of the previous section (vv. 1-2) with
the current one: either as following the pattern of ‘frame story’, i.e. ‘a story within a story’,
or as a single vision with two tableaus.
If the angel appearing to the Seer (17:1-2) is a vision in itself, vv. 3-6 of this subunit form a
vision within a vision: within the already declared frame of 17:1-2, whose object was τὸ
κρίμα τῆς πόρνης τῆς μεγάλης (vision 1), vision 1’ (17:3-6) unfolds. As a result, the actual
vision, meant to describe the-judged-one starts only in v.3 and not in v.1.
Alternatively, I could refer to it as one single vision in two stages, in which the first two
verses of chapter 17 are introductory to what follows in vv.3-6.
Some other markers contribute to the coherence between the two subunits. Such markers
coherently operate by either directly mentioning the agents involved, or indirectly, both by
inner structural referents, as well as external indicators provided by the very grammatical
arrangement of the Greek sentences.
In terms of participants, nothing is changed: just like previously, the angel takes the lead,
transporting the Seer to the actual place where the latter will record the vision.
Even if the subject of the verb ἀπήνεγκεν is not explicitly mentioned in vv.3-6, we could
infer it is the same angel –εἷς ἐκ τῶν ἑπτὰ ἀγγέλων τῶν ἐχόντων τὰς ἑπτὰ φιάλας –
introduced in 17:1a, mentioned to again in 17:7 –ὁ ἄγγελος –where the definite article
would hearken back to 17:1a.
611
R. H. Charles insits as well on the division of the larger textual sequence into this particular subunit. He
argues the order of the words, i.e. the verb precedes the object twice in 17:3, once in 17:6 and 17:4-5
possibly evidentiates a Semitic source. (R. H. Charles, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on
the Revelation of St. John with Introduction, Notes and Indices also the Greek Text and English Translation
(vol. 2), Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 38 George Street, 1920, 2: 55; Ruiz, Ezekiel in the Apocalypse, 295). The
following section is not phrased in the same pattern. (Charles, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on
the Revelation of St. John, 2: 61.)
181
The Seer is referred to as με (17:3a) in the 1st person singular. Aorist active endings612
indicate the type of narration –first person descriptive narration.
Moreover, in view of the above, the current vision is related to the same subject stated in
17:1b –ἡ πόρνη ἡ μεγάλη –although slightly altered.
If we take v.1a literally, we witness in v.3a a change of focus from the vision of the
judgment of the Great Whore (vv. 1-2) to her description (vv. 3-6).
Chapter 18 will deal at large with her subsequent judgment, carried out only in 19:21.
The correspondence between the summoning of v.1b –δεῦρο, δείξω σοι, the actual
transportation in v.3a –ἀπήνεγκέν με εἰς ἔρημον and the verb εἶδον (vv.3b.6a) offers yet
again another argument for the logical consistency of this subunit with vv.1-2.
The noun ἡ πόρνη is not mentioned explicitly in the subunit comprising vv. 3-6 save the
aforementioned reference in v. 5. What else than a whore could be ‘the mother of whores
and of the abominations on earth’ –ἡ μήτηρ τῶν πορνῶν καὶ τῶν βδελυγμάτων τῆς γῆς.
‘Mother’ here functions as another cognate of πόρνη.
Instead, γυνή is found in v.4b –ἔχουσα ποτήριον […] γέμον βδελυγμάτων καὶ τὰ ἀκάθαρτα
τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς. The subject of this subunit is very frequently addressed to as (ἡ) γυνή
(vv.3b.4a.6a.)
Briefly defined in 17:1-2 through her actions (fornication, drinking abuse), the Whore will
be further portrayed (17:4a-6a). An array of elements pertaining to her external
appearance will be presented: purple and scarlet dress, gold, precious stone, pearls, golden
cup in her hands (ἦν περιβεβλημένη πορφυροῦν καὶ κόκκινον καὶ κεχρυσωμένη χρυσίῳ
καὶ λίθῳ τιμίῳ καὶ μαργαρίταις, ἔχουσα ποτήριον χρυσοῦν ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτῆς).
Also pertaining to her appearance is her drunken state (v.6).
While v.2b mentioned the Whore possibly inebriating the inhabitants of the earth –οἱ
κατοικοῦντες τὴν γῆν, in v.6a, she is presented as such –μεθύουσαν.
However, the source of her drunkenness here is different from that of the inhabitants of
the earth. She is drunk on the blood of the saints and of the witnesses to Jesus μεθύουσαν
ἐκ τοῦ αἵματος τῶν ἁγίων καὶ ἐκ τοῦ αἵματος τῶν μαρτύρων Ἰησοῦ.
In terms of setting, v.3a brings about additional information to the setting in 1a.
612
I am referring to the verbs ὁράω (specifically, εἶδον in 17:3b.6a) and θαυμάζω (respectively ἐθαύμασα in
17:6b).
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While the actual setting of the vision was not mentioned in vv.1-2, the only local reference
regards the Whore, i.e. ‘upon many waters’ –τῆς καθημένης ἐπὶ ὑδάτων πολλῶν. This
could create an expectation that the vision take place near those waters. However, v.3a
locates the vision in the desert –εἰς ἔρημον. Additionally, v.3b deals with different
placement of the Whore, who is seated this time ‘upon a scarlet beast’ –καθημένην ἐπὶ
θηρίον κόκκινον.
The latter reference, although new, will make the object of the next subunit (starting with
v. 7b onwards), where angelus interpres will clarify ‘the mystery of the woman and of the
beast that carries her’ –τὸ μυστήριον τῆς γυναικὸς καὶ τοῦ θηρίου τοῦ βαστάζοντος αὐτὴν.
All these considered, the excerpts coincide in motifs as follows: the depiction of the woman
as sitting/ seated, the recurrence of πόρν- cognates, as well as the image of inebriation
transferred now onto the Whore herself.
Besides the markers of continuity between the two above-mentioned subunits, there are
also some ruptures at the structural level.
These aim on the one hand at emphasizing the uniqueness of the subsection comprised
within the vv. 3-6. On the other hand, they enforce the idea of a new subunit, in which
other information than what was presented so far in vv. 1-2 will be adduced.
To sum up again the differences, I would like to point out that first of all, the Seer is told by
the angel he is about to witness the judgment of the Great Whore (17:1-2). Instead,
extensive description of the Whore’s outer appearance follows, which although relevant
for our current interpretation, does not seem to confirm our original horizon of
expectation.613
Then, the actual setting of the Whore seems problematic and somehow does not conform
to 17:1b, where she is clearly introduced as “seated upon many waters” (τῆς καθημένης
ἐπὶ ὑδάτων πολλῶν). Insetad, she is “seated upon a scarlet beast” (καθημένην ἐπὶ θηρίον
κόκκινον, v. 3b).
Furthermore, the topographical reference “on many waters” (17:1b) regarding the Whore’s
placement is again opposed to the setting of the vision, respectively, the “desert” (v.3a).
Functionally, this paradox may be aiming at transmitting a particular message, derived
from a figurative understanding of “desert” probably alluding to the Whore’s tragic demise
(17:16).
Lastly, I have already mentioned that instead of referring to the apparition as “the whore”
as it was introduced to the Seer in v.1, John sees “a woman” (also repeated in 17:4a, 6a).
613
This is even more contradicted in v.7, where the angel, instead of continuing with the theme of judgment,
chooses to present the ‘mystery of the Whore and Beast which carries her’.
183
In the following, I will compare in a tabular manner the reports of the angel and the Seer,
respectively. I will also note the discrepancies between what was promised by the angel
and what was actually seen by Seer. By these, I aim to show that such inconsistencies are
not singular. These point rather to the existence of two narrative voices, having at times
different accounts on the same event, yet similar in terms of the leitmotifs employed.
Table 1
ANGEL in 17:1b-2 SEER in 17:3b-6a

τὸ κρίμα τῆς πόρνης τῆς μεγάλης γυναῖκα
(the judgment of the Great Whore) (a woman)
(17:1b) (17:3b)
τῆς καθημένης ἐπὶ ὑδάτων πολλῶν καθημένην ἐπὶ θηρίον κόκκινον, γέμον[τα] ὀνόματα
(seated upon many waters) βλασφημίας, ἔχων κεφαλὰς ἑπτὰ καὶ κέρατα δέκα.
(17:1b) (seated upon a scarlet beast, full of names of
blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns)
(17:3b)
μεθ᾽ ἧς ἐπόρνευσαν οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς
(the kings of the earth have fornicated with her)
(17:2a)
ἐμεθύσθησαν οἱ κατοικοῦντες τὴν γῆν ἐκ τοῦ οἴνου γυναῖκα μεθύουσαν ἐκ τοῦ αἵματος τῶν ἁγίων καὶ ἐκ
τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς. τοῦ αἵματος τῶν μαρτύρων Ἰησοῦ.
(The inhabitants of the earth have become (woman inebriated from the blood of the saints and
inebriated from the wine of her immorality) from the blood of Jesus’ witnesses)
(17:2b) (17:6a)
ἡ γυνὴ ἦν περιβεβλημένη πορφυροῦν καὶ κόκκινον
(the woman dressed in purple and scarlet)
(17:4a)
κεχρυσωμένη χρυσίῳ καὶ λίθῳ τιμίῳ καὶ μαργαρίταις
(glittered with gold and precious stones and pearls)
(17:4b)
ἔχουσα ποτήριον χρυσοῦν ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτῆς γέμον
βδελυγμάτων καὶ τὰ ἀκάθαρτα τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς
(having a golden cup in her hand full with
abomination and the impurities of her immorality)
(17:4c)
ἐπὶ τὸ μέτωπον αὐτῆς ὄνομα γεγραμμένον,
μυστήριον, Βαβυλὼν ἡ μεγάλη, ἡ μήτηρ τῶν πορνῶν
καὶ τῶν βδελυγμάτων τῆς γῆς
(upon her forehead a name of blasphemy, mystery,
Babylon the Great, the mother of the whores and of
the abominations on earth)
(17:5)
184
In the subsection comprising vv. 3-6, the following observations are ensued.
Elements of novelty complementing the portrayal of the Whore are her luxurious attire,
the scarlet beast (v.3b) with seven heads and ten horns, the name of the woman –
Βαβυλὼν ἡ μεγάλη, ἡ μήτηρ τῶν πορνῶν καὶ τῶν βδελυγμάτων τῆς γῆς (v.5), as well the
Whore herself being drunk on the blood of saints and witnesses of Jesus (v.6a).
The scarlet beast is added to the groups of kings. At the same time, in the group of victims,
respectively inhabitants of the earth are martyrs of/to Jesus and saints. This fact may
represent an extension of the guilt ascribed to the Whore in 17:2.
The last verse of the unit (v.6b) –καὶ ἐθαύμασα ἰδὼν αὐτὴν θαῦμα μέγα –has a double
function: it records the Seer’s reaction by closing the vision, while at the same time, it
provides an incentive for the angel’s further clarification, functioning in this case as
narrative artifice.
Considering the form of the major verbal constructions (ἀποφέρω, ὁράω and θαυμάζω),
the entire subunit comprising vv. 3-6 is stylistically, a descriptive narration in the 1st person
singular. It indicates that the moment of the actual writing is ulterior to the vision.
The phrasing ἐν πνεύματι (v.3a), but also by the aorist verb form εἶδον (17:3b.6a) are used
extensively in the Apocalypse with visions. The state of trance is always followed by a
description.614
Personification is the main figure of style especially in v.5, when the Whore is named
Βαβυλὼν ἡ μεγάλη, ἡ μήτηρ τῶν πορνῶν καὶ τῶν βδελυγμάτων τῆς γῆς.
In line with apocalyptic genre, mystery –μυστήριον will be analyzed.
The possible misogynistic undertones, symbolism and metaphor stemming from the
corporeal reference to the Whore as ‘woman’ and ‘mother’ are also considered.
Subsequently, the images of the subunit will be analyzed, with particular interest on the
following motifs: ‘woman’, ‘adornment’, ‘posture’, ‘prostitution’ as associated with
women-states, as well as motifs such as ‘violence’, ‘persecution’.
In this endeavour, comparison with other passages of the Apocalypse will be considered
together with possible references retrieved from the Old Testament. These will be analyzed
614
For other occurrences, cf. Rev 5:1.2.11; 6:1.2.5.8.12; 7:2; 8:2.13; 9:1; 10: 1; 13:1.11, 14:1.6.14; 15:1.2,
16:13; 17:3.6; 19:11.17.19; 20:1.4.11.12, 21:1.
185
only to the extent I consider them to be in conformity with the aim of gendered reading of
the Great Whore. They should not result in a much too early identification of the gendered
character with its political manifestation, i.e. Rome, as customary with the historical-critical
type of approach.
In the attempt of explaining the complexity of the image of the Great Whore I am
discussing, multiple traditions have been suggested.
A tradition of whore-cities operates at the level of this text. This tradition is familiar with
writings of the prophets, as well as amply documented outside the Bible.
Prophets usually split their virulent attacks against of two categories: Israelite cities such as
Jerusalem (Ezekiel 16, 23) and Samaria (Ezek 23), as well as non-Israelite cities –Niniveh in
Nahum 3: 1-7, Tyre with Isaiah 23:15, where the notion of adultery is absent just like in the
case of the Apocalypse.615
However, John does not merely borrows from the prophets but he develops his own
image/ perspective on things.
Additionally references to certain topoi, either bearing Graeco-Roman rhetorical
undertones, artistic, or purely literary ones will be also considered. These focus rather less
on the function of the image of the Great Whore, and lay more emphasis on the image’s
power to change certain behaviour of audiences.
As shown in the section dealing with the various feminist interests on the current subject,
focusing on gender role from a literary perspective can generate totally different readings
than the options enumerated above.
The discussion will prove the ethical as well as the social implications of the image of the
Great Prostitute, whose characterization will slowly receive contours at least because of
three reading strategies. She is described directly and indirectly, by means of comparison
and contrast, as well as by associations.
The textual markers are more or less revolving around the same commonplaces that the
reader identified so far when reading the Apocalypse.
615
Vander Stichele, Just a Whore, 6.
186
3. Posture
3.1. Setting
17:3a Καὶ ἀπήνεγκέν με εἰς ἔρημον ἐν πνεύματι.

b Καὶ εἶδον γυναῖκα καθημένην ἐπὶ θηρίον κόκκινον,
γέμον[τα] ὀνόματα βλασφημίας,
(And the angel carried me in the spirit to the desert. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet
beast, which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.)
I chose to split verse 3 into two separate semantic units mainly because I interpret 3a to be
introductory to 3b and following verses. Additionally, 3b is signalling the change in
perspective that the Seer purports, whose effects for the exegetical analysis will be further
dealt with.
Many commentators, among whom Aune,616 Schüssler-Fiorenza,617 Rossing618 and Yarbro
Collins619 interpret this verse as well as the following in terms of a literary description,
inspired by ancient literary topos, respectively ἔκφρασις. With ἔκφρασις, the object
presented is described in detail, as if it were present before our eyes. References to such
approach will be further explained.
And he carried me away
A new sequence introduced by καί. The coordinating conjunction indicates a shift to

something more concrete. However, it does not change the previous vision, but it rather
shows another tableau. The conjunction is followed by a verb, which implies movement,
respectively ἀποφέρω (ἀπήνεγκέν).
616
Aune, Revelation 17-22, 923-928.
617
Schüssler-Fiorenza, The Power of the Word, 137f.
618
Rossing, The Choice, 72-82.
619
Rossing, The Choice (ft.44, 77) mentions Yarbro Collins’s utilization of this literary topos, in a paper entitled
th
‘The Apocalyptic Ekphrasis’ held at the International and Interdisciplinary Symposium on the 1900
Anniversary of the Book of Revelation, Athens, 1995.
187
This verb clarifies not only the local target of this movement (εἰς ἔρημον), but also the
nature of the Seer’s condition (ἐν πνεύματι).
It completes the movement implied by δεῦρο in v.1b. The angel not only invites the
apocalyptist to witness the judgment of the Great Whore, but actually carries him away to
the actual scene where the vision takes place, as implied by the prefix ἀπο-, which
indicates a movement outwards620 or toward the exterior.
The formulation καὶ ἀπήνεγκέν is often employed in the description of visionary-
experiences throughout Apocalypse. Because apocalypses entail revealing of divine
mysteries, the boundaries between this world and the other are very fluid. With
apocalypses, crossing of these boundaries is implied.621
The Shepherd of Hermas 1.1.3, 2.1.1622 eloquently provides examples of this sort: καὶ
πνεῦμά με ἔλαβεν καὶ ἀπήνεγκέ με δι’ ἀνοδίας τινός, δι’ ἧς ἄνθρωπος οὐκ ἐδύνατο
ὁδεῦσαι· ἧν δὲ ὁ τόπος κρημνώδης καὶ ἀπερρηγὼς ἀπὸ τῶν ὑδάτων –and a Spirit took me,
and bore me away through a pathless tract, through which no man could pass: for the
place was precipitous, and broken into clefts by reason of the waters; καὶ πάλιν με αἵρει
πνεῦμα καὶ ἀποφέρει εἰς τὸν αὐτὸν τόπον, ὅπου καὶ πέρυσι –and again the Spirit carried
me away, and took me to the same place where I had been the year before.
Just as in the Apocalypse, couplings of the verb ἀποφέρω and the noun πνεῦμα feature
also in The Shepherd of Hermas. However, with the latter, the actual process of entering
into a prophetic trance is mentioned, here (cf. 21:9) the actual result is depicted: at the
moment of the angel’s taking the Seer, one could assume the Seer is already ‘in the spirit’.
A somehow similar description pertaining to this verb, having angels as subjects, is

recorded in Luke 16:22. The verb in question is used passively, referring to angels carrying
the poor man’s dead body to Abraham’s bosom –ἀπενεχθῆναι αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀγγέλων εἰς
τὸν κόλπον Ἀβραάμ.
Associated with visionary experience, it can have a similar meaning with the verb ἁρπάζω
“to steal, carry off, drag away, take or snatch away”. In this manner, it could be comparable
with 2 Cor 12:4, respectively when Paul was caught up into Paradise and heard things that
620
Cf. ἀποφέρω in: BDAG (BibleWorks v. 8). Otherwise, the movement toward exterior is captured in the
English translation containing the particle ‘away’. (Also Louw-Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New
Testament §15.202 (BibleWorks v. 8)).
621
Cf. the definition of ‘apocalypse’, as a literary genre.
622
Cf. The Shepherd of Hermas, in: The Apostolic Fathers in two volumes (Vol 2). With an English translation
by Kirsopp Lake (The Loeb Classical Library 24), Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press/ London:
Heinemann, 1950, 1-307, 6-7 and 16-17.
188
are not to be told, which no mortal is permitted to speak –ὅτι ἡρπάγη εἰς τὸν παράδεισον
καὶ ἤκουσεν ἄρρητα ῥήματα ἃ οὐκ ἐξὸν ἀνθρώπῳ λαλῆσαι.
In the spirit
Transports ἐν πνεύματι occur in the Apocalypse 1:10, 4:2 17:3, and 21:9 denoting a new
state in the manner of the ecstatic transportation.623
A synonymous construction to γενέσθαι, textually ἐγενόμην ἐν πνεύματι (cf. 1:10 and 4:2)
is (γενέσθαι) ἐν ἐκστάσει, a trance-like condition usually depicting a visionary experience of
a revelatory type.624 It is used accordingly used with Acts 10:10, 11:5, 22:17, being
preceded by either various forms of γίνομαι or by ὁράω.
Although nothing is said about the circumstances and manner in which such transports
occur in the Apocalypse, the result of such a mystical experience involves several elements.
On the one hand, it can be recorded a change of topography noted by the Seer, who
narrates in a subjective manner the heavenly events about to take place.625
On the other hand, an extensive description of the object thus revealed employs a past
construction of the verb ὁράω (1:12, 4:1, 17:3, 21:1) as including the seven golden
lampstands (1:12f), heavenly throne (4:2f), Babylon (17:3-6), New Jerusalem (21:10f).
The description can be sometimes accompanied by an acoustic element featured with the
verb ‘to hear’ ἀκούω. It is either announced with ‘great voice’ –φωνή μεγάλη (1:10)
compared to a trumpet –ὡς σάλπιγγος (4:2), or accompanied by the verb ‘to speak’ –
λαλέω (1:11.12, 4:1, 17:1, 21:9) occasionally implying a conversation between the angel
and the Seer (17:1, 21:9). During this conversation, the former usually invites the latter
either to ‘come’626 in order to ‘show’ –δείκνυμι (4:1,17:2, 21:9.10) a particular scene that
will be later described.
623
624
Rissi, Die Verführung, 50.
625
Michael Labahn, ‘Apokalyptische’ Geographie. Einfürende Überlegungen zu einer Toponimie der
Johannesoffenbarung, in: M. Labahn, O. Lehtipuu (eds.), Imagery in the Book of Revaltion (Contributions to
Biblical Exegesis & Theology, vol. 60), Leuven-Paris-Walpole: Peeters, 2011, 107-145, 115f.
626
The invitation is formulated either using the verb ‘go up’ ἀναβαίνω in 4:1), or just the particle ‘δεῦρο’
often left untranslated as per 17:1, 21:9.
189
Aune and Ruiz connect the phrasing in terms of intertextual references, we are discussing
with a stereotypical formula found with Ezekiel. He describes raptures ἐν πνεύματι (cf.
Ezek 3:4, 8:3, 11:24, 37:1, 40:1.2.4, 43:5).627
Other elements worth noting are the repetition of the verb ἀναλαμβάνω –to lift up (Ezek
3:12.14, 8:3, 11:1.24, 43:5) and ἄγω –to lead (Ezek 8:3,11:24, 40:1),628 the association with
a vision (ὅρασις, cf. Ezek 8:3, 11:24), or the indication of a vision/and or audition by ἰδού629
in Ezek 43:5-6.630 With Ezekiel, the object of these visions is contemplating the glory of the
Lord – ἡ δόξα κυρίου (cf. Ezek 3:12, 8:4, 43:5).
Further, John’s close dependence on Ezekelian language regarding the nature of physical
transport is also poignant in his prophetic commission and authority (cf. Rev 1:1), as well as
purpose of such transport, i.e. the announcement of a judgment.631
Possibly for this reason Aune suggests the translation of ἐν πνεύματι by the following
prepositional phrase ‘in a prophetic trance’.632
Given the above-mentioned intertexts, such a resemblance is not at all unintentional. It
stresses on the one hand, the divine character of what awaits to be revealed to the Seer
and on the other hand, it highlights the unidimensionality of the divine message.
In the same line, Smalley advances an interesting hypothesis suggesting a certain degree of
“deliberate ambiguity” contained in the phrasing ἐν πνεύματι “for it combines the ‘spirit’ of
the writer, who is involved in the ecstasy with the ‘Spirit’ of God, who enables the action
and informs its meaning.” 633
627
Ruiz, Ezekiel in The Apocalypse, 300. Cf. Aune, Revelation 17-22, 933, Smalley, The Revelation to John, 428,
Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, 128.
However, Bauckham considers the expression ‘in the spirit’ to be a convention of apocalyptic literature.
(Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, 128 referring to Richard Bauckham, The Climax of
Prophecy, 92-117.)
628
Or ἄγω derivatives such as ἐξάγω –to lead out (Ezek 37:1), or εἰσάγω –to lead in (Ezek 43:5).
629
Louw-Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, s.v. ἰδού (91.13), 812 notes the fact that this is a
prompter of attention, emphasizing the following statement “Look! Listen, pay attention, come now, then”.
630
Ruiz, Ezekiel in the Apocalypse, 301; he also mentions references to Elijah’s raptures as depicted in 1 Kgs
18:12, 2 Kgs 2:16. Also cf. Aune, Revelation 17-22, 934.
631
Cf. Beale, The Book of Revelation, 850. Ruiz, Ezekiel in The Apocalypse, 302.
632
Aune, Revelation 17-22, 933; Cf. Frederick J. Murphy, Fallen Is Babylon: The Revelation to John (New
Testament in Context), Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1998, 354.
633
190
To a desert
The location of the vision is the desert (ἡ ἔρημος). This is actually the place where the Seer
is about to witness the judgment of the Great Whore (v.1c).
From heaven –ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ (cf. 15:5),634 the Seer is now taken to the desert –εἰς ἔρημον
(17:3a).
The noun ἡ ἔρημος is not used with the dative to indicate a static location, but with the
accusative to imply “an extension towards a goal”635 thus providing a further reason to opt
for a dynamic continuation of the previous unit (vv.1 -2).
This movement implies the Seer’s abandoning the heavenly dimension and returning to the
earthly realm.636
Commentators have attributed different interpretations to the actual place of the vision.
The elucidating options range from desert as “a solitary region […] fitting place for
visions”637 having only diversity as purpose,638 a geographically and anthropologically
abandoned639 location to an eschatological one.640
The eschatological valence is obvious in this instance. In accordance to Beale’s observation,
locations in the Apocalypse as elsewhere bear a theological relevance.641
Throughout the Apocalypse, desert –ἔρημος is quite ambiguous in meaning registering
both a positive and a negative connotation. Such ambiguity is not only valid solely in the
Apocalypse, but occurs throughout the Bible. ‘Desert’ has a positive value as a location
634
There are multiple textual markers pointing to ‘heaven’ as the actual dimension, where the Seer is
transported as in 4:2: ‘at once I was in the spirit, and there in heaven stood a throne’ –Εὐθέως ἐγενόμην ἐν
πνεύματι, καὶ ἰδοὺ θρόνος ἔκειτο ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ“ –and therefore witnesses celestial events such as in 8:1:
there was silence in heaven for about half an hour –ἐγένετο σιγὴ ἐν τῷ οὐρανω and 12:1: a great portent
appeared in heaven –σημεῖον μέγα ὤφθη ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ.
635
Louw-Nida, Greek- English Lexicon of the New Testament, s.v. εἰς (§ 84.16).
636
Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati, Täuschung und Klarheit. Zur Wechselwikung zwischen Vision und Geschichte in der
Johannesoffenbarung (Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments 175. Heft),
Göttingen: Vanderhoeck & Rupprecht, 1997, 144.
637
Isbon Thaddeus Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John. Studies in Introduction with a Critical and Exegetical
Commentary, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1919, 692. He refers to several occurrences of this sort,
such as visions of Moses Exod 3:1ff, 2 Esra 9:23ff, The Shepherd of Hermas I, 1.3; III 1, 3. Also cf. Exod 3:1-3, 1
Kgs 19:4-9.
638
Cf. Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John, 692. He enumerates earth (1:9-10), heaven (4:1), sea (10:8), on a
sea-shore (12:18), and a mountaintop (21:9-10) as additional places where John receives visions.
639
Pezzoli-Olgiati, Täuschung und Klarheit, 144.
640
Ruiz, Ezekiel in The Apocalypse, 311.
641
191
auspicious for divine revelation and comfort (Exod 19, 1 Kgs 19:4-6, Isa 40:3, Mark 1:35.45,
6:31-35), but it is envisioned also as a place for testing or utter devastation. In a negative
vein, the desert is the residing place of the enemies of God642 (cf. Exodus, Psalm 95:7-11,
Isa 1:7, 13:20, 37:25, Jer 51:36, Mark 1:12-13, Matt 4:1, Luke 4:1-2, Heb 3:8.17). 643
As mentioned previously, in the Apocalypse itself, ἔρημος has a positive meaning mostly in
chapter 12 (12:6.14), in connection with another vision, where a woman –γυνή and great
dragon –δράκων μέγας feature.
To end the dragon’s pursuit, the woman, who recently bore a child flees to the desert –a
place prepared by God –τόπον ἡτοιμασμένον ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ (12:6), a place of refuge.
Moreover, the locus amoenus offers the woman nourishment for a period of one thousand
two hundred sixty days.
In contrast to the textual references of 12:6.14, in 17:3a, the noun ἔρημος is anarthrous.
Depending on whether we opt for this grammatical occurence as unintentional, such a lack
of definite article would not have any particularly meaning.
The function of the desert featured in this vision contrasts the one in the heavenly vision
(12:6.14). Additionally, in the heavenly vision of chapter 12, desert is a region completely
controlled by divine powers. By contrast, in 17:3a, the whore’s location in the desert may
imply her controlling it, just like her seat upon waters could possibly allude to certain
hegemony on the woman’s behalf.
Observations pertaining to the negative interpretation of ‘desert’ in the Apocalypse may

stem from its location on Earth.
Additionally, in a negative vein, 18:2 describes desert as ‘a dwelling place of demons, a
haunt of every foul spirit, a haunt of every foul bird, a haunt of every foul and hateful
beast’ –ἐγένετο κατοικητήριον δαιμονίων καὶ φυλακὴ παντὸς πνεύματος ἀκαθάρτου καὶ
φυλακὴ παντὸς ὀρνέου ἀκαθάρτου [καὶ φυλακὴ παντὸς θηρίου ἀκαθάρτου] καὶ
μεμισημένου. Such an association bearing demonic reverberations is familiar also with Isa
13:21, Tob 8:3, Matt 2:43 par.644
642
Cf. Beale, The Book of Revelation, 851; Ruiz, Ezekiel in the Apocalypse, 309.
643
Grant R. Osborne, Revelation (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament), Grand Rapids: Baker
Book House, 2002, 610.
644
Osborne, Revelation, 610. Especially for the context of bringing offers in the desert, cf. Lev 16:10, 17:7.
192
Based on this observation, it is my contention that the above-mentioned association of the
desert as having some demonic power remains valid for the following part of the same
verse.645
In the same line, Beale argues the desert provides mainly a “place of spiritual security and
detachment form the world’s dangers”646, a place where deception exerted by the Whore
cannot find support.647 It thus purports a pejorative648 effect. This observation is pertinent
if we take into account the Whore’s type and intensity of influence exercised on the kings
as well as the inhabitants of the earth. This influence results in the kings and inhabitants’
loss of control, as depicted and already analyzed in the previous sub-unit.
However, a further interpretation of desert connects it with the verb ἐρημόω used in the
passive in 17:16, 18:17.19. Here, the verb is noted as part of the castigatory treatment
applied to Whore, along with ‘devouring her flesh’ –τὰς σάρκας αὐτῆς φάγονται (17:16)
‘burning her with fire’649 –αὐτὴν κατακαύσουσιν ἐν πυρί (17:16. 18:8) and inflicting other
plagues, such as torment and grief –βασανισμὸν καὶ πένθος (18:7) followed by pestilence
and grief and famine –θάνατος καὶ πένθος καὶ λιμός (18:8).
This conspicuous association of the desert becoming the fate650 of the Whore was
prefigured in the angel’s announcement of a judgment. When associating it with the
geopolitical dimension, informed by chapter 18, the threat to ‘make desolate’ is not far
from continuing the same line of interpretation.
Considering the long item list of 18:12-14, what was once a prosperous market place for
the merchants of the earth –οἱ ἔμποροι τῆς γῆς (18:3) and all shipmasters and seafarers,
sailors and all whose trade is on the sea –πᾶς κυβερνήτης καὶ πᾶς ὁ ἐπὶ τόπον πλέων καὶ
ναύται καὶ ὅσοι τὴν θάλασσαν ἐργάζονται (18:17) is now ‘laid waste’ ἠρημώθη (18:19). All
the while, the above mentioned groups lament this economical loss (18:11.15.18.19).
Verses 22-23 show the extent to which such desolation is visible.
645
V. 3b presents the Whore’s counterpart –a beast, or a monster –as the Whore’s seat. Such image
contributes further to the indirect characterization of the woman. The analysis will be discussed in the
following.
646
647
648
649
Smoke –ὁ καπνὸς implies the actual burning in Rev 18:9.18 seen by the groups with whom the who is
associated, since these see the smoke of her burning –τὸν καπνὸν τῆς πυρώσεως αὐτῆς αὐτῆς. Cf. 19:3 where
her smoke (ὁ καπνὸς αὐτῆς) rises up forever and ever in a hallelujah chant.
650
Sals, Die Biographie, 93; Ruiz, Ezekiel in the Apocaypse, 312; Rossing, The Choice, 71f.
193
An option like the above fits the literary frame established by Barbara Rossing, who
advances the translation of desert as “wasteland”. She argues the LXX uses one word
ἔρημος to translate two Hebrew words, which designate both “wilderness” – ‫ִמְדָבּר‬as well as
“wasteland” – ‫(ָח ְרָבּה‬in the sense of destroyed lands and cities).651 Rossing argues in favour
of the second usage of the noun ἔρημος in 17:3, a choice that meshes well with the image
construed in Apocalypse 18 and is quite familiar with OT.
Making desolate –ἠρημώθη –as God’s punishment is very common with Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel and Hosea. Mostly with the prophets, cities will be laid waste: Babylon (Isa
13:9.20.21, Jer 51:26.29.37.43, cf. Rev 17:5), Judah and Jerusalem (Isa 1:7, Jer
4:7.26.27.29), or Tyre (Isa 23.13, Ezek 26:19).
Similarly, when considering the desert in the Exodus experience, its function could be
compared with Rev 12:652 ‘and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there
I will enter into judgment with you face to face’ –καὶ ἄξω ὑμᾶς εἰς τὴν ἔρημον τῶν λαῶν
καὶ διακριθήσομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἐκεῖ πρόσωπον κατὰ πρόσωπον.
Additionally, without repeating what was written in Part I, I would like to draw attention to
some gender-informed perspectives, among them the ones represented by Tina Pippin,
Marla Selvidge and Susan Garrett, who opt for a different interpretation of the verb
ἐρημόω.
As a result, the verb would purportedly denote a ghoulish description of the Whore’s death
by ‘rape’.653 Combining sexuality and violence, the Whore’s ‘devastation’ becomes a sex
crime.
All these considered I would like to note the fact that I cannot accept the image of the
Whore’s devastation in terms of a sex crime. Nevertheless, 17:16 is mentioned in the
current analysis only tangentially.
Then, the corporeal interpretation contradicts on the one hand, the global perspective I
hold on the image of the Great Whore as both corporeal and metaphorical. On the other
hand, envisioning the Whore’s death in terms of a ‘sex-crime’ is tantamount to
overfocusing on the Whore’s corporeal dimension, which does not represent the actual
orientation of this academic enterprise.
651
652
653
Marla Selvidge, Reflections on Violence and Pornography, 280; cf. Pippin, Death and Desire, 58, also Kim,
Uncovering Her Wickedness, 73; Garrett, Revelation, 473.
194
Further associations and contrasts
In view of the intratextual information provided both by the previous subunit and the
subunit introducing the New Jerusalem, ‘desert’ can be thus theologically paired and/or
contrasted with other elements, such as ‘water’ and ‘mountain’ in order to unveil further
relevant associations for eschatological site.
The sites mentioned above feature also in the vision of the Great Whore, having the judged
one seated upon many waters (17:1c). Moreover, in the verbatim repetition and
introduction to the vision of the New Jerusalem –the Great Whore’s counterpart –as
coming down from heaven, the Seer is transported to a high mountain (21:10).
Before dealing in more detail with the above mentioned contrast, I would like to underline
the fact that just like ‘desert’, ‘mountains’ and ‘waters’ retain the double aspect, or
ambivalence also recorded with ἔρημος: either as a revelatory site, or as a menacing
territory for humans.654
Ἡ ἔρημος can be analyzed in direct opposition with the ‘many waters’ upon which the
Whore is seated –καθημένη ἐπὶ ὑδάτων πολλῶν (17:1b). Unless we understand τὰ ὕδατα
in accordance with the angel’s interpretation as ‘peoples and multitudes and nations and
languages’ –λαοὶ καὶ ὄχλοι εἰσὶν καὶ ἔθνη καὶ γλῶσσαι (17:15), the setting described in
17:1-3 constitutes apparently an oxymoron.
In my opinion, ‘desert’ requires a different interpretation, other than the actual

“wasteland”. Attempts to account for a different interpretation have been sought in
secondary, intertextual relations.
Therefore, the association between ‘desert’ and ‘water’ in a vision features also with
Isaiah. Isa 21:1 reports ‘an oracle of the wilderness of the sea’. However, what remains of
this phrase is rendered by the LXX as ‘the vision of the desert’ –τὸ ὅραμα τῆς ἐρήμου.655
Water ensures control and thus contributes to exerting influence by the Whore.656 In a
similar vein, her actual positioning in the desert brings about the same effect, namely, that
of power.
654
O. Böcher, i.a. ἔρημος, in: Colin Brown (ed.), New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology
(vol. 3), Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986, 1004-1015, 1005 as quoted in Ruiz, Ezekiel in the Apocalypse, 309.
655
Charles, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Revelation of St. John, 2: 62; Cf. Ruiz, Ezekiel in the
Apocalypse, 309; Beckwith, Apocalypse of John, 693.
656
195
In Sals’ view, not only does the Whore ‘have dominion’ over water but also over ‘dry’
land.657
Although most commentators usually exploit the opposition between ‘desert’ and ‘water’
there are some observations, concerning their resemblance in terms of symbolic value.
As a result, besides the fact that water and desert are primordial, neutral elements of
creation, they indeed bring about a certain notion of infinity, or loss of boundaries,658
which further adduce two additional observations.
On the one hand, they carry the element of chaos,659 often connected with God’s hostile
powers.660
On the other hand, the loss of boundaries can possibly be interpreted in view of the
Whore’s immoral character. She is thus secondarily (topographically!) described not only
by intense and multiple relationships issued from the dominance over water, but also by
the conceitedness implied by the ‘desert’ as well as meaninglessness of her immoral
associations and efforts.
Not only is ‘desert’ opposed to ‘water’, but it is also contrasted661 with ‘mountain’ –ὄρος. I
refer specifically to the vision of New Jerusalem –᾽Ιερουσαλὴμ καινή.
One cannot help noting apart from the identical construction of the formal entrance in
both verses –καὶ ἀπήνεγκέν με ἐν πνεύματι (21:10, cf.17:3), the fact that ᾽Ιερουσαλὴμ
καινή is situated on a great and high mountain (21:10) –ἐπὶ ὄρος μέγα καὶ ὑψηλόν, as
opposed to Βαβυλὼν ἡ μεγάλη, whose dwelling is recorded ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ.
Alternatively, the locations are defining for the characters of the two feminine depictions:
the Whore stands low, while the Bride ranks high. Such a contrast is obtained by comparing
their ethical function at the textual level.
While maintaining the political aspect of the current vision, as well as the relation of
dominance as implied by the Whore’s posture, one could delineate closer the inhabitants
of these cities as directly resulting from the association between places in the Apocalypse
and people or communities. Rissi662 asserts that communities are characterized through
their belonging to earth (13:12), heaven (13:6), to Jerusalem, its temple and Altar (11:1ff),
657
Sals, Die Biographie, 96 (ft. 31). Beale, The Book of Revelation, 851; Ruiz, Ezekiel in the Apocalypse, 309.
658
659
660
661
662
Rissi, Die Verfuehrung, 55.
196
to the desert (12:6.13ff), to the mount of Sion (14:1), to Armageddon (16:16), to the camp
of the saints and the beloved city (20:9), to the New Jerusalem (21) and Paradise (22:1-5).
In this way, ‘desert’ is not a concrete place, but rather an illustrative word to designate all
the people’s communities on earth who present themselves as children of the “mother of
whores and the all abominations”.
An additional observation is that throughout the Apocalypse, ‘mountain’ is currently used

as figure for strength in 6:14, 8:8, 14:1, 16:20, and 21:10. Power can be both divine and
non-divine. Considering the latter type, it can be also manifested in waging war against
God (cf. 17:9.14).
The valence ascribed to ‘mountain’ as implying power concords with some OT reference as
in Jer 51:25f, Dan 2:35.44.663
Additionally, ‘mountain’ also denotes ‘kingdom’ in Jewish literature (cf. Isa 2:2, Jer 51:25,
Ezek 35:3, Dan 2:35,664 1 Enoch 24:8), where the Lord will be portrayed at the eschaton as
having a mountain as throne.
From the above, one could deduct that at least semantically, the potential of ‘desert’ is
very high.
Since it is geographically characterized by flatness, the term encapsulates the utter
powerlessness, as opposed to the ‘mountain’.
This opposition may point to the Whore’s lack of strength, even if she was presented as
possibly dominating over the water, the groups of kings and inhabitants and possibly over
the desert. All the fame attributed to the Great Whore is nothing but a vain attempt to
impress the Seer, the kings and the inhabitants of the earth.
In conformity with the OT context, the mountain –ὄρος is always referring to God, either as
the chief-dwelling place, to which some prophecies are related or as the place where God
revealed his face.665 Similarly, the revelatory character is also evident in the current vision,
in which a heavenly envoy reveals an event of divine origin.
663
Smalley, The Revelation to John, 435; Cf. Beale, The Book of Revelation, 868, Sals, Die Biographie, 95.
664
Smalley, The Revelation to John, 435; Osborne, Revelation, 617.
665
Cf. Exod 3:1, 15:17, 19:3. 11. 18. 20, 24:13. 16, Deut 5:23, Psalm 2:6, 23:3, 43:3, 68:16, 74:2, 78:54.68,
99:9, Ode 1:17, Mic 4:1.2, Oba 1:21, Zep 3:11, Zec 8:3, Isa 2:23, 11:9, 27:13, 30:29, 56:7, 65:9. However, some
translate ὄρος as “hill” (Num 13:17, Deut 1:7.24.41.43, 2:3, 3:25, Jos 11:16, 14:12, 17:15, 18:12, 24:4, Judg
1:11, Hag 1:18, Jer 3:6, 31:23), although there exists a another word for “hill” –βουνός Isa 10:32, 31:4, 40:4).
It can also refer to Jesus’ similar experiences, where revelation of divine origin was important. Jesus prays on
the mountain (Matt 4:8, 14:23, Mark 6:46, Luke 6:12, 9:28, 21:37), being also the place where he transfigures
(Mark 9:22).
197
All these references are extremely relevant for the complex implications of the actual site
where the judgment of the Great Whore will be pronounced. They stress the fact that the
choice of ‘desert’ is not at all aleatory for the subsequent unfolding of events.
Summary
A ‘classical’ type of exegesis, i.e. word-by-word analysis was employed, with emphasis on
the gender-related elements.
The first part of v.3 encapsulates the dynamic element of the vision: the Seer is taken to a
‘desert’.
Standard formulations of apocalyptic visions are utilized in order to create the framework
for subsequent disclosure of divine revelation.
This also marks the beginning of a perspectival view, as well implies that the narrator’s
responsibility for what is revealed is significantly diminished.
As a result, one could reinforce once more the divine character of the vision, as well as the
proclamation in the previous subunit, by providing textual information on the Seer’s
ecstatic experience.
From a feminist perspective, this means that the Seer’s perspective is the only reality we
can have access to –a reality shaped by androcentric optics. By stressing the manner in
which the heavenly emissary operates, the masculine perspective contributes further to
the veridicity and the notability of the vision.
The setting changes from above to down, the vision being localized in an earthly
environment, i.e. desert.
Although ambivalent in usages throughout the Apocalypse, ‘desert’ carries here negative
associations. Further, the desert is contrasted to the locus amoenus of Apocalypse 12, as
well as to the topographical elements such as ‘water’ and ‘mountain’. Its function was also
evaluated comparatively within the general framework of vv. 1-2, as well as with the fate
of the woman in 17:16, supported by textual data provided by the next chapter (18:17.19).
With 17:16 (cf. Rev 18), the generic aspect of the prostitute gives way to the political
dimension of the city-state, involving her devastation, implied by various forms of the verb
ἐρημόω.
198
In particular, the location of the vision bears most importantly a theological significance
aiming at creating a contrast with the initial topographical reference. Initially, the Whore
was seated upon many waters. The reader expects to be (at least) textually ‘transported’ to
a place with many waters. Instead, the vision is located in a deserted area.
Interpretation aiming at revealing a gender-informed substance would mostly take into
consideration the ‘double entendre’ of the verbalized form of ‘desert’, used predominantly
with the description of the woman’s devastation, mentioned in 17:16.
Associations stemming from secondary intertexts further contribute to the delineation of
the Whore’s portrait. The intertextual references amply certified that the images John
creates have multiple sources woven in an interesting way. Of these, chaotic associations
and loss of control mesh very well with the gendered character I am interested in.
By evaluating secondary associations prompted by intertexts, the readers amass gradually
pieces of information regarding the moral character of the judged-one.
Starting with verse 3b, the prostitute introduced at the beginning of this chapter will be
described. As following, certain elements, such as her mount (v.3b), her clothes and
accessories (v.4), mentioning of what may be interpreted as her name (v.5), her drunken
state (v.6a), as well the reaction of the Seer is recorded (6b) will be mentioned.
199
3.2 Description of the Whore and the Beast. Introduction
17:3b καὶ εἶδον γυναῖκα

καθημένην ἐπὶ θηρίον κόκκινον,
γέμον ὀνόματα βλασφημίας,
(And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, which was full of names of blasphemy,
having seven heads and ten horns)
I mentioned previously that the object of John’s vision is the Great Whore. In the following
features the first explicit gendered reference of the image complex of the Great Whore, as
the Seer describes what he sees.
Therefore, the description debuts the second major pillar of the current study, namely the
human aspect of the Great Whore. The Seer records a woman (in Greek γυνή). Details of
her posture as well as the introduction and short characterization of a θηρίον –beast
complete the initial portrayal in this verse.
Of the triad I have mentioned earlier in the analysis, respectively ‘whore’-‘woman’-‘city’,

only the second element –‘woman’ will be later interpreted by the angel in 17:18.
Precisely because of his identification of the woman in 17:3b with a city in 17:18,
commentators applying a historical-critical method tend to neglect this feminine-gendered
aspect. For fear of essentialism, they interpret the current designation, that of ‘woman’ in
the light of the last verse of the chapter.
In doing so, they adduce numerous examples mostly from the OT prophets (but also other
sources) to support John’s use of such image. For them, the noun is ‘just a metaphor’:
“leaving aside the ambiguity of the image, since the Whore is not just a woman but also a
city”, exegetes gloss over the fact that within gendered metaphors are inscribed
“androcentric views on women, sexuality and power in gender relations”.666
The gendered aspect of the image will be enlarged upon, since it is not a singular
occurrence, but extends to the following two verses, namely 17:4-5.
666
Vander Stichele, Re-membering the Whore, 113-117.
200
Structurally, the entire subunit (vv.3b-6) is introduced by the aorist form of the verb of
perception ὁράω, i.e. in the first person singular. The verb is followed by three present
particles in the third person singular. Among these, a passive participial construction, i.e.
καθημένη pertains to the description of the woman, whereas the other active participial
constructions, namely γέμον and ἔχoν belong to that of the beast.
Methodologically, I chose not to split the verse further, because I consider the Beast
relevant in the characterization of the woman, however, of secondary importance. As a
result, the features of the Beast, as well as their subsequent explanation will not be given
the same amount of textual attention in interpretation, in comparison with the feminine
aspect of the vision.
And I saw
As I mentioned earlier, the particular phrasing καὶ εἶδον initiates in the Apocalypse
descriptions of visions, confirming the trance state in which the Seer finds himself.667 The
visionary formula is familiar with 5:1.6, 6:1.8, 8:12, 7:2, 8:2.13, and 9:1, having important
compositional value668 for the book.
This particular case is in this way no exception. Moreover, it points to the fact that these
visions were “given” to the Seer, being therefore of divine origin. Mathewson remarks
“John never claims to be seeing a vision, but only records what he saw”.669
Nevertheless, the Seer’s recording the vision coordinates with the idea of the immediacy as
well as the directness of the vision achieved by the use of εἶδον.
It is interesting to note that the formulation καὶ εἶδον is a key concept in discussing the
crossing of boundaries of time and space in the Apocalypse. The vision of the heavenly
667
R. H. Charles, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Revelation of St. John with Introduction, Notes
and Indices also the Greek Text and English Translation (vol. 1), Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 38 George Street, 1920,
1: 110.
668
Jörg Frey, Das Corpus Johanneum und die Apokalypse des Johannes. Die Johanneslegende, die Probleme
der johanneischen Verfasserschaft und die Frage der Pseudonymität der Apokalypse, in: Stefan Alkier,
Thomas Hieke u. Tobias Nicklas (eds.), Poetik und Intertextualität der Johannesapokalypse (Wissenschaftliche
Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, 1. Reihe 346), Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2015, 71-134, 126.
669
David L. Mathewson, Verbal Aspects in the Book of Revelation. The Function of Greek Tenses in John’s
Apocalypse, (Linguistic Biblical Studies 4), Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2010, 151, ft. 138.
The use of this particular verb of perception in aorist form of ὁράω (εἶδον) indicates that the Seer records the
vision at a later moment of the actual vision (Mathewson, Verbal Aspects, 151). The repetition of the same
verb in the explanation offered by the angel implies that εἶδες (17:8.12.15.16.18) situates the author no
longer in the position to see the vision. cf. Aune, Revelation 17-22, 939; Smalley, Revelation, 434.
201
Jerusalem belongs to the Seer’s past life (21:10). Nevertheless, the Seer’s prophetic words
are actualized for readers/ hearers currently dealing with the text of the Apocalypse.670
It also manages to provide –through the interrupted “I saw” of the Seer –space for God, the
absolute presence of the Other to various degrees, already in the situatedness of readers
and hearers of the Apocalypse.671
The verb in question may be describing two conditions in the vision: on one level, εἶδον
operates as a verb of perception, hence its direct character, pointing at what the Seer
actually sees.
At another level, it carries a deeper, more intellectual meaning, in accordance with the
formulation in 17:9: ὧδε ὁ νοῦς ὁ ἔχων σοφίαν –this calls for a mind that has wisdom. In
this case, divine intervention is impetuous. So ‘seeing’ is only a pretext for the actual
decoding of the vision.
In our subunit of interest (vv. 3-6), the verb appears twice.

Although semantically identical, the two occurrences differ in function. The first εἶδον
(17:3b) introduces and refers to the outer description of the woman. The second (17:6a)
usage illuminates on the Whore’s state of mind, i.e. drunkenness,672 which touches upon
the two-fold reason for her punishment: inebriating the inhabitants of the Earth (17:2b), as
well as becoming herself drunk from the blood of the saints and martyrs (17:6a, cf. 18:24).
As a result, in both cases the verb denotes the target of God’s punishment (the Whore) and
the reason for punishment.
Having clarified the circumstances of the vision as well as its divine nature, John changes
the focus in this verse, from τὸ κρίμα τῆς πόρνης τῆς μεγάλης (17:1a) to a description of a
γυνή (17:3b). In doing so, he preserves the same descriptive framework provided by the
verbs δείκνυμι (17:1a) and ὁράω (17:3b. 6a).
670
Stefan Alkier/Tobias Nicklas, Wenn sich die Welten berühren. Beobachtungen zu zeitlichen und räumlichen
Strukturen in der Apocalypse des Johannes, in: Stefan Alkier, Thomas Hieke u. Tobias Nicklas (eds.), Poetik
und Intertextualität der Johannesapokalypse (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, 1.
Reihe 346), Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2015, 205-226, 217.
671
Nicklas, Wenn sich die Welten berühren, 217.
672
Mathewson, Verbal Aspects, 151, cf. David Aune, Revelation 1-5 (Word Biblical Commentary 52A), Waco:
Waco Books, 1997, 338.
202
A woman
In what follows, John’s description of the Whore (vv.3b-6a) parallels the angel’s only to a
certain extent.
John uses γυνή instead of πόρνη even several times (17:3a.4a.6a.7.9.18), whereas the
angel uses the appellation ‘woman’ three times in the explanation of the vision, namely in
vv. 7.9.18, and ‘whore’ twice in vv. 15.16. It can be argued that John’s denomination is
susceptible of a misogynistic tone.
The angel in the beginning of the vision does not use initially the designation ‘woman’, but
refers to the apparition by the appellative ‘whore’ that contains a moral value. It is John,
who ‘personifies’ the ‘Whore’ by defining her in biological terms. In doing so, he gives her a
‘face’, a woman’s face.
Semantically, the referents of v.1b, i.e. ‘whore’ and 3b, i.e. ‘woman’ form a single unit. In
this respect, the designation of 3b completes the one in v.1b, implying that the Seer indeed
saw the woman, introduced as ‘whore’ in v.1b.
Additionally, in view of the connectedness of vv. 3-6 with the previous subunit presented
earlier in the current study, I would insist on a continuation between the images. I consider
that the referent of the previous subunit (vv.1-2), respectively, the Great Whore coincides
with that of this subunit, namely, a woman.673
Aune interprets the anarthrous character of γυνή of v.3b as most probably implying that
the woman is unknown to the reader, to the extent that all the subsequent mentioning of
the character are articular (ἡ γυνή), referring anaphorically to v.3b (17:4.6.7.9.18).674
Gender-informed interest with gendered images in the Apocalypse renders John’s
designation as ‘woman’ particularly problematic for a contemporary understanding of the
text outside the Bible, given the implications regarding depictions of women in general.
These depictions include an extensive use of derogatory terms (whore-cognates) attributed
to a gender-informed character –a woman, also negative interpretation of women’s
aesthetic arrayal, as well as the description of the Whore’s violent demise in the
Apocalypse. Not only that God commissions all these, but actions of this sort are
accompanied by moral evaluations as ‘just’ and ‘true’.
As a result, the sexuality of the Whore is encapsulated in a feminine body, so her function
in the text is strongly delineated by her gender.
673
Also cf. Smalley, Revelation to John, 428.
674
Aune, Revelation 17-22, 908. I would apply this observation with great caution. Although interesting, the
importance and function of the definite or indefinite article differs from Greek to modern English, or even
German.
203
Her distinctive anchoring on the corporeality, bearing sexual immoral connotations is often
coupled with v. 16 of the same chapter to describe the utter violence condoned by God
against a woman.
However, exegetical interpretations explain away these difficulties by making reference to
patterned uses of the concept ‘woman’ as per various ancient, anthropological, rhetorical
and literary sources.
It is thus no wonder that such a blunt analyses have caused quite a turbulence, especially
among some feminist exegetes’ generic readings, as it was previously presented.
Excursus on the apocalyptic use of ‘woman’ and its associations
The noun γυνή appears 209 times in the NT. Of these occurrences, the Apocalypse notes
only nineteen.675
Throughout the book, ‘woman’ is either used in its primary sense, denotative sense such as
in 9:8 where locusts are described to have the hair like women’s hair –ὡς τρίχας γυναικῶν
and 14:4, where the 144,000 are virgins who have not defiled themselves with women –
μετὰ γυναικῶν οὐκ ἐμολύνθησαν.
Often γυνή points to a secondary sense. In this respect, the noun implies much more than a
biological reference. To exemplify, chapter 12 mentions of a woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head –γυνὴ
περιβεβλημένη τὸν ἥλιον, καὶ ἡ σελήνη ὑποκάτω τῶν ποδῶν αὐτῆς καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς
αὐτῆς στέφανος ἀστέρων δώδεκα (cf. 12:1.4.6.13.14.15.16.17). This aspect also features
with the Great Whore called Babylon the Great –Βαβυλὼν ἡ μεγάλη (cf. 17:3.4.6.7.9.18), as
well the wife of the Lamb –ἡ γυνὴ τοῦ ἀρνίου (cf. 19:7, 21:9).
Except the positive associations of γυνή in 12 and 19-21, all the other references carry a
negative connotation. On two occasions namely with ἡ γυνὴ τοῦ ἀρνίου (19:7, 21:9) the
same lexeme carries a double meaning in Greek.676 In this particular case, it is translated as
the ‘wife’ of Lamb, maybe to ‘sweeten’ the bad reputation the noun γυνή got by its
675
Isabelle Donegani, „A Cause de la Parole de Dieu et du Temoignage de Jesus“–Le Témoignage Selon
l’Apocalypse de Jean: Son Enracinement Extra-Biblique et Biblique: Sa Force comme Parole de Sens, (Etudes
bibliques 36), Paris: J. Gabalda, 1997, ft 199; Pezzoli-Olgiati, Zwischen Gericht und Heil, 75, ft. 10. The
references I am discussing are the following: 2:20, 9:8, 12:1.4.6.13.14.15.16.17, 14:4, 17:3.4.6.7.9.18, 19:7,
21:9.
676
Zimmermann, Geschlechtermetaphorik und Gottesverhältnis, 420.
204
association with the Great Whore. Such a translation may be veiling an androcentric bias
with reference to what is socially accepted behaviour for feminine gender.677
For this reason maybe the author adds another designation to the wife of the Lamb, that of
νύμφη –bride in 21:2.9, although some manuscripts go to the extent of replacing γυνή with
νύμφη also in 19:7.678
Huber, who considers the word γυνή “describes a woman in general and a wife in
particular” also confirms Zimmermann’s observation above. She motivates her standpoint
by the fact that “this reflects the ancient assumption that all women were wives”,679 while
Zimmermann accounts for this double meaning as textually supported by their (i.e. the
Whore and the Bride’s) similar description in terms of clothes and adornment.680
Most of the times the main mode of presentation of gendered images is via contrast: the
virgins are contrasted with ones who have been defiled with women (14:4), the virgin wife
of Lamb with the Great Whore, the locusts have different animal characteristics (9:7), but
their hair was like women’s hair τρίχας ὡς τρίχας γυναικῶν (9:8).
More interestingly, there are different associations of γυνή in the Apocalypse, which could
be used in order to broaden the spectrum of this analysis. Besides ‘bride’ –νύμφη in 18:23,
21:2.9, 22:17, one could also mention ‘mother’ –μήτηρ in 17:5, ‘virgin’ –παρθένος in 14:4,
‘whore’ –πόρνη in 17:1.5.15.16, 19:2 and ‘prophetess’ –προφῆτις in 2:20.681
It is conspicuous from the above enumeration that the associations can be biological thus
informed by a strong sexual component, or lack of it (virgin, mother, whore, bride) and/or
professional (whore, prophetess).
Sexuality plays for the most part an important rhetorical role in assessing women images,
establishing also an ethical evaluation: the virgins, whose sexuality remains under men’s
control are deemed appropriate, for they are pure and obedient, whereas whores, who are
confronting men’s control, are evaluated as evil.682
677
Cf. Huber, Like a Bride Adorned.
678
Cf. Huber, Like a Bride Adorned, 150, 171 (ft. 110). She mentions of two manuscripts, 2053 and 2062 that
include only γυνή for which Beale suggests a copying error (Beale, The Book of Revelation, 1065). On the
other hand, Aune suggests this is influenced by the assimilation in the larger context of wedding imagery as
purported by Rev 21:2.9, 22:17 (Aune, Revelation, 1017).
679
680
Zimmermann, Geschlechtermetaphorik und Gottesverhältnis, 417.
681
Pezzoli-Olgiati, Zwischen Gericht und Heil, 75.
682
Sutter Rehmann, Die Offenbarung Johannes, 735 referring to Garrett, Revelation, 469.
205
This observation can possibly account for the reason why for the most part, feminine
depictions in the Apocalypse are either sexualized, or devoid of sexuality.
Schüssler-Fiorenza partially accepts the comment above, namely that at the very most,
feminine depictions are dichotomized. The contemporary reader perceives them “in terms
of good and evil, pure or impure, heavenly or destructive, helpless or powerful, bride or
temptress, wife or whore.”683
The dichotomic model in which gendered images are evaluated is also valid with other
interpretations. Marla Selvidge notes the following paradox regarding the women’s
assessment in the Apocalypse, based on the criterion of sexuality, wherein “images of the
opposing women are interactive, dynamic and creative” also powerful and persuasive,
whereas “women who do not oppose him [John] are passive, unintelligent, almost
boring.”684
One of the common traits I notice with these occurrences is that they are defined in a
relational manner to ‘man’, evident in the choice of terms presented above.
In the same line, Adela Yarbro Collins writes, “the major symbols are mother, prostitute,
and bride. These are all relational terms with the male at the center. The normative person
is male. The hero is male. Women are defined in terms of their sexual and reproductive
roles.” 685
Another perspective construes the Apocalypse’s generic universe in ambivalent terms,
centered not on male characters, but by linking sexuality with power. In such a discourse,
women are either demonized or sanctified.686
Postmodern interpretations of the Apocalypse revolve around a pregnant objectification of

women, precisely because they operate with a concept of ‘woman’ that is assessed
biologically, culturally, rhetorically and theologically. For postmodern analyses, in the
scenes featuring gendered characters, there are no longer women-images, but women.
To exemplify, Pippin notes that women in the Apocalypse are all stereotyped, archetypal.
They are construed accordingly as men’s objects of desire and violence, unable to take
control over their own lives.687
683
Schüssler-Fiorenza, Book of Revelation, 199.
684
Marla Selvidge, Women, Violence and the Bible, 125; eadem, Powerful and Powerless Women in the
Apocalypse, in: Neotestamentica 26/1992, 157-167, 166-167; cf. David L. Barr, Women in Myth and History.
Deconstructing John’s Characterizations, in: Amy Jill Levine, Maya Robbins (eds.), A Feminist Companion to
the Apocalypse of John, 55-69, 58.
685
Yarbro Collins, Feminine Symbolism in the Book of Revelation a, 33; cf. Pippin, Eros and the End, 200.
686
Marla Selvidge, Powerful and Powerless Women, 157-167.
206
In what concern their presentation, it is also conspicuous that although gendered
interpretations have a different focus, certain recurring commonplace are found with every
the depiction of every gendered character. Such a fact may indicate a correspondence
between the main ladies of the Apocalypse, which will be dealt with extensively at later
point in my current analysis.
Whereas the contrastive scheme, as well the dichotomized appearance of gendered

characters in the Apocalypse has textual support, I cannot however agree to their
objectification in terms of male desire, as proposed by Tina Pippin, nor to the
generalization that can be applicable to all Christian communities of believers.
I do agree however, that a lot of erotic capital is invested in their presentation, but their
gendered character cannot be reduced to this one single dimension.
As a result, the symbols enunciated by Yarbro Collins, respectively ‘mother’, ‘prostitute’,
‘bride’ do not operate individually at the level of the Apocalypse. While it is true that only
one dimension is more dominant, several titles can apply to one gendered character.
To exemplify with the Great Whore, she is deemed ‘prostitute’, ‘mother’, and may even be
conceived (in virtue of her posture) as the ‘bride’ of the Beast. Additionally, intimate
relations are not entirely definitory for her relationship with the kings of the earth. As
previously alluded the fornication with the kings is not only attributed, but also envisioned
as a relation of dominance. Similarly, her fornication with the kings of the earth does not
make the Great Whore a queen.
Moreover, the fact that gendered characters are defined in terms of reproductive roles
does not apply to the character of the Great Whore: her being labelled as ‘mother’ is not to
be understood literally, in a biological sense, but metaphorically, as generator of evil.
In my view, Sutter Rehmann’s formulation concerning male control as discerning category
between evil and good gendered characters throughout Apocalypse should be a bit more
nuanced. As a result, the concept of ‘male control’ could be replaced by ‘divine protection’.
The latter is a concept, which does not necessarily touch upon generic aspects.
I am ready to accept Selvidge’s observations referring to good and evil ‘women’ only at an
emotional level. The adjectives enumerated may turn out to be ‘too much’ for any serious
exegete to consider.
The relation between text and reality was also previously touched upon, with regard to the
image of the Great Whore as [problematic] metaphor. It was then concluded that not only
687
Pippin, Death and Desire, 72. A somehow similar view has also Yarbro Collins in her article, ‘Feminine
Symbolism and the Book of Revelation a’ where she discusses the effect of the archetypal gender reading (cf.
27).
207
texts construct gendered images, but also perceptions of reality influence the manner in
which texts operate.
As word of caution, the main danger with some postmodern interpretations that glorify, or
over-victimize negative gendered-informed models, such as the Great Whore is that they
could make us question in this respect, our Christian ideal, values, principles etc. It is for
reason that this emotional trap should be though acknowledged, eluded. The arguments
stemming from a purely emotional interpretation of the Great Whore cannot claim any
type of validity. Also, they are not representative for any type of women’s experience.
Women’s experience is far more complex and varied, as well as informed to various extents
by the Christian character permeating the Apocalypse.
Briefly, the problem with this envisioning of ‘woman’ as well as its associations in the
Apocalypse is very clearly expressed by Susan Garrett in her contribution to the Women’s
Bible Commentary. She states that while “each of these symbols reflects the male-centered
view of the first century […], the stereotyped feminine images in the book do not represent
the full spectrum of authentic womanhood, either in John’s day or in our own.”688
This is a practical observation. In other words, reading too much into the generic aspects of
the Apocalypse could be detrimental and reductionist, even for a contextual approach,
such as the postmodern gender-informed one.
688
208
Seated
Next, the woman’s posture comes into focus.

Just like the angel’s introduction in v.1, the Seer records the first attribute of the woman,689
namely she is καθημένη –seated/sitting (cf. 17:1b.3b.9, 18:7).
Nevertheless, her seat changes, from ‘waters’ to ‘beast’ and to ‘mountains’. In the
introduction of the vision, she was seated upon many waters.
In this particular verse, she is actually reported as seated ‘upon a scarlet beast’ –ἐπὶ θηρίον
κόκκινον (vv.3a.7).
In these instances, the active middle participle present of the verb κάθημαι is used,
probably denoting a passivum divinum. The Whore could be placed upon the Beast, not by
her own will, but by a force superseding her, most probably God.
Her posture may indicate that the Beast is her throne of (eschatological) judgment before
God. In view of the latter actions taken against the Great Whore by the coalition of kings,
including the Beast resulting into her demise (cf.17:16) confirm the above observation.
Additionally, sitting is part of the Whore’s own characterization in 18:7. Another meaning
of κάθημαι is equivalent to “occupy a throne” or “to reign”690 –κάθημαι βασίλισσα.
Because extensive analysis was conducted with the first occurrence of the Whore being
seated (17: 1c), I will not repeat the details of the analysis here.
References of the verb κάθημαι and its variants evidentiate a mark of high distinction.691
Coupling the textual references in 18:7 with 17:18, respectively that the woman, identified
as city rules over the kings of the earth –ἔχουσα βασιλείαν ἐπὶ τῶν βασιλέων τῆς γῆς, the
verb in question implies a relation of dominance.692
Two observations are imposed at this level.
Firstly, the latter interpretative variant could account for all the objects of the verb
κάθημαι discussed previously, namely ‘waters’ (17:1b.15), ‘kings of the earth’ (17:2a.9),
‘inhabitants of the earth’ (17:2b. 15). All these elements may be conceived of under the
Whore’s dominance.
689
I hope it was clear by this moment, that by ‘woman’ I mean the textual reference as per the Apocalypse. I
am not referring therefore to character ‘in the flesh’. The Great Whore remains essentially a gendered
character or image.
690
Louw-Nida, Greek- English Lexicon of the New Testament, Aune, Revelation 17-22, 930.
691
Cf. the reference to the Son of Man in Matt 26:64: “you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of
Power” –ἀπ᾽ ἄρτι ὄψεσθε τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου καθήμενον ἐκ δεξιῶν τῆς δυνάμεως.
692
Lupieri, A Commentary on the Apocalypse, 252; Cf. Pezzoli-Olgiati, Zwischen Gericht und Heil, 84.
209
Because of this, I would ascribe ἐπὶ θηρίον κόκκινον other meaning, rather than location. I
choose to interpret this deictic in view of dominion, or as directly expressing the power
relations between the Whore and the Beast.
Secondly, if we further analyze the implications of sitting, an intratextual dialogue with the
heavenly throne vision of Rev 4-5693 could be highlighted. The Whore sitting is nothing but
a contrasting image of God, ὁ καθήμενος ἐπὶ τὸν θρόνον (4:2.3).694
The reign of God aims to benefit ‘every tribe and tongue and people and nation’ (5:9; cf.
7:9 and 14:6), whereas the Whore’s brings about nothing but enslavement, fornication –
πορνεία and deceitfulness –φαρμακεία aiming to destroy. Therefore, the punishment is
justified (17:16).
The participial form ὁ καθήμενος has a very old tradition in Judaism, confirming thus the
already delineated context as God’s attribute.
Baruch 2:11-3:8 features a prayer of deliverance, in which God is referred to as ‘the one
who reigns forever’ –ὁ καθήμενος τὸν αἰῶνα. Similar or comparable uses feature God
sitting is on a throne –ἐπὶ τοῦ θρόνου –which can be either God’s (Sir 1:8), or Israel’s (1
Kgs 8:25, 2 Chr 6:16), or David’s (Jer 22: 2.30, 43:30). In addition, God is also enthroned
above the cherubs –ἐπὶ τῶν χερουβιν (2 Kgs 19:15, Dan 3:55, Psalm 79:2, 98:1, Odes 8:5,
Isa 37:16). By extension, there are also references to heaven as God’s throne (Isa 66:1,
Psalm 10:4).
In this particular vision, instead of the throne, the Whore sits ἐπὶ θηρίον κόκκινον (v. 3b,
7c). The above mentioned parallels aimed at proving that the woman’s posture is if not
God-like, at least one of authority. If we consider proper worship695 as the focal point of
693
The heavenly throne vision as a whole echoes Isa 6:1 –the revelation of God sitting upon his throne –and
Ezek 1:26.28 where a human-like figure is seated on a throne located in heaven.
694
Cf. Rev 4:2.3.10, 5: 1.7, 6:2.5.8.16, 7:15, 14:16, 19:11, 21:5.
The throne –θρόνος as the symbol of God’s presence appears 40 times in the Revelation and is shared only
with the Lamb (22:1.3). (Christiane Zimmermann, Die Namen des Vaters. Studien zu ausgewählten
neutestamentlichen Gottesbezeichnungen und ihrem frühjüdischen und paganen Sprachhorizont (Ancient
Judaism and Christianity 69), Brill: Leiden, 2007, 263).
695
Jörg Frey, The Relevance of the Roman Imperial Cult for the Book of Revelation. Exegetical and
Hermeneutical Reflections on the Relation between the Seven Letters and the Visionary Main Part of the
Book, in: John Fotopulos (ed.), The New Testament and Early Christian Literature in Graeco-Roman Context.
Studies in the Honour of David E. Aune (Supplements Novum Testamentum 122), Leiden: Brill, 2006, 231-155,
253; cf. Steve J. Friesen, Imperial Cults and the Apocalypse of John. Reading Revelation in the Ruins, Oxford,
New York: Oxford University Press, 2001, 202.
210
the Book of Revelation, then the Whore’s sitting could be a parody, an audacious
imitation696 of God, a hubris for which she will be severely punished.
As further point of contrast, the Whore’s sitting could be further opposed to the horse
riders, harbingers of God’s judgments. Rev 6:2 features a white horse and its rider –ἵππος
λευκός, καὶ ὁ καθήμενος ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν, 6:4 a red horse and its rider –ἵππος πυρρός, καὶ τῷ
καθημένῳ ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν, 6:5 a black horse and its rider ἵππος μέλας, καὶ ὁ καθήμενος ἐπ᾽
αὐτὸν, 6:8 a pale green horse and its rider –ἵππος χλωρός, καὶ ὁ καθήμενος ἐπάνω αὐτοῦ.
Besides the fact that these four bring about Conquest, War, Famine, Death, their postures
are referred to by means of a participial construction, just like in the Whore’s case, derived
from the verb κάθημαι, repectively καθήμενος, often translated as ‘riding’, or ‘mounted’.
As another point of disparity, Ruiz advances the reference in 19:11, where “the λόγος,
mounted on a white horse is followed by heavenly armies also mounted on white horses
[…] contrasts directly with the πόρνη and her mount.”697
It is probably because of this reason that the Whore is referred to as ‘riding the Beast’.698
Because of the lack of Biblical parallels,699 other deities, represented as riding animals
could have prompted the image of the woman seated on a scarlet beast.700
I have however, doubts regarding the translation of καθημένη ἐπὶ θηρίον as “riding”,
mainly in view of the parallels with other deities, because as Mowinckel contends, “the
gods of Mesopotamians and Assyrians are never conceived or depicted as riding on
horseback”,701 or that Hittite gods standing upon real and monstrous animals “have
nothing to do with riding”. Beasts functioned as pedestals in cases above.702
696
Rissi contends that in the Book of Revelation „das Gottfeindliche immitiert das Goettliche“ (Rissi, Die
Verführung, 51).
697
Ruiz, Ezekiel in The Apocalypse, 317.
698
Paul B. Duff has even entitled one of his books Who Rides the Beast? Prophetic Rivalry and the Rhetoric of
Crisis in the Churches of the Apocalypse. Cf. Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John 487, Beale,
The Book of Revelation, 853.
699
Kowalski, Die Rezeption des Propheten Ezechiel, 180; cf. Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St.
John, 487.
700
Cf. Gunkel, Schöpfung und Chaos, 365 alludes to mother-goddess tradition; François Bovon, Possession ou
enchantement: les institutions romaines selon L’Apocalypse de Jean, in: Christianesimo nella storia 7/1986,
221-238, 234 and Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John (n. 5, 487) suggests Cybele,
accompanied by felines (cf. Bovon, Possession ou enchantement, 234); Aune, Revelation 17-22 refers to Thea
Rome –as part of an ekphrasis, or even the Mesopotamian deity, Inana. Cf. Sigmund Mowinckel, Drive and/or
Ride in Old Testament in: Vetus Testamentum 12/1962, 278-299.
701
Mowinckel, Drive and/or Ride, 280.
702
Mowinckel, Drive and /or Ride, 295-296.
211
Of all observations, I would like to highlight that the choice of her posture aims rhetorically
at establishing a counterpart to God, or God’s agents via intratextual links. The intertextual
references support such claims, illuminating on the character of the woman.
In doing so, it creates a horizon of expectation, in which her punishment is well deserved,
her fraudulent demeanour exposed.
Upon a scarlet beast
In what follows, the Whore’s seat, a beast –θηρίον is described as scarlet –κόκκινον (v.3b),
full of blasphemous names –γέμον ὀνόματα βλασφημίας (v.3b), having seven heads and
ten horns –ἔχον κεφαλὰς ἑπτὰ καὶ κέρατα δέκα (vv.3b.7c). The angelus interpres offers
explanation only for the last two attributes concerning the seven heads and ten horns.
In view of the meaning implied by the participial construction above, respectively that of
sitting, the posture of the woman could shed light on the association with the Beast, in
terms of the animalistic nature of both, also on the type of the exciting relationship
between the two: the woman subdues the Beast.
Considering this aspect, useful information on the Great Whore’s characterization could be
provided by analyzing in depth the meaning, implications and associations of ‘beast’ in the
Apocalypse. The Biblical context helps in contouring the reader’s horizon with regard to the
identity and function of the Whore.
References to beasts (or beast-like creatures) are not at all new in the Apocalypse. These
employ related topoi (colour, heads, horns, words of blasphemy) in their description and
function.
Despite the fact that θηρίον is anarthrous, the subsequent articular uses of this noun in the
immediate context, mentioned nine times in this chapter in 17:7.8 (x2).11.12.13.16.17 are
anaphoric to 17:3.
Ruiz explains the anarthrous character of the Beast as “a characteristic feature of the
author’s style, this presentation of already somewhat familiar imagery as though for the
first time serves to refocus the image and to redirect it in the new context in which the
reader finds it”. In doing so, the author justifies the link with other creatures and maintains
“a balance between the continuity of his metaphoric language throughout the book and
the introduction of new motifs.”703
703
212
For this reason, a comparison with other ‘beastly’ occurrences in the Apocalypse aid in
understanding the use and meaning of the image of the Beast. The observations resulting
from the comparison between the intratextual references to the Beast will be presented
below, concluding with an assessment.
Table 2
Beast in 12 Beast in 13: 1-10 Beast in 13:11-18 Beast 17:3

καὶ ἰδοὺ δράκων μέγας καὶ εἶδον ἐκ τῆς Καὶ εἶδον ἄλλο θηρίον (καὶ εἶδον) θηρίον
πυρρὸς θαλάσσης θηρίον ἀναβαῖνον ἐκ τῆς γῆς κόκκινον
(And behold a great red ἀναβαῖνον (And I saw another beast (And I saw a scarlet
dragon) (And I saw a beast rising rising out the earth) beast) (17:3)
(12:3) out of the sea) (13:11)
(13:1) καὶ μέλλει ἀναβαίνειν ἐκ
τῆς ἀβύσσου (καὶ εἰς
ἀπώλειαν ὑπάγει) (And
[the beast] is about to
ascend from the abyss
and go to destruction)
(17:8)
ἔχων κεφαλὰς ἑπτὰ καὶ ἔχον κέρατα δέκα καὶ ἔχων κεφαλὰς ἑπτὰ καὶ
κέρατα δέκα κεφαλὰς ἑπτά κέρατα δέκα.
(Having seven heads and (Having ten horns and (Having seven heads and
ten horns) seven heads) ten horns)
(12:3) (13:1) (17:3)
Note! reversed order
καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς κεφαλὰς καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς κεφαλὰς Αἱ ἑπτὰ κεφαλαὶ ἑπτὰ
αὐτοῦ ἑπτὰ διαδήματα αὐτοῦ ὀνόματα ὄρη εἰσίν, ὅπου ἡ γυνὴ
(And on his heads seven βλασφημίας κάθηται ἐπ᾽ αὐτῶν. καὶ
diadems) (And on its heads βασιλεῖς ἑπτά εἰσιν·
(12:3) blasphemous names) (And the seven heads are
(13:1) seven mountains on
which the woman sits,
and they are seven kings)
(17:9)
γέμον[τα] ὀνόματα
βλασφημίας
(Full of blasphemous
names)
(17:3)
καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν κεράτων εἶχεν κέρατα δύο ὅμοια Καὶ τὰ δέκα κέρατα ἃ
αὐτοῦ δέκα διαδήματα ἀρνίῳ εἶδες δέκα βασιλεῖς εἰσιν
213
(And on its horns ten (It had two horns like a (And the ten horns which
diadems) lamb) you saw are ten kings)
(13:1) (13:11) (17:12)
Καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτῷ στόμα καὶ ἐλάλει ὡς δράκων
λαλοῦν μεγάλα καὶ (And spoke like a
βλασφημίας dragon)
And [the beast] was (13:11)
given a mouth uttering
haughty and
blasphemous words
(13:5)
καὶ ἤνοιξεν τὸ στόμα

αὐτοῦ εἰς βλασφημίας
πρὸς τὸν θεὸν
βλασφημῆσαι τὸ ὄνομα
αὐτοῦ
(And he opened his
mouth to utter
blasphemies against God,
blaspheming his name)
(13:6)
καὶ ἐβλήθη ὁ δράκων ὁ
μέγας, ὁ ὄφις ὁ ἀρχαῖος,
ὁ καλούμενος Διάβολος
καὶ ὁ Σατανᾶς, ὁ πλανῶν
τὴν οἰκουμένην ὅλην
(And the great dragon
was thrown down, that
ancient serpent, who is
called the Devil and
Satan, the deceiver of
the whole world) (12:9)
In the comparative scheme above, I chose the following parametres: the etymology of
words denoting beasts, their origin, colour, as well as other topoi in their description, royal
implications, but also the occurrence of ‘blasphemous words’.
First, I would have to underline the distinction (if any) between ‘dragon’ –δράκων and
‘beast’ –θηρίον. Named differently, they seem to merge. This is buttressed by the fact that
the beast in 13:11 speaks like a dragon.
214
Even if one takes them separately, they operate identically. The beasts’ names indicate
forces opposing God. Their common animalistic feature, either alone or by association,
places them in an antagonistic relation to those defined as the agents of God.
Leaving aside the same formal entrance for the beasts (using εἶδον in 13:1.11, 17:3b, and
ἰδού in 12:3), the origin of the beasts in Rev 13 and 17 is mentioned by the use of the verb
ἀναβαίνειν.
One beast is rising ἐκ τῆς θαλάσσης (13:1), the other ἐκ τῆς γῆς (13:11), while in 17, the
beast is rising ἐκ τῆς ἀβύσσου (17:8, but also 11:7).
These latter mentions may be implying that the Beasts’ abodes are located on earth, or
more specifically, under the earth. Alternatively, the references may be an indicative of the
Beasts’ lowest rank in the creation hierarchy.
The colour of the beasts is mentioned in two instances: in chapter 12, the dragon is red –
πυρρός and in chapter 17 the beast is scarlet –κόκκινος. As these seem to be shades of red,
their connection bears further significance.
The description of the beasts in chapters 12:1, 13:1-10 and 17:3 includes seven heads and
ten horns –κεφαλὰς ἑπτὰ καὶ κέρατα δέκα.
The seven heads correspond to kings –βασιλεῖς (17:9) and the same is implied in 12:3 by
diadems –διαδήματα.
The ten horns –reduced to two in 13:11 –are interpreted as well as βασιλεῖς (17:9), which
would be then consistent with the διαδήματα of 12:3 and 13:1.
The heads of the Dragon in 12:3 each carry seven diadems, whereas in 13:1, the ten horns
of the first beast are crowned.
In contrast to these occurrences, the Beast in 17:3 does not have any diadem. Neither its
horns, nor its heads are depicted as crowned. Nevertheless, the royal connection is
established otherwise, by reference to its horns (17:12).
The words of blasphemy –βλασφημίας occur with the descriptions of the beasts in 13:1-10
(v.1.5.6) being paralleled with 17:3b.
The beast of 17 is full of blasphemous names –γέμον[τα] ὀνόματα βλασφημίας, while 13:1
records them on its (i.e. the beast’s) head –ἐπὶ τὰς κεφαλὰς αὐτοῦ.
At the same time, the beast of 13:1-10 utters arrogant words –μεγάλα (Dan 7:20, 13:5)
against God and His name (13:6).
Such close connectedness between the elements of the two entities’ description has
prompted Yarbro Collins to consider the current Beast to be either identical or equivalent
to the beast in chapter 13.704 If accepted that the Beast of chapter 13 coincides with the
704
Yarbro Collins, art. Revelation, in: NJBC, 1012.
215
one of our chapter, Beale conceives the latter’s appearance as another episode in the
Beast’s career.705
In 12:9, the dragon is followed by the apposition “that ancient serpent, who is called the
Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world” –ὁ ὄφις ὁ ἀρχαῖος ὁ καλούμενος
Διάβολος καὶ ὁ Σατανᾶς, ὁ πλανῶν τὴν οἰκουμένην ὅλην (alluding to Gen 3:15) which
illuminates on the demonic origins of the one dragon.
Besides the satanic associations, in OT and early Jewish symbolism, the dragon is
historically personified as Nebuchadnezzar706 (ὡς δράκων, Jer 51:34), while the Psalms of
Solomon 2:29, point at Pompey.707 Psalm 73:13-14 mean the Egyptian Pharaoh, so does Isa
51:9, Ezek 29:3, 32:2. Considering the context created above, one could also add the aspect
of idolatry to 13:4.8, where the appearance of the Beast implies an attitude of worship
(προσκυνέω) on the behalf of οἱ κατοικοῦντες ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.
In addition, regarding the intertextual connections, Dan 7:2-7.20.24 may have been a major
influence in construing the image of the beast(s), bearing very close resemblances with the
aforementioned texts.708
The particular cross-reference operates as anchor-points: the presence of horns and heads
in the descriptions of beasts, their number, as well as the subsequent interpretation of
them as crowns represent a symbol Daniel utilizes for kings/ kingdoms (Dan 7: 23.24).
Summary
Given the above information resulted from intratextual associations, one could easily fill in
relevant information on the Beast’s nature. The reader is able to construe an expectation
horizon meant to help identifying the perpetrators, the enemies of God in the Apocalypse.
The beasts and dragon of the Apocalypse feature as symbol for Chaos (12:4-5). They stand
up as forces against God,709 destroyers of the order of Creation. These instances bring up
705
706
G. C. Heider, art. ‘Tannin’, in: Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking, Pieter Willem van der Horst (eds.),
Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (2nd edition extensively revised), Brill: Leiden, 1999, 834-836,
836.
707
Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, 381: cf. Friesen, Imperial Cults and the Apocalypse of
John, 195fff.
708
Ruiz, Ezekiel in The Apocalypse, 319; Rissi, Die Verführung, 31ff, cf. Lupieri, A Commentary on the
Apocalypse of John, 276.
216
associations with the Leviathan (Psalm 74:12-17), or Rahab motif (Isa 51:9), where God’s
victory over them is certain.
For this reason, their characterization and function bears most often political and cultic
undertones.
Standing in close innertextual relation to chapter 13 –referring to the emperor’s cult710 –
the Beast could be largely identified with the Roman Empire.711 “This was an expectation
prevalent from 90 AD onward in many Christian communities,”712 argues Frey. Similarly, he
contends that whereas the Beast in chapter 13 focuses on the military power of the
empire, the beast in chapter 17 stresses the economic aspects, in visualizing the empire’s
power of seduction.713
In this study, this aspect is touched upon only indirectly, by means of association with the
Whore and only in view of chapter 18.
For this reason, and of course because of the explanation offered by the angelus interpres,
in which he identifies the ‘woman’ with a ‘city’ (v.18), the Whore is considered the city of
Rome, while the Beast remains associated with the Roman Empire.
Such a geopolitical identification hints indirectly to the identity of the Whore, the doublet
of the Beast, which is popular with exegetes, representatives of the historical-critical
method.
The woman’s depiction as sitting on a beast as well as the interaction with the Beast could
be ascribed a moral value, i.e. fornication.714 Based on the already accomplished
association/ identification of the Beast with the Roman Empire and of the Whore with
Rome,715 commentators describe her as fornicating with her own empire.716
Just as the Whore was previously described as seated, now the adjective ‘scarlet’ κόκκινον
is the first to delineate the Beast.
709
710
Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, 487, Yarbro Collins, art. Revelation, in: NJBC, 1012,
also Frey, The Relevance of the Roman Imperial Cult, 231-255.
711
Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John; cf. Aune, Revelation 17-22; Charles, A Critical and
Exegetical Commentary on the Revelation of St. John, 2: 64; also cf. Friesen, Imperial Cults and the Apocalypse
of John, 202-204; Yarbro Collins, Crisis and Catharsis, 148.
712
Although he fails to mention any of the sources, he refers in making such a statement.
713
Frey, The Relevance of the Roman Imperial Cult, 237-238.
714
Lupieri, A Commentary on the Apocalypse, 252, cf. Sals, Die Biographie, 104.
715
This aspect is dealt with at a subsequent point.
716
Lupieri, A Commentary on the Apocalypse, 252. Others deem such behaviour unlikely, therefore indicate
Jerusalem as the potential entity behind the Whore (Lupieri, A Commentary on the Apocalypse, 252).
217
As mentioned previously, κόκκινος is a shade of red mentioned with two of the beasts’
descriptions in the Apocalypse. Prigent has noted however that this colour does not refer
to the colour of the Beast’s skin, but to a piece of cloth wrapped around the Beast. 717
Alternatively, it may refer to the trappings of the Beast.718
Because there is nothing indicating such suppositions, Ruiz points at the similitude
between the colour worn by the Prostitute, as described in the following verse (v. 4) and
the Beast. Similarly, he registers ‘scarlet’ within the same spectrum of colour displayed
with the Dragon in Rev 12. The Beast is ensuingly “an agent of Satan”. 719
Given the high costs to produce the scarlet dye in the first place, it has been linked with
people of certain socio-economic status, i.e. kings.
‘Scarlet’ is therefore the colour of Roman royalty,720 indicating wealth and status for which
a long list of references testify.721 At the same time, scarlet also features with the clothes of
Jewish priests,722 (Exod 28:5.8.15.33) as well as with the tabernacle (Exod 26:1, 36:8, Num
4:8, 2 Chr 3:14).
Within the Apocalypse, the same colour features in the Whore’s attire, being also
mentioned on the list of fine merchandises of the following chapter (18:2).
Due to the ambivalence contained by the double stress on ‘scarlet’ as per the description
of Babylon and of the Great Whore, I argue it has a deeper meaning than just colour. Just
as all the other elements presented so far, scarlet bears ultimately a moral valence. The
textual allusion thus helps the readers once again to confirm their assumptions regarding
the character judged.
An interpretation like this is buttressed by the OT context.
717
718
Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John, 693.
719
Ruiz, Ezekiel in The Apocalypse, 321; cf. Smalley, The Revelation to John, 429.
720
Cf. Judg 8:26 to refer to the clothes of the king of Midian; Ruiz, Ezekiel in The Apocalypse, 320.
721
Aune, Revelation 17-22, 935. He mentions 2 Sam 1:24, Prov. 31:21, Jer. 4:30, Epictetus, Discourses 3.22.10,
4.11.34, repeated in the same order by Blount, Revelation, 314.
722
Lupieri, A Commentary on the Apocalypse, 253.
The optical contrast is also evident in the Apocalypse, for ‘scarlet’ opposes the white of the Lamb and the
robes of the elders (4:4) and the 144, 000 redeemed (7:9).
218
Scarlet has clearly a significant moral value in Isa 1:18, since the sins are like scarlet –[αἱ
ἁμαρτίαι ὑμῶν] ὡς κόκκινον, being, in this manner, contrasted with the white of the snow
(ὡς χιόνα λευκανῶ) or, with that of that of the wool (ὡς ἔριον λευκανῶ).723
These instances substantiate the hypothesis that this colour or nuances of it depict the
enemies of God. As such, wearing scarlet also connotes with arrogance724 and possibly
persecution.
Besides its colour, the Beast is complemented with two other descriptive phrases: it is “full
of names of blasphemy” –γέμον[τα] ὀνόματα βλασφημίας and has “seven heads and ten
horns” –ἔχων κεφαλὰς ἑπτὰ καὶ κέρατα δέκα). These attributes are derived725 from the
description of the Beast in 13:1.
Full of blasphemous names
The first phrase describing the Beast is considered to be a Semitism.726 In Greek, γέμω –‘to
fill’ should usually be followed by a genitive of content, and not the accusative.
In fact, this form is the first of the two occurrences with the accusative in the Apocalypse
(also in 17:4c). Elsewhere (4:6.8, 5:8, 15:7, 17:4c, 21:9), the verb is used with genitive, as
certified by other NT uses, such as in Mat 23:25.27, Luke 11:39, Rom 3:14.727
Aune records a similar use of γέμω with the accusative in Exod 1:7, 8:17 and Ezek 39:20
and as such “it may reflect a a literal translation of the Hebrew verb ‫ ָמֵלא‬used with the
accusative of material”.728 This construction is relevant for the current use, as the
participial form of γέμειν is followed by a neuter noun in the accusative, plural. 729
723
724
725
726
727
Also Henry Barclay Swete, Commentary on Revelation. The Greek Text with Introduction, Notes and
Indexes, Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1977, 215.
728
729
There are several textual variants one notes, regarding the forms, because the space between the words
were not used neither in papyri, not in uncial MSS.
Some of these variants include γέμον ὀνόματα (Byzantine), γέμον ὀνομάτων (Andreas Hippolitus). Another
variants list γέμων ὀνόματα, as well as γέμωντα ὀνόματα. (For an extensive use per occurrence in variant
codices cf. Aune, Revelation 17-22, 908, Charles, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Revelation of
St. John, 2:337-338, Ruiz, Ezekiel in the Apocalypse, 321f). γέμοντα ὀνόματα is another form, in which
γέμοντα is either participle present active accusative neuter plural or it can also be a participle present active
masculine singular modifying the neuter singular noun in accusative θηρίον.
219
Name –ὀνόμα is very important in the Apocalypse. It can refer to the actual naming of a
person (9:1, 2:13, 3:12, 11:8, 22:4, and 19:12.13.19). While also denoting the generic term
for “person” in 3:4, or 11:13, it can be understood as “reputation” or “fame” in 3:1.
However, the most important meaning for the Apocalypse is noted when ὀνόμα implies
“belonging”.
In the dichotomic world of the Apocalypse, the ones belonging to God, marked by a seal –
σφραγίς (7:3fff, 9:4, 14:1, 22:4) are contrasted with the ones bearing the name of the Beast
(13:17, 14:11).
The latter reference is found also in the OT, which praises the beneficial associations with
the name of God in Num 6:23, Isa 43:7.
The high priest wears a golden diadem on which is engraved “Holy to the Lord” (Exod
28:36).
By contrast, in this particular instance in the Apocalypse we are not dealing with a holy
name, but rather with names of blasphemy ὀνόματα βλασφημίας.
This phrasing is not unknown to us, for such a denomination features in 13:1. The term
βλασφημίας functions as a qualitative genitive used in place of an adjective730 and
therefore translated as ‘names of blasphemy’.
Previously, βλασφημία was mentioned in the previous chapter, in 16:9.11.21 as

representing “the human reaction against God which is provoked by the bowl plagues”.731
Then, as evident from Table 2, blasphemies denote the Beast’s speech (13:5-6). More
concretely, in virtue of the intratextual link with the Beast of 13 (cf. 13:4-8, 14-15) it may
signify that the Beast arrogates upon itself the title as ‘god of this world’.732 Additionally,
To account for the gender incongruence, Charles suggests this phrase is an example of a constructio ad
sensum in which the masculinization of the neuter θηρίον would trigger the masculine gender of the
participial clause as well as the pronouns. (Charles, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Revelation of
St. John, 2:64; cf. Aune, Revelation 17-22, 908).
Examples of the latter type can be found in 17:11.16. (Aune, Revelation 17-22, 908).
The other scriptural variant (Nestle Aland version) is γέμον τα ὀνόματα, in which τα is taken as a definite
article to ὀνόματα preceded participle present active accusative neuter singular. In this case, it is an
anaphoric reference to the anarthrous ὀνόματα of Rev 13:1, so the author is thus attempting to textually link
the two chapters as shown above with other elements. (Aune, Revelation 17-22, 908).
730
731
732
Osborne, Revelation, 611.
220
blasphemies are paired with μεγάλα in 13:5, but they can be also found intertextually with
Dan 7:8.11.20.25, but also 11:36.
In Apocalypse 13, the names of blasphemy are on the beast’s heads, whereas with
Apocalypse 17, they can be interpreted as covering733 the body of the beast. Given the
historical context,734 the meaning of ὀνόματα βλασφημίας was also enriched. They
included defamations, insults addressed to God, “arrogant words [...] expressing a
pretension of divinity”735 considering deifying the emperor was very strong in Asia Minor.
It could also imply the titles held by the Roman emperor, i.e. augustus “worthy of
adoration” 736 or “master and God” dominus et deus.
Blasphemy implies the pretension to be venerated as gods.737 It can be also detected in 2
Thess 2:3-4, where the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction –ὁ ἄνθρωπος τῆς
ἀνομίας, ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας is declaring himself to be God –ἀποδεικνύντα ἑαυτὸν ὅτι
ἐστὶν θεός (cf. Asc. Isa 4:7-8738, where Beliar acts as an eschatological tyrant).
Such attitude is not common only with the Beast, for it will be mentioned also with the
Whore, who ἐδόξασεν αὐτὴν in Rev 18:7.
Thus, the sin of hubris will contribute to her violent demise mentioned in 17:16 and
throughout the following chapter.
Having seven heads and ten horns
The other descriptive phrase referring to the Beast registers ‘seven heads and ten horns’.
Such a phrasing occurs in a reverse order in 13:1.
Besides a display of terribleness,739 I daresay it adds to its already established
repulsiveness.
There are two variants: one reads ἔχων, the other ἔχον.
733
Charles, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Revelation of St. John, 2:64.
734
Chapter 13 is generally understood as referring to the emperor’s cult.
735
Ellul, The Book of Revelation, 191; cf. Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, 404.
736
Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John, 693; Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, 405, also 488.
737
738
Paolo Betiollo et al. (eds.), Ascensio Isaiae: Textus (Corpus Christianorum Series Apocryphorum 7),
Turnhout: Brepols, 1995.
739
Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John, 693.
221
The second form is considered a correction,740 an opinion also shared by Aune as “the
corrected reading of 051 Byzantine Andreas Hippolytus (de Ant. 36), though it is possible
that because of the ο=ω interchange […], ἔχον was pronounced ἔχων.”741
However, in the variant I am currently analyzing, the main problem I encounter with the
participial clause is that it does not agree with the head noun it describes, i.e. θηρίον: ἔχων
is a participial masculine form in the nominative, which modifies θηρίον, a neuter, singular
noun in the accusative.
Attempts to account for such disparity have been advanced.
Beale sees in this construction, a translation of the verb ἔχειν of Dan 7:7 with a participle
construction with the purpose to attract an OT allusion.742
Many see this yet another constructio ad sensum, a masculine personification of the Beast
(referring to the Roman emperor), 743 but also argue such use was common in apocalyptic
language, where “beasts symbolize human beings and nations.”744
The context in which θηρίον and δράκων operate is identical (cf. 12:9) so, this could explain
the case difference discussed above.
I already mentioned previously that when paralleled with the other occurrences (see Table
2), three instances indicate the same description of the Beast as having κεφαλὰς ἑπτὰ καὶ
κέρατα δέκα.
In all three occurrences, the seven heads carry either ‘seven crowns’ (12:3), ‘names of
blasphemy’ (13:1), or the ‘Whore’ (17:9).
Later in this chapter, the heads receive a double interpretation as ‘kings’ (v.9), and as
‘mountains’ (v.9).
The first interpretation, i.e. as ‘kings’ is consistent with chapter 12. In addition, the number
‘seven’ indicates fullness of royal power. However, their placement (on a beast) and the
association with a ‘whore’ would prompt the type of such power, respectively a demonic
type of power.
The second interpretation, i.e. as ἑπτὰ ὄρη alludes to the OT symbolism of a mountain (Isa
2:2, Jer 51:25, Dan 2:35. 45) as indicative of power.
740
741
Aune considers it a solecism, for the participial form ἔχον (both in nominative and accusative, but neuter
in gender) would have been appropriate. Cf. Aune, Revelation 17-22, 908.
742
743
Aune, Revelation 17-22, 908; Beale, The Book of Revelation, 853, Frey, The Relevance of the Roman
Imperial Cult, 238.
744
222
Commentators employing the historical-critical method are convinced the latter
association, i.e. the woman seated on seven mountains (17:9) is a well-known reference to
the popular depiction745 of the city Rome, corroborating it with the interpretation of 17:18.
The current study is not primarily interested in the identity of the Great Whore, but rather
deals with the function or rhetorical value of the gendered image in particular on readers.
The ten horns bear ten crowns in 13:1 implying again, royalty. This association is further
consistent with the interpretation offered by the angel in 17:12. Such an image could be
paralleled with Dan 7:7.24.
It is interesting to note the dynamics of the relationship between the Beast and its heads
and horns, on the one hand, and that between the Whore and the Beast, on the other
hand.
In 17:12, the ten horns, interpreted as kings reign with the Beast for one hour. God made it
possible (v.17) by giving all authority to the Beast in order to fight against the Lamb (v.14).
Nevertheless, the Lamb will defeat the Beast (cf. 17:14).
Alternatively, the Beast is carrying the Whore (17:3.8). In addition, in v.9 she is seated on
its heads. Such a relationship could be conceived in terms of an alliance. Towards the end
of the chapter, however, the Beast will wage war against the Whore (17:16). More
specifically, its horns together with the Beast itself offer her a violent death, for which Ruiz
is convinced to “draw clear literary inspiration from Ezek 16:39, 23:29”.746
Summary
Relevant elements in the vision bear a feminist substance. Starting with the use of the verb
of perception ὁράω that records the events of the vision in a highly perspectival view and
continuing with the gynomorphic apparition from the desert, and her posture, all these
elements prompt a deliberate rhetorical construction, in which the reader is also involved
with his/her senses.
Ulrike Sals747 interprets the woman of this verse in terms of normality: what we encounter
as reader is now a woman. The previous subunit dealt with the presentation of an
abnormal woman, i.e. a whore.
745
Actually Rome is known as the city of the seven hills (Virgil, Georgics 2.535; Horace, Carmen Saecularae 7;
Cicero, Ad Atticum, 6.5). Also Aune, Revelation 17-22, 920-928.
746
747
223
Indeed, the Seer envisions a ‘woman’, which is different from the appellation of the angel,
respectively a ‘whore’. Internal evidence points at the unity between the two utilized
concepts.
Because of the formulation above, the great bulk of some postmodern feminist claims read
in John’s identification a misogynist tone.
The gender-related observations resulted from the exegetical analysis were not particularly
flattering for images of depictions of women. They are defined and reduced to their
biological capacities, strongly dichotomized into good and evil, into passive and active.
Gendered images in the Apocalypse display concrete literally uses, but also extend to the
metaphoric level, in order to provide abundant substance for gender-informed claims.
The posture of the woman and her throne-like seat were analyzed. Subsequently, her
posture points entirely to her dominant and potentially repressive character, which besides
the intratextual references in Apocalypse is amply documented by other ancient works.
At the same time, in view of her association with a Beast, the Great Whore is put at the
same level with an animal, thus alluding to her animalistic nature, but also to the
impossibility of controlling her sexual instincts. This is totally in accordance with the
previous subsection, where the gendered character was introduced as a woman driven by
her strong sexual appetite, i.e. a whore.
In virtue of the debated associations, the readers’ horizon of expectation is both confirmed
and expanded with respect to understanding the character of the Prostitute, her potential
and function overall in the Apocalypse.
The topoi used to describe the Beast are not at all new for the readers of the Apocalypse as
it was shown in Table 2.
Gradually, the political dimension of a historical-critical method is brought into the
limelight. As the perspective is buttressed by the further presentation of the Beast’s
characteristics, possible gender-informed substance is concretized.
Her posture, as ‘riding’ the Beast is completed by other threats of a political nature, which
most of the non-feminist exegetes indicate to stem from the identification of the woman in
the vision of Apocalypse 17 with the city of Rome.
However, it is not my intent to overfocus on the political aspect of the image, simply
because the gendered depiction here bears other implications of interest, probably, if not
equally important, then at least, full of feminist substance.
Given the larger frame of an apocalyptic vision, the designation here –‘woman’ is not to be
taken at a face value, but should be evaluated from the prism of its rhetorical function.
224
Secondarily, by associations resulting from comparisons and contrasts, or even indirectly, a
moral portrait of the Whore is slowly concretized aiming at clarifying the cause for the
judgment pronounced by the angel in the first subsection of chapter 17.
225
3.3. Provisional Assessment (3)
The analysis of v.3 has provided important information with respect to the gender-
informed focus.
The Whore characterized directly, but also indirectly, by means of subtle hints regarding
her location, her posture, as well as counterparts.
Such features expand further on the image of the Whore and give depth to her character.
These could possibly assist us in decoding attitudes John may have had concerning this
character.
Once the gynomorphic description unfolds, the character amasses gradually negative
connotations. Starting with the abnormality in terms of moral character, continuing with its
theological implications aiming at slandering God, either by means of posture or
appearance, the woman is attributed some sort of political power.
These are the main motifs of the section.
The demonic implication of the posture of the woman further expands on the fact that the
Great Whore is not the ‘woman of the Lamb’, but the ‘woman of the Beast’. In view of her
previous immoral associations with the kings of the earth, the gendered image here is far
from that of a well-respected character in the Apocalypse.
Recurrent commonplaces implied by fellowship with Beast are power, wealth, and
arrogance. Moral evaluations revolve almost obsessively around evil, destruction,
devastation and persecution.
The Beast could be personified in its disastrous political power, as suggested by the
participial clause. Equally, the woman is personified, concretized in her vileness, possibly
alluding constantly to the fact that she deserves the punishment proclaimed in the
introductory verses.
As a result, the rhetorical function of the gendered image of the Whore is scrutinized,
generally by obfuscating the political aspect.
In this attempt, the literary topos of the evil vs. good woman aid in understanding how the
Great Whore operates at the textual level of the Apocalypse. Barbara Rossing states, “in
the Revelation, as in moralists, the linking of the feminine figure with to the Beast
226
underscores her deadly power and peril.”748 However, she contends, “Revelation shifts the
image of the woman on the Beast in a much more political direction than moralists.”749
Since the introduction of this interpretive path will be concretized mostly in the following
verse, I am ready to accept that the designation of ‘woman’ implies much more than the
generic biological concept. I extend the implications beyond the mere contrastive scheme
of literary substance, into the contemporary readers’ understanding of the metaphor as
shaping their lives and existence.
748
Rossing, The Choice, 81. Also cf. Aune, Revelation 17-22, 935.
749
227
4. Dress and Ornaments
a καὶ ἡ γυνὴ ἦν περιβεβλημένη πορφυροῦν καὶ κόκκινον,

b καὶ κεχρυσωμένη χρυσίῳ καὶ λίθῳ τιμίῳ καὶ μαργαρίταις,
c’ ἔχουσα ποτήριον χρυσοῦν ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτῆς
c’’ γέμον βδελυγμάτων καὶ τὰ ἀκάθαρτα τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς,
(And the woman has been clothed with purple and scarlet and has been adorned with gold
and precious stones and pearls. Holding a golden cup in her hand, full with abominations
and with the impurities of her prostitution)
4.1 Preliminary Considerations
The Whore is referred to, for the second time, with the now articulated noun “woman”
denoting the fact that John is consistent in what he reports.
After her posture and her despicable ‘throne’, the woman’s meretricious appearance notes
the following details: colourful dress and ornaments. She is arrayed in scarlet and purple –
περιβεβλημένη πορφυροῦν καὶ κόκκινον in 17:4a and is adorned with gold, [every kind of]
precious stone and pearls – κεχρυσωμένη χρυσίῳ καὶ λίθῳ τιμίῳ καὶ μαργαρίταις in 17:4b.
The connection of the items mentioned in this verse with the other verses carries a triple
significance.
First, it denotes beauty, or more exactly seductive beauty, when considering the ethical
implications providing the link with the previous subunit (vv. 1-2), even John declares
himself amazed (v.6b).
Secondly, the enumeration above denotes status –the quality of her clothing, as well as
multitude of ornaments would show she is not any street whore.
Thirdly, economic prosperity is envisaged, as all of the items mentioned rank as first class
merchandise on the list of items of 18:12.
The elements encountered in the current verse feature in Rev 18:16, with the addition of
‘fine linen’ –βύσσινος to the enumeration. With 18:16, the entity described is a ‘city’ and
not a ‘woman’ as in the current verse.
The verbatim phrasing of 17:4 and 18:16 bears two major implications: on the one hand,
the repetition creates a unity, as well as continuity between two dimensions of the Great
Whore, that of ‘woman’, generic by nature and that of a geopolitical entity, i.e. ‘city’. On
228
the other hand, this refers anaphorically to juxtaposition between ‘city’ and ‘woman’
already accomplished in 17:5.18.
In virtue of the enumerated elements in the portraiture, the woman appears as symbol
that allures, tempts and seduces.750
She is described by an enumeration of two perfect participles (περιβεβλημένη,
κεχρυσωμένη), as well as a present participle (ἔχουσα).
This description functions to “forge an intratextual link with the woman (bride) in 21:2,
whose appearance is described in a similar way with perfect particle forms, forming a clear
contrast (ἡτοιμασμένην, κεκοσμημένην) to 17:4-5.”751
Verse 4 contains two descriptions: the luxury items of first part of the description (v.4a.b c’)
contrast very much with the content of the golden cup held by the Whore in her hand (v.4
c’’).
Subsequently, the content of the cup bears a strong ethical aspect. So, it relates with the
vv. 1-2 via πόρν- cognates.
Moreover, the content of the cup filled with the impurities of her fornication –ποτήριον […]
γέμον βδελυγμάτων καὶ τὰ ἀκάθαρτα τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς has an inebriating effect on the
inhabitants of the earth –ἐμεθύσθησαν οἱ κατοικοῦντες τὴν γῆν ἐκ τοῦ οἴνου τῆς πορνείας
αὐτῆς.
In addition, the image of v.4 c’’ anticipates a scene where the cup is used as punishment
for the Whore herself in the following lines (vv.5.6) and contours more clarly in chapter 18.
The enumeration of elements evoking a negative association will be continued in verses 5-6
of this subunit, with the name she has on her forehead (v.5), as well as with her state of the
Whore’s mind (v. 6).
And the woman has been clothed
The second characteristic of the woman, namely her attire is mentioned.

In the following, I will present the importance of the woman being ‘clothed’.
In the Bible, clothes offer nonverbal communication on socio-economic status (priests,
kings, wealthy men etc.) as well as moral values (prostitutes, virgins etc.). Whenever any
750
751
Mathewson, Verbal Aspects, 151.
229
attire is referred, it usually carries an important narrative role, being only rarely
mentioned.752
Excursus on various attires in the Apocalypse. Implications
As opposed to characters that are naked, Apocalypse features some dressed dramatis
personae, whose clothes feature as complementary to their description. This aspect points
points most certainly to a pattern of clothing imagery in the book.
In the Apocalypse, both the verb περιβάλλω and ἐνδύω designate the same idea of being
“clothed”, “dressed” and “robed”.
The second variant is used in 15:6 in connection with the apparel of the seven angels. In
19:14, they refer to clothes of the armies of heaven. The former variant features more
often with 3:18, 19:18, 3:5 being frequently used as a participle perfect form in 4:4, 7:9.13,
12:1, 17:4, 18:16 and 19:13.
Additionally, garments are ‘given’ –ἐδόθη (6.11, 19:8) so that characters be ‘prepared’ –
ἡτοιμασμένη (19:8, 21:2).
Besides her posture from the previous verse, the Whore is referred as περιβεβλημένη,
situating the Whore in the larger context of characters dressed in the Apocalypse.
In the table below I have summed up a series of recurrences of these verbal forms, the the
type of apocalyptic character, as well as clothing mentioned.
Table 3
Textual Referent Type of Clothing
Son of man (1:13-16) Long robe; golden sash across his chest; seven stars in his
hand
Inhabitants of Sardis (3:4.5) Unsoiled clothes; dressed in white (worthy)
Inhabitants of Laodicea (3:17.18) Naked; need to be clothed in white
Twenty-four elders (4:4.10) White robes; golden crowns
The souls of the persecuted (6:11) White robes
Great multitude (7:9.13) White robes; palm branches in their hands
Angel (10:1) clothed with a cloud
752
Cf. Heather A. McKay, ‘Gendering the body: Clothes maketh the (wo)man’, in: Robert Hannaford, J’annine
Jobling (eds.), Theology and the Body; Gender, Text and Ideology, Exeter: Gracewing, 1999, 84-104, 84, 93.
230
Woman (12:1) Clothed with Sun; Moon under her feet; crown of twelve
stars
Seven angels (15:6) Pure bright linen; golden sashes
Anonymous (16:15) Clothed, not naked
Woman (17:4) Dressed in purple and scarlet; adorned with gold, precious
stones, and pearls
Great City (18:16) Clothed in fine linen, purple and scarlet
Bride (19:8) Dressed in fine linen, bright and pure; the fine linen is the
deeds of the righteous
Word of God Robe dipped in blood
Armies of Heaven (19:13.14) wearing fine linen, white and pure
Bride of the Lamb/ Holy City (21:2.9-22) Adorned with all sorts of precious stones
Anonymous (22:14, cf. 7:14) Washed robes
Before dealing with the implications of the different types of clothing mentioned
previously, I would like to note several observations, as per the synoptic comparison in the
table above.
First, both individual, as well as collective characters are clothed in the Apocalypse.
These are heavenly (1:13, 4:4, 6:11, 7:9.13, 10:1, 12:1, 15:5, 19:7.13.14, 22:14) and
terrestrial (3:4.17, 16:15, 17:4, 18:16), both masculine753 and feminine.754
Second, certain commonplaces feature in their manner of dressing.
These topoi include references to colour –white (λευκός in 1:4, 3:5.18, 4:4, 6:11, 7:9.13, cf.
19:13), purple and scarlet (πορφυροῦς καὶ κόκκινος in17:4, 18:16), texture –fine linen
(βύσσινος in 18:16, 19:8.14, or λίνον as in 15:6). Colour and texture are sometimes
accompanied by visual bling, such as golden crowns (στέφανος in 4:4.10, cf. 12:1), golden
sashes (ζώνη as in 1:13, 15:6), jewels (λίθοι τίμιοι as in 17:4, 18:16, cf. 21:19), gold
(χρυσίον as in 17:4, 18:16), pearls (μαργαρῖται, 17:4, 18:16 cf. 21:21). Descriptions can also
753
Due to the occasional occurrences of collective denominations, I would not like to consider the characters
mentioned solely masculine, or solely feminine. One option would be to clearly make that distinction,
between masculine, feminine and collective, or, as Schüssler-Fiorenza suggests, in case of collective entities,
the feminine is included in the masculine, for “grammatically masculine language can function both as
gender-specific, and as generic language” (Schüssler-Fiorenza, Vision of Just World, 15).
754
Generally, as presented earlier, most scholarship identifies four major feminine characters in the
Apocalypse: Jezebel, the Woman Clothed with the sun, the Great Whore, the Bride of the Lamb. However,
Steven Friesen, adds to them, “Ge (γῆ) (‘Earth, Land’) […] a well-known figure from Greek mythology […]
appearing in Rev 12 as a positive character, who acts on her own to protect the Woman Clothed by the Sun.”
(Friesen, Imperial Cults and the Apocalypse of John, 186). The same observation is also found with David L.
Barr’s article ‘Jezebel’s Skinny Legs. (De)Constructing the Four Queens of the Apocalypse’, available at
http://www.wright.edu/~david.barr/jezebel.htm (no pagination), (last accessed 15 March 2009).
231
feature celestial bodies, such as stars (ἀστήρ as in 12:1, cf. 1:16), cloud (νεφέλη as in 10:1)
or even the Sun –ἥλιος and the Moon –σελήνη (12:1).
Thirdly, records above serve to dichotomize the good and the bad characters.
As a result, God’s allies755 tend toward clothes in the colour white, sometimes pure bright –
καθαρὸν λαμπρόν as in 15:6, 19:8, usually of fine texture.
Their clothes or mantles are consequently unsoiled and washed. Good characters are given
garments dipped in blood – (ἱμάτιον) βεβαμμένον αἵματι. Their adornment is of the finest
nature: golden crowns, jewels, but also stars, Sun and Moon.
Good characters stand in contrast with bad characters that are naked and need to be
clothed. The bad wear fabrics in different colours, other than white, such as purple and
scarlet.
However, what is intriguing is that although gaudy, bad characters ‘imitate’ the type of
clothing of the righteous.
Sometimes they also wear gold, precious stones and fine linen. A close insight into the
context illuminates further on their function in the Apocalypse.
Implications: As shown above, within the Apocalypse, precisely in 16:15, 17:11, cf. 3:18, the
idea of “being clothed” contrasts with that of “being naked”.
M. E. Vogelzang and W.J. Bekkum interpreted nakedness in a variety of ancient texts such
as pieces of literature, hymns, myths, letters, and documents dealing with bureaucratic, as
well as legal matters. 756
Because garments were expensive, they were markers of the wearer’s well-being and
implicitly, social status.
In contrast, nudity implied the lowest level of the social scale.757
Similarly, with regard to the nudity ascribed to a whore –just like in this textual reference –
Kelly Olson remarks that “nudity was the marker of the lowest whore, a woman who was
said to be ready for every kind of lust.”758
755
Cf. Smalley, The Revelation to John, 429; Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, 487.
756
For details cf. the article by M. E. Vogelzang, W. J. Bekkum, Meaning and Symbolism of Clothing in Ancient
Near Eastern Texts, in: H.L.J. Vanstiphout et al. (eds.), Scripta Signa Vocis. Studies about Scripts, Scriptures
and Scribes and Languages in the Near East, Presented to J. H. Hospers by His Pupils, Colleagues and Friends,
Groningen: Egbert Forsten, 1986, 265-284, 266.
757
H. O. Maier, s.v. Kleidung II (Bedeutung), in: Theodor Klauser et al., Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum
(vol. 21), Stuttgart: Hiersemann, 2005, 1-60, 26-27.
758
Kelly Olson, Matrona and Whore: Clothing and Definition in Roman Antiquity, in: Christopher A. Faraone
and Laura K. McClure (eds.), Prostitutes and Courtesans in Ancient World, 186-207, 195.
232
Becoming naked is conjoined with divine punishment implied by the verb ἠρημωμένην
(17:16). This castigatory method can have multiple meanings, given by the context in which
it appears. In Rev 17, it refers to the punishment ‘in the flesh’ applied to the Great Whore.
With 17:16, clothes are only a transient wrapping. The Whore’s real character is revealed
only when the expensive clothes are removed (ἠρημωμένην).
Except for the above mentioned attribute, and in search for establishing an intertextual
connection pointing to a tradition, Sals759 identifies in OT other contexts, where nakedness
functions as a consequence of a divine castigation. Thus, nakedness could express the
military defeat or a peoples’ captivity such as in Job 12:17.19, 2 Chr 28:15, Deut 28:48.
The verb is discussion also connotes with the metaphor of depletion of a geographical
territory, with the political and administrative entity’s being ‘laid waste’, common with
some references in prophetic literature as in Jer 4:7, 51:26.29.43, Ezek 26:19, 38:12. This
valence was discussed in the previous section.
Additionally, a very relevant OT context is that represented by the ‘marriage metaphor’,

more precisely describing the relationship between Yahweh and the chosen people with
the aid of sexual metaphors. Becoming naked is a repudiation method following adultery
that is amply exemplified by Hos 2:3.5.9, Ezek 16:8.37.39, 23:9.26.29, Nah 3:5, Lam 1:8,
Micah 1:11.
However, the ‘marriage metaphor’ does not apply to the description of the Great Whore.
In the Whore’s case, the barring will be effected by the Beast on which she sits (17:3) and
the kings with whom she fornicated (17:2) and not directly by God.
As it was previously mentioned, some postmodern interpreters see in the act of 17:16, a
violent sexual crime, a rape.760 This interpretation of the adjective ‘naked’ is not, in my
opinion supported textually.
On another level, nakedness is used in a negative manner. It alludes to human

creatureliness and the exclusion by God (Gen 2:25, 3:7, Job 1:21, Qoh 5:15), whereas
receiving clothes from God (Gen 3:7) would be interpreted positively, i.e. God offering
protection.761
759
760
Pippin, Eros and the End, 193; eadem, Death and Desire, 57. Cf. Selvidge, Reflections on Violence and
Pornography, 280f.
761
233
Another dimension of this protection offered by God is encountered in the act of divine
redemption, exemplified in the Apocalypse. Garments could be understood in connection
with salvation (6:11, 7:9.13-14, cf. Matt 22:11-12), to which an evaluation of moral
categories is frequently attached.
This association is also confirmed with Isa 61:10, which mentions God’s clothing with the
garments of salvation –ἱμάτιον σωτηρίου, the robe of righteousness –χιτῶνα εὐφροσύνη.
Additionally, one could add that at least in the Apocalypse, a character’s morality, or lack of
it is revealed also by means of clothing.
This particular assumption is supported by a vast reference to the OT literature, where the
wicked, enemies of God are clothed in vices, shame, dishnour (Job 8:22, Psalm 132:18,
109:18.29), as opposed to those clothed in salvation and joy in Job 29:14, Psalm 132:9.16.
In the case of the Great Whore described in the vision of Apocalypse 17, her clothing and
immorality attach to a category of interest for the feminist study, namely gender.
We are subsequently dealing with a gendered appearance –a woman –in 17:3b.4a.
The larger context in which the gendered metaphor of the Great Whore operates is
provided by the immorality (πόρνη) on the one hand and her generic character (γυνή), on
the other hand.
It is my contention that the Seer utilizes the gendered image in a rhetorical manner, aiming
to personalize Evil very concretely, by giving it a woman’s face.
Irrespective of how we, as readers rapport ourselves to the image, respectively interpreted
in continuation to the OT traditions enumerated above, or by absolutizing gender, one
cannot overlook the generic character of the Great Whore.
Summary
Mentions of clothing in the Apocalypse carry always an important meaning. With

apocalyptic characters they represent a type of non-verbal communication used to assess
the characters’ socio-economic status, as well as delineate characters in terms of morality
(or lack of it).
In the excursus above, a pattern was identified, according to which clothed characters are
evaluated. The tabular presentation highlighted the criteria according to which the
assessment was pursued. Colours, texture, accessories ranging from gold, pearls to celestial
bodies differentiate the ‘good’ from the ‘bad’.
234
While exploring the dialectic clothed-naked, the meaning of ἠρημωμένην pointed to a
castigatory method. It carried two important aspects: one associated with the punishment
in the flesh and the other bearing political undertones, conjoining with the devastation of
lands and territories, because of sieges. Both aspects feature in the presentation of the
Great Whore. However, the second aspect gained more prominence, being amply
documented by OT prophetic texts and associated with the marriage metaphor that does
not apply to the Great Whore.
A third dimension of the same verb included its evaluation in terms of a sexual crime,
which is unfortunately not supported textually.
Nakedness associates semantically with losing one’s divine protection, for garments stand
in relation with the act of divine redemption. In this manner, in the Apocalypse, clothing is
used as some sort of moral scale.
This is not problematic per se, though it becomes so, when gender also attaches to this
evaluation. In this manner, the condemnation of the Great Whore gains substance for
gender-informed claims. A hermeneutics of suspicion can concretize in formulating a
critical standpoint concerning the rhetorical (and stereotypical) means to depict evil.
With purple and scarlet
As mentioned above, throughout the Apocalypse,762 colours and visual appearance are
used to circumscribe a figure’s moral character. 763 This is not an exception.
Colours bear most certainly a symbolic value, which extends far beyond their actual
aesthetic value764 and denote wealth and luxury.
Just like white, scarlet and purple refer both to the colour, as well as designate the fabrics
dyed in these colours.
Just like in the case of clothes, colours also bear ethical implications.
White765 has ascetic766 valences. It is evaluated positively and preferred throughout the
Apocalypse (cf. 3:4f. 18).767
762
So is the case with the horsemen, the beasts, the women of 12 and 19, the 14.000 virgins etc.
763
764
Ugo Vanni, Il Simbolismo nell‘ Apocalisse, in: Gregorianum 61/1980, 461-506, 485.
765
Although ‘white’ is not featured per se with the garments of the Great Whore in Apocalypse 17:4, I chose
to include it in the main body of the current study because it offers a stark contrast with the gaudy colours of
scarlet and purple, also carrying ethical implications.
766
767
Cf. Table 3.
235
By contrast, scarlet and purple are diametrically opposed to white. Within the larger
chromatic spectre of these colours, the Dragon of 12, as well as the Beast in 17 are listed as
enemies of God, various incarnations o Evil.
Additionally, scarlet and purple are robing a woman, identified as the Great Whore. These
colours contrast the Great Whore with another gendered character in the Apocalypse,
respectively the Bride of the Lamb. This contrast was alluded to on several occasions by
now.
In another order of ideas, the hues are distinctive: scarlet represents wealth and
magnificence, and purple is the colour of royalty.768
The woman is introduced as the whore fornicating with the kings of the earth, though the
text does not elaborate on the source of her possessing of these expensive materials. By
linking the two pieces of information, one could easily infer either that the expensive
arrayal may be either received in return of her sexual favours,769 or it is procured by the
Whore herself.770
Irrespective of the interpretative choice, her clothes purport an unnatural character. The
subsequent violent depletion of clothes (17:16) serves to expose the Whore’s real self.
Regarding these observations, I would like to point out that such allusions stem from
secondary, indirect associations, even if these claims are not textually marked.
In the Apocalypse, the two expensive dyes feature purposefully771 in the list of first-hand
merchandise in 18:12. The colours are also mentioned in the lament of the merchants in
the following chapter, respectively 18:16, when the merchants are mourning over the
destroyed city: Alas, alas, the great city, clothed in fine linen, in purple and scarlet, adorned
with gold, with jewels, and with pearls!
Ruiz acknowledges in the latter reference “the extent of the identification that is made
between the Prostitute and Babylon and the qualification of her πορνεία as activity which
involves and economic dimension as well.”772
768
769
Vander Stichele, Re-membering the Whore, 119. Cf. Sutter Rehman, who also notes the whore’s
conspicuous lack of payment, she purportedly received from the groups with whom she interfered (Sutter
Rehman, Die Offenbarung Johannes, 735).
770
771
Yarbro Collins, Crisis and Catharsis, 153.
772
Ruiz, Ezekiel in the Apocalypse, 325; cf. Osborne, Revelation, 611, Beale, The Book of Revelation, 854.
236
I do acknowledge that this aspect is extremely important for the unity, or continuity
between the two other dimensions of the Great Whore, namely the corporeal one and the
geopolitical one.
However, this unity is constituted textually at a later point than 17:4. I would like to point
out the divergence with historical approaches that disconsider the appropriate textual
order of the two dimensions listed above and perceive the garments of the Whore in
purely economic terms, associated to the description of a city. They also disregard their
importance for delineating the Great Whore’s character.
My interest is thus of a different nature: everything denoting the appearance of the Whore
is constructed primarily as belonging to the conceptual domain of a woman. Without this
corporeal dimension of clothing and adornment, the reader/interpreter cannot adequately
grasp the rich implications of the gendered image in Rev 17.
It is for this reason, that the feminist analysis I am pursuing will engross the generic
implications of both clothes and adornments.
The first of the two hues mentioned is scarlet –κόκκινος.
It is a special colour, mentioned frequently in the OT. As such, scarlet associates with other
expensive item such as gold (Jer 4:30, 2 Sam 1:24 and Prov 31:21) and purple in the OT,
when referring to the priest’s clothes773 (Exod 24:5, 28:5, 31:4, 35:6, 35:25, 39:12). I will
show in the following how all these items feature in the Whore’s attire.
Everything about this colour points to its nobility, to its dignity, to luxury and wealth.
The latter reference is associated with the subsequent geopolitical identification of the
Great Whore with Babylon in 18:14.17.19.
Moreover, Babylon is reported to live luxuriously, experiencing full enjoyment of senses
implied by the verb στρηνιάω –repeated three times in 18:3.7.9, as a justification for the
divine punishment.
Self-glorification (18:7) –ἐδόξασεν αὐτήν –is also brought in connection with wearing
‘scarlet’, thus inviting a negative interpretation as ‘arrogance’. The reader is thus constantly
reminded that, that there is something wrong with this picture.
The closest textual association of scarlet is underscored with the description of Beast from
the previous verse. The posture of the woman dressed in scarlet, seated on a scarlet beast,
alludes to the identical nature of the two, manifested in two attributes: evilness and
arrogance. The Whore is in this way placed on the side of God’s enemies.
773
Lupieri, A Commentary on the Apocalypse of John, 257.
Moreover, scarlet was attributed an apotropaic effect (Gen 38:28, Jos 2:18) in the cleansing rituals (Lev
14:4.6.49.51, Num 4:8, 19:6, Heb 9:19). Cf. Sals, Die Biographie, 102.
237
Just like the beast, the whore-woman purports unjustly possible pretensions774 of authority,
indicated by the colour scarlet, although she is essentially a whore. The putting-her-into-
place will be represented among others by the loss of the resplendent dress in 17:16 (cf.
18:6-8).
Considering the moral undertones of scarlet, these provide another anchor-point in

perceiving the whore as the doublet of the beast. It also implies the persecuting nature775
of both (the beasts in Rev 13 and the woman in 17:6, 18:24 and 19:2).776
The resplendent garments include yet another expensive dye, i.e. purple – πορφύρα.
The hues covered by πορφύρα range from red to dark purple.777In this particular context, it
functions as a nominalized adjective – πορφυροῦς.778
As previously described, the colour denotes a high economical status, as with Alexander
the Great, purple became a worldwide currency as status symbol.779
The higher status brought about royal associations as per Judg 8:26, Est 8:15, Lam 4:5, Dan
5:7.16.29, 1 Macc 10:20.62.64, 11:58, 14:43, Sir 40:4, Mark 15:17, John 19:2, Gospel of
Peter 3.7. 780
From the enumeration above, I would like to underscore the fact that the royal association
‘purple’ has, is validated in the mocking scene of the crucifixion (Mark 15:17, par. Matt
27:27-30, John 19:2). Here, purple clothing refers to Roman insignia of royalty. 781
774
Blount, Revelation, 314.
775
Beale, The Book of Revelation, 855, Osborne, Revelation, 610 (ft. 7).
776
While keeping the carnal character of the image before our eyes, the whore will be subsequently
presented as inebriated with “blood of the martyrs” in 17:6, the motif being taken up again in 19:2, when
God is praised for avenging the blood of his servants on her. Similarly, in the political dimension of the whore,
respectively in 18:24, in Babylon was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been
slaughtered on earth.
777
Frederick W. Danker, art. ‘Purple’, in: ABD (vol.5), New York: Doubleday, 1992, 557-560, 557. Cf. Aune,
Revelation 17-22, 934-935.
778
Besides this option, he notes three other textual variants in manuscripts, namely πορφύρας, πορφύραν,
πορφύρον. Cf. the respective locations per Aune’s mention in Aune, Revelation 17-22, 909; Cf. Smalley, The
Revelation to John, 430.
779
Meyer Reinhold, History of Purple as a Status Symbol in Antiquity (Collection Latomus 116), Bruxelles:
Latomus, 1970, 28, also 71, 72. The Greek word 'πορφύρα', which refers to purple and the purple fish, a
species of shell fish or mussel from which the dye colour is derived. This species was relatively rare and thus
the purple dye was quite valuable. Cf. John M. Court, Myth and History in the Book of Revelation, Atlanta:
John Knox Press, 1979, 147.
780
Beale, The Book of Revelation, 854; Aune, Revelation 17-22, 935. Cf. Blount, Revelation, 314.
781
Swete, Commentary on Revelation, 212; Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, 487 (ft. 9). Cf.
238
In virtue of the previously mentioned, namely of purple featuring as royal colour, I would
like to elaborate on the implications for the current verse. Subsequently, the close
connection between ‘purple’ and ‘royalty’ on the one hand, and ‘purple’ and ‘whore’, on
the other hand is established in two aspects.
Firstly, purple indicates the Whore dressed in queenly attire. This fact is confirmed in the
subsequent chapter by the whore’s self-perception as queen –βασίλισσα (18:7). Also, the
same is reported by the angel: the Whore exerts power over the kings of the earth (17:18).
However, her royal status is mere “idle self-glorification”. “The Greek word for ‘queen’
βασίλισσα connotes a female ruler with authority over her domain. Yet, according to
common practices in Israel and Judah, the king’s favourite wife was not given a special title
or position” implying that “the identification of Babylon as queen drastically portrays her
own self-glorification as goddess” 782 that is denounced by Jeremiah in Jer 7:18.
Additionally, she is never acclaimed as queen in unanimity, but from the textual
information retrieved from the same chapter, she is ‘worshipped’ by an exclusive group of
people, respectively the powerful on earth (18:23) –οἱ μεγιστᾶνες τῆς γῆς. 783
Secondly, should we take into account the previous denominations concerning the
occupation of the main character depicted in chapter 17-18, one could see, how awkward
her pretense was. Two questions can be formulated: how can a whore be a queen and how
can a respectable queen be perceived as a whore?
This mention could be therefore an example of the apocalypticist’s irony.
As whore, “wearing royal colours such as red or purple would most certainly look ridiculous
on someone who was not of imperial status”, considering that „an honorable status (could
have) been either inherited or earned.” 784
Just like scarlet, purple also had cultic associations. Kowalski places this colour in a
dialogical textual relationship with the Book of Baruch,785 in the larger context of idol
worshipping delineated in chapter 6.
With the Book of Baruch, purple features in the description of the Babylonian gods: they
are covered with a purple garment (v. 12), as well as gold, silver, stone, wood (v.3) feature.
Although made of gold and silver, Babylonian gods cannot speak (v.7), are false, they will
rust and be subsequently eaten by moths (v.11).
782
783
784
Alicia J. Batten, Clothing and Adornment in: Biblical Theology Bulletin 40/210, 148-159, 149-150.
785
239
Especially if read in tandem with 17:16. I consider the above mentioned as fitting extremely
well, to what has been so far written on the character of the Whore.
Summary
By evidencing the various implications of scarlet and purple, the textual puzzle concerning
the appearance of the Whore amasses more clarifying elements.
Besides the luxurious, moral, cultic evaluations retrieved from the intratextual links with
the Beast, or the intertextual traditions of contemporary ancient writings, some
commentators786 argue that these colours contribute to the Whore’s desirability.787
When analyzed intratextually with the following enumeration of her adornments,
respectively “adorned in gold and precious stones and pearls”, the collection of items
establish a contrast with the Whore’s wickedness, inferred from the content of the cup she
holds in her hand.
And has been adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls
Gold, precious stones as well as pearls complete the woman’s resplendent ensemble.
The second part of v.4 is construed analogically with 4a as shown below:
4(a καὶ ἡ γυνὴ ἦν περιβεβλημένη πορφυροῦν καὶ κόκκινον,)

4b καὶ (κεχρυσωμένη) χρυσίῳ
καὶ (κεχρυσωμένη) λίθῳ τιμίῳ
καὶ (κεχρυσωμένη) μαργαρίταις
Just like in the previous part, the conjunction καί marks the beginning of new informational
block.
Omitting the subject woman, inferred from perfect participle in the third person singular
feminine, κεχρυσωμένη is accompanied by three objects – χρυσίῳ καὶ λίθῳ τιμίῳ
786
Carey, A Man’s Choice, 154; cf. Pippin, Death and Desire, 65-68. Also cf. Beale, The Book of Revelation,
854; Blount, Revelation, 314.
787
However, this desirability is differently understood, ranging from an economical desirability to a sexual
one. This will be presented with the analysis of the verb θαυμάζω in v.6. Blount names this desirability a
“mating maneuver” (Blount, Revelation, 314).
240
καὶ μαργαρίταις. Both precious stones and pearls depend upon this participle by a
zeugma.788
Similarly, the construction features in 18:16 with the lament of the merchants regarding
the fall of the Great City.
In this instance, however, the above mentioned items are evaluated negatively, since they
point to wealth and seductive nature.789
As such, women’s heavy bejewelment is usually enumerated in the lists of the forbidden
items in the NT, along with hair braids, with gold, pearls, or expensive clothes (1 Ti 2:9).790
Similarly, 1 Pet 3:3 opposes external adornment, i.e. hair braids, gold ornaments, fine
clothing to internal adornment, namely the lasting beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit that is
precious to God’s sight.
The participle forms with the first item enumerated, i.e. ‘gold’ a pleonastic construction.791
The elements of this construction are derived from the same stem that could be translated
literally ‘gilded with gold’.792
The translation I favour for this verse is ‘adorned’, for it suggests abundance. It is also
important to note that the verbal stem of the participle χρυσόω and the repetition of a
cognate (χρυσίον) allude most certainly to the clearer visualization of the idea of
abundance793 –inaurata auro.
Such a construction occurs on several occasions in OT, where it is usually translated as
‘overlaid with gold’.
In Exod 25:11.13, 26:37794 it features with the indications for the construction of the
tabernacle.
Additionally, the construction is mentioned in 2 Chr 3: 4.7.8.10 and as well as with the
description of King Solomon’s throne in 2 Chr 9:17 (cf. 1 Kgs 10:18).
Gold –χρυσίον is mentioned twice in 17:4b, it denotes the vestment of the Whore, while in
v. 4c’ it describes adjectively (χρυσοῦς) the golden cup that the woman holds in her hand.
788
Swete, Commentary on Revelation, 216, cf. Charles, Revelation 2:64. In case of a zeugma, the readers
supply mentally the participle for each of the subsequent clause introduced by καί. Such other examples are
found in Rev 21:2.9.
789
Murphy, Fallen is Babylon, 355, Swete, Commentary on Revelation, 216; Prigent, Commentary on the
Apocalypse of St. John, 488: cf. Blount, Revelation, 314.
790
791
Pezzoli-Olgiati, Täuschung und Klarheit, 146; cf. Smalley, Revelation to John, 430.
792
Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, 488 (ft. 12). Smalley, Revelation to John, 430. Charles
opts for ‘covered’ (Charles, Revelation 2:64).
793
Rissi, Die Verführung, 51. However, the same idea of abundance is evident with the presentation of the
Whore’s contrastive gendered character, respectively, the Bride of the Lamb (Sals, Die Biographie, 99).
794
241
Throughout the Apocalypse, ‘gold’ is ascribed to the divine sphere (1:12.13.20, 2:1, 3:18,
4:4, 5:8, 8:3, 9:7.13, 14:14, 15:6.7, 21:15.18.21)795 but is also employed in connection with
those opposed to God (9:7, 17:4, and 18:12.16).
With those allied to God, ‘gold’ features with the apparel of the Son of Man (14:4), the
crowns of the elders (4:4), the seven lampstands (1.12.20), the seven bowls (5:8. 15:7), the
sashes of the seven angels (15:6), the measuring rod (21:15), as well as the altar and the
thurible (8:3). The city of the New Jerusalem (21:18) and its streets (21:21) are pure gold –
χρυσίον καθαρόν.
Given the diversity of occurrences, Sals establishes the criterion of quality. When
associated with the cultic use in 21:18.21 (cf. Exod 25:11 ff.), ‘gold’ would be evaluated
positively, whereas in 17:4, 18:12.16 would trigger a negative connotation.796
Not only that the Great Whore is heavily adorned with gold, she is also bejeweled.
Jewels (λίθοι τίμιοι) are used in a singular form having a collective meaning. 797 It could be
therefore translated either as ‘precious stones’, or as ‘every kind of798 precious stone’.
In the OT for example, jewels are mentioned among the presents the queen of Sheba
brings to Solomon (1 Kgs 10:2.10.11, cf. 2 Chr 9:1.9.10), as well as among the riches
adequate for the house of the Lord in 1 Chr 29:12.
Jewels also adorn the crown David receives in 2 Sam 12:30 (cf. Psalm 21:4).
Ezek 28:13 could be understood as offering a possible of list of what we ought to
understand under the concept of every precious stone –πᾶν λίθον χρηστόν. When speaking
about the king of Tyre, precious stones (also cf. 27:22) like ruby, topaz, diamond, beryl,
onyx, jasper, lapis lazuli, turquoise, emerald and gold are enumerated.799
Jewels maintain their collective meaning throughout the Apocalypse. As such, they are
mentioned for the first time in Rev 4:3 in the description of the heavenly throne room and
listed as carnelian (σάρδιον), jasper (ἴασπις) and emerald (σμαράγδινος).
Jewels also feature in the description of New Jerusalem (21:19-20), where they adorn the
foundations of the city wall –οἱ θεμέλιοι τοῦ τείχους τῆς πόλεως παντὶ λίθῳ τιμίῳ
795
796
Sals, Die Biographie, 99. Contra Massyngberde Ford‘s observation that throughout the Apocalypse, the
usage of gold degrades: in the first part of the Apocalypse, it is associated with heavenly matters (4:3-4, 5:8,
8:3, 9:7.13), in 9:20, idols are made of “gold and silver”, having as the epitome of degradation, the ornaments
of the Great Whore. The reason for Massyngberde Ford’s rejection is justified by the positive interpretation
of ‘gold’ in the description of the new city of Jerusalem, which features towards the end of the Apocalypse.
(Massyngberde Ford, Revelation, 288).
797
Swete, Commentary on Revelation 213, Aune, Revelation 17-22, 909.
798
This is the translation featured with Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, 488 (ft. 12); Aune,
Revelation 17-22, 909, 970f; Swete, Commentary on Revelation, 216.
799
242
κεκοσμημένοι –listed in order of appearance as jasper, sapphire, agate, emerald (v.19),
onyx, carnelian, chrysolite, beryl topaz, chrysoprase, jacinth, amethyst (v.20).
Precious gems are also referenced as first-hand merchandise in 18:12, just like gold,
scarlet, purple. Their negative connotation is evident with the portrayal of the Great
Whore. Here, as well as in 18:16, jewels designate the ostentatious display of the Whore.
The precious stones of chapter 17 are used in the superlative degree in 21:11: λίθοι τίμιοι
become λίθοι τιμιώτατοι. The New Jerusalem coming down from heaven resembled a most
precious stone (21:11), thus signalling the superiority of the latter over the former. This
observation adds to the similar evaluation of gold (17:4, cf. 21:8) and is also evident with
the fine linen featured in the description of the Bride in 19:8 (cf. 18:12).
Through this technique often alluded to in the contrastive pairs analyzed so far points to
the consistent manner in which the text of the Apocalypse conveys its message. By the
negative associations adduced by the Whore’s adornment, the evaluative perspective
permeates the negativity of the image throughout the Apocalypse.
Although taken in the political dimension, in the contrast between the two cities (Babylon
and New Jerusalem), the generic component800 plays an important role.
It is evident from what was shown above that jewels circumscribe very well the conceptual
domain of wealth, remaining consistent with the other items (scarlet, purple, gold)
presented so far. Equally, in 18:19, the related noun ‚wealth’ –τιμιότης features with
reference to the extent of Babylon’s sea exploits, resulting into a great number of people’s
amassing fortune – ἐκ τῆς τιμιότητος αὐτῆς.
In the latter observation, not only is the Great Whore Babylon displaying wealth, but also
the Whore features as source of enrichment for others.
In analyzing the context in which precious stones operate, the leitmotif of these verses,
precisely ‘luxury’ is reiterated. Given the negative implications of non-divinely sourced
luxury, one can again notice how false the pretense of sovereignty on behalf of the Whore
actually is. Clothes and jewels are characteristic of the evil Whore, who functions in a
manner diametrically opposed to God.
Within the same domain of adornment, jewels and pearls feature in the description of the
woman in the wilderness.
Mαργαρίται are considered “the most valuable of precious stones in Antiquity”,801 used
for the adornment of necklaces, which originate from the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and the
Indian Ocean.
800
Sals, Die Biographie, 100; cf. Huber, Like a Bride Adorned, 171.
243
The figurative use can be found in the NT, where the kingdom of God resembled to a
merchant in search for fine pearls (Matt 13:45).
Nevertheless, with 1Ti 2:9, pearls are used in their denotative sense, being negatively
assessed. They imply feminine voluptuousness. As a result, pearls should be avoided at all
cost.
In the Apocalypse, pearls play an important role with the description of the New
Jerusalem,802 which in accordance with the rabbinic descriptions of the eschatological
Jerusalem based on Isa 54:12.803
Subsequently, Rev 21:21 mentions the architecture of twelve gates of New Jerusalem, i.e.
carved out of an immense pearl: “And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, each of the gates
is a single pearl –Καὶ οἱ δώδεκα πυλῶνες, δώδεκα μαργαρῖται· ἀνὰ εἷς ἕκαστος τῶν
πυλώνων ἦν ἐξ ἑνὸς μαργαρίτου.
Pearls therefore carry par excellence a positive connotation.
With the above reference in mind, it is not a surprise that given the context and function of
the Great Whore with 17:4 (cf.18:16), pearls are not evaluated positively.
From the contrast with the description of the New Jerusalem, one can infer the Great
Whore’s distasteful imitation of the divine.
Additionally, in accordance with the context depicting the Whore, the current items
mentioned “prove the generalized use of a stereotype that was particularly well suited to
the intentions of the author of the Revelation” […] namely “to describe the seduction
practiced by a woman of ill repute”.804 Two examples are adduced. These do not function
intertextually with Apocalypse 17. Nevertheless, they allude, respectively echo in terms of
employed themes some of the elements employed in the description of the Great Whore.
The negative vein is consistent with a short sapiential poem from Qumran, Wiles of the
Wicked Woman (4Q 184), modeled after several harlotry passages of Proverbs,805
801
Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, 9.54, Athenaeus, Deipnosophists, 3.93.
Although not mentioned either in Hebrew Bible or LXX, in Judaism, pearls occur most of the time in a plural
form, being employed figuratively, standing for a „valuable saying” especially in Job 28:18 (cf. Matt 7:6). Cf.
Friedrich Hauck, Margaritēs in: Gerhard Kittel et al. (eds.), Theological Dictionary of New Testament. Abridged
in One Volume, (abbreviated hereafter as TDNT), Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1985, 564. Also Aune,
Revelation 17-22, 998.
802
803
Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, 621; cf. Swete, Commentary on Revelation, 290.
804
Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, 488 (ft. 13).
805
Rick D. Moore, Personification of the Seduction of Evil: ‘The Wiles of the Wicked Woman’, in: Revue de
Qumran 10(4)/1981, 505-521, 506; cf. Aune, Revelation 17-22, 935. The pastiche of harlotry passages from
Proverbs enumerates as sources Prov. 2:16-19, 5:3-6, 6:24-35, 7:5-27, 22:14, 23:27-28.
244
addressing apostasy as one aspect of evil –with the aid of the topos of the wicked woman,
namely a personification of the seduction of evil. 806 The poem is especially relevant for the
subunit somprising the verses 3-4 in the vision of the Great Whore.
Besides a description of the anatomy of the harlot, of her abode, as well as of the
consequences of her wicked wiles, the poem also contains references to her attire and
ornaments. Presumably, the whore wore a distinctive dress, as inspired by Prov. 7:10 and
in line with Jer 4:30, her decorative ornaments envisage jewelry as tools for sexual
manipulation, textually referred to as being “infected with corruption”. 807
Thus attire and adornment, as well as other physical details and the moral labels of
‘prostitute’ are stock traits808 evaluated negatively, as falling for her charms would have
disastrous consequences, turning the righteous away from God.809
Another reference of interest in terms of commonplaces attributed to women in seducing

men may be The Testament of Judah 13.4-5, where pearls and gold outline the prostitute’s
attire in as employed in the process of seduction.810 This strategy is surely a successful one,
for Judah fell for Bathshua’s charms.
The kings and inhabitants of the earth, in virtue of their association with the Great Whore
may very well resemble Judah’s fall. The latter’s inebriation linked with the seducing
powers of the Whore’s attire function synergically to serve the purpose of comparison with
the Testament of Judah.
Summary
In v. 4, the Seer describes the attire of the woman in the desert vision.
The description of the garments is completed by another plethora of references to
ornamentation, which pertains to the woman’s domain.
Garments and adornment reiterate under various forms messages of wealth and luxury.
806
Moore, Personification, 507.
807
Moore, Personification, 513, also 507.
808
809
Moore, Personification, 508.
810
Harm W. Hollander and Marinus de Jonge, The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs: a Commentary
(Studia in Veteris Testamenti Pseudepigrapha 8), Leiden: Brill, 1985, 184-232, 203. Bathshua’s father adorned
her with the purpose of seducing Judah “through the fashion of adorning”. Also Charles, Revelation 2: 64-65,
cf. Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, 488 (ft. 13).
245
Although in their literal sense, every item per se, i.e. gold, jewels, pearls has a neutral,
sometimes positive value, when analyzed in the immediate context of the Great Whore’s
presentation, each of the above mentioned item is accompanied by a derisory if not
negative interpretation.
The text of the Apocalypse seems inconsistent with the manner in which both clothing and
adornment operate. The context is decisive in acknowledging its evaluative dualist
perspective.
The particular phrasing in this verse suggests abundance, which if does not have a divine
origin,811 bears a negative connotation throughout the Bible (the Apocalypse included).
Therefore, in their correct assessment, a criterion concerning quality is imperative.
Rhetorically, the description above aims at creating yet another contrast with the Bride of
the Lamb, especially in her political dimension, that of the New Jerusalem. The contrast
functions on a rhetorical level in two ways: on the one hand, the simplicity of the
Bride/New Jerusalem is opposed the distasteful amassing of colours and objects of the
Whore’s, on the other hand, the Seer takes the abundance pertaining to the Bride to a
superlative state.812
The contrast also incorporates another motif, namely that of imitation, mentioned by now:
when compared to the magnificence of the Divine City, the Whore’s display is nothing but a
cheap imitation.
It was also shown how the items of interest connoted very well with the standardized
description of a voluptuous prostitute, as part of her seduction apparel (cf. the Testament
of Judah also the previously alluded references of 1Ti 2:9 and 1 Pet 3:3).
From the above, the context is extremely important for the evaluation of the items
pertaining to the visual description of the woman in 17:4.
A lack of consideration of both the immediate ascetic context of the Apocalypse, as well as
the secondary associations resulting from the intertexts could change and possibly damage
my exegetical assessment of the character of the Great Whore.
811
Considering the decorative items listed as expensive merchandise in 18:12 as goods exploited and traded
by Babylon, one can opt without error for a non-divine origin.
812
With the presentation of the wealth in both cities, Greg contends “whatever Babylon’s glory, the New
Jerusalem surpasses it by far.” (Greg Carey, The Book of Revelation as Counter-Imperial Script, in: Richard A.
Horsley (ed.), In the Shadow of the Empire. History of Faithful Resistance, Louisville: John Knox Press, 2008,
157-176, 170).
246
In her hand, she had a golden cup
The third participial clause referring to the woman is introduced, but this time by the help
of a present participle ἔχουσα.
After completing her portrayal, the focus shifts cinematically to the cup the Whore holds in
her hand.
This is where things explicitly worsen. So far, the negative connotations were not explicit.
They were only inferred from narrower (intratextual) or larger context (intertextual), by
means of comparisons and contrasts.
The choice for the description of the hand, as well as the content of the cup is not at all
aleatory. These complete the portrayal of the Great Whore in the same negative vein as it
will be evident from the following.
The Bible distinguishes between the literal and the figurative uses of ‘cup’.
It refers to everyday use in Mark 9:41, 7:4, whereas in Luke 11:39-40, Matt 23:25-26 it is
included in the contrastive gestures of the hypocritical Pharisees.
The figurative uses include mostly metaphorical expressions such as ‘cup of suffering’813, or
‘cup of wrath’. The latter of the two formulations above, respectively, ‘cup of wrath’
derives from OT,814where it denotes God’s judgment (Psalm 76:8, Isa 51:17), having
horrendous attributes (Ezek 23:33, cf. Isa 51:17).
In the Apocalypse, the cup appears four times in a figurative use (14:10, 16:19, 17:4,
18:16).
The image of the cup is not consistent in the Apocalypse. It combines contrastive images of
the cup of the wrath of God with the cup, containing impurities of the Whore’s fornication.
When the cup belongs to God, it is designated as the ‘cup of the wine of His fierce wrath’
(16:19) –τὸ ποτήριον τοῦ οἴνου τοῦ θυμοῦ τῆς ὀργῆς αὐτοῦ. God gives drink from ‘the cup
of anger’ (14:10) –ἐν τῷ ποτηρίῳ τῆς ὀργῆς to whomever worships the Beast, including the
Whore.
In three out of four occurrences (16:19, 17:4, 18:16), the Apocalypse’s Babylon is targeted,
the image of the cup being used–with the exception of 17:4 –as a punitive tool. The wine
813
‘Cup’ as announcing suffering features in John 18:11 as a symbol of martyrdom (cf. The Martyrdom of
Polycarp 14.2 in: The Apostolic Fathers, 307-347, 331-333).
), evidencing Jesus’ accepting the divine fate.
814
Leonhard Goppelt, art. Potêrion” in: TDNT, 844-845, 844.
247
depicts God’s active wrath, and the cup could point to the power of God’s wrathful
judgment.
As such, the cup image mentioned above retains the essence of the metaphorical use in
the OT.
Subsequently, it delineates a metaphor for divine judgment815 that most exegetes envision
it as inspired by Jeremiah 51:7.816 The metaphor of divine judgment applies to Rev 18. As a
result, the cup becomes Babylon’s sin and will be forced upon her in 18:6. “In the cup
which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her” –ἐν τῷ ποτηρίῳ ᾧ ἐκέρασεν κεράσατε
αὐτῇ διπλοῦν. Nevertheless, the image in Jer 51:7 differs from the image of the Great
Whore holding a cup in 17:4. Here, the not-yet identified Babylon is no longer like a cup in
God’s hand. Rather, she herself drinks and inebriates others,817 respectively the inhabitants
of the earth, becoming thus responsible for the consequences of her act. These most
probably allude to sexual misconduct and intoxication.
The cup she holds is not any type of cup. It is a golden one.
Lupieri contends it is not uncommon to describe a beloved and desired object as golden.818
The golden colour could be viewed either as “an instrument of divine action”,819 or as
another object of luxury.820
I consider the latter observation pertinent, for it is in accordance to what has been so far
presented.
In line with the luxurious interpretation of golden cup, Kowalski mentions Est 1:7,821 that
mentions golden cups –ποτήρια χρυσᾶ –in the context of a royal banquet.
To sum up, the cup bears in 17:4, as well as in the verse’s immediate context a reference to
‘luxury’ or ‘luxurious living’ as well as carries negative connotations derived from its
content, with opens up the theme of the divine judgment, via OT intertextual references.
With the golden cup, the items pertaining to the woman reach an end. In the following, the
woman will be described by means of physical features as well as biological data.
The hand – χείρ is frequently mentioned in the Apocalypse.822
815
Charles, Revelation, 2:65; Swete, Commentary on Revelation 213.
816
Babylon was a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, making all the earth drunken; the nations drank of her wine,
and so the nations went mad (Jer 51:7).
817
Zimmermann, Geschlechtermethaphorik und Gottesverhältnis, 407, cf. Ruiz, Ezekiel in the Apocalypse, 329.
818
819
820
821
248
As presented earlier, in Table 3, in conjunction with clothes, the ‘hand’ is mentioned with
the Son of Man in 1:16 holding seven stars. It also featured in the description of the
multitude in 7:9.
Other times, the ‘hand’ occurs with the description of other dramatic characters shortly
before they take action. The rider on the black horse is holding scales in his hand in 6:5.
Angels are holding a scroll in 10:2.8.10, as well as thurible before worshipping God 8:4 and
another angel in 20:1 has the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain.
In addition, the Son of Man makes an appearance in 14:14, holding a sharp sickle in his
hand.
Besides these occurrences, a mark on the hand denotes ownership in 13:16 and 14:9 (cf.
20:4), in this case of the worshippers of the Beast.
From the examples above, one can infer that holding an object in the hand implies in a
transferred sense ‘power’. This idea is in accordance with some of the usages in NT (cf.
Mark 9:31, Luke 1:71, 2 Cor 11:33, John 3:35).823
Besides the occurrence in 17:4, in one particular intratext in the Apocalypse, the ‘hand’
associates with ‘gold’. This concerns the ones who do not repent of the works of their
hands –ἐκ τῶν ἔργων τῶν χειρῶν αὐτῶν 9:20 –as not to “worship demons and idols of gold
and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor
walk”. The discourse in question pertains as a result, to the larger context of idol
worshipping.
Moreover, idolatry824 is associated with the work of the goldsmith (Jer 10:3-5, Isa 2:7-8,
40:19), with idols of precious metals, featuring with alien and false cults (Deut 7:25, 29:16-
18, Hos 2:8, 8:4, Isa 46:1.6-7).
Considering the importance and function of the mentioned dramatis persona, in whose
case ‘hand’ is mentioned, the woman-whore in the vision makes an important appearance.
She may be interpreted as concentrating in her hand some sort of power, possibly about to
utilize.
In conclusion, intertextual associations with idolatry introduce a new theme for chapter 17.
This will be reiterated by the subsequent presentation regarding the content of the cup.
It is therefore important to mention that by opening this orientation, the woman’s
character will also be defined by her mingling with idols, thus reinforcing her status as
God’s enemy.
822
Cf. Rev 1:16, 6:15, 7:9, 8:4, 9:20, 10:2.5, 13:16, 14:6.14, 17:4, 19:2, 20:1.4.
823
E. Lohse, art. Cheír in: TDNT, 1309-1312, 1311.
824
Elizabeth E. Platt, art. ‘Jewelry, Ancient Israelite’, in: ABD (vol.3), 823-834, 824.
249
Full with abominations and with the impurities of her prostitution
The construction referring to the content of the cup is unique825 in the Bible. So far, we
encountered the punitive drink of God made of wine. The woman has her own potion and
the angel lists as ingredients ‘abominations and impurities of her fornication’.
The effect of such a drink is not punishment, just like in the case of God’s wine of wrath. If
we allow the connection with the subunit 1-2, the Whore’s ‘wine’ has an inebriating effect
on the inhabitants of the earth, most probably leading them into idol worship.
This is the second time in this chapter (cf. 17:2) when the combination between sexual
misconduct and inebriation features.826
In view of the above, I have therefore identified the secret behind the immense success of
the Whore. The Whore’s subduing the groups of inhabitants and kings of the earth is
achieved by pursuing despicable acts, by using one’s erotic capital and by drinking abuse.
Additionally, by the repetition of the leitmotif πόρνη, respectively ‘her prostitution’ –
πορνεία αὐτῆς, the phrasing γέμον βδελυγμάτων καὶ τὰ ἀκάθαρτα τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς
provides an anchor point to the introductory verses of this chapter.
Just as the Beast is full with blasphemous names, so is the Whore’s cup full –γέμον. The
construction of γέμειν –to fill‘ occurs in this instance, either with genitive of material or
content as in 4:6.8, 5:8, 15:7, 17:4, 21:9 (idiomatic in Greek), or with accusative that would
be idiomatic in Hebrew,827 coordinated by the conjunction καί.828
Both terms, ‘abomination’ (βδέλυγμα) and ‘unclean things/impurities’ (ἀκάθαρτα) occur
together in LXX Job 15:16, as a hendiadys,829 respectively ‘one who is detestable and
impure’ –ἐβδελυγμένος καὶ ἀκάθαρτος.
The content of the cup contrasts with the external beauty and wealth, in the same manner
Matt 23:25 does,830 respectively with Jesus’ address to the Pharisees. Jesus contrasts the
825
826
Ruiz, Ezekiel in the Apocalypse,330.
827
Aune, Revelation 17-22, 909; Smalley, The Revelation to John, 431.
828
Aune further exemplifies such occurrence with an identic construction in 2 Kgs 23:7, where γέμειν is
followed by a genitive then by an accusative, also coordinated by the same preposition as above, whereas 2
Sam 23:7 confers a parallel for the peculiar case of γέμειν followed by accusative. (Aune, Revelation 17-22,
909.)
829
250
cleanliness of the outside of the cup and of the plate with the inner filth encompassing
greed and self-indulgence.
However, this contrast is decisive in directing us onto a correct interpretation of all the
splendours enumerated so far in the appearance of the Great Whore.
The idea of abundance, of ‘being full with’, of ‘being covered with’ is not the only time,
when the Beast and the Woman thematically converge. I have previously discussed their
relationship with reference to the Whore’s posture, as well as to the colour they share,
respectively scarlet.
In this instance, I argue that their relationship could be further consolidated by the close
association between the object of the Beast covering, i.e. names of blasphemy and the
content of the Whore’s cup, i.e. abominations and impurities. Such associations have
strong ethical implications. These open up intratextual links to the context of the correct
worship831 in the Apocalypse.
Βδέλυγμα is to be understood as impurity, sexual promiscuity, a shameless attitude

according to the OT. God finds abominable some things such as ‘idols’ (Ezek 5:9.11, 6:9), or
‘wickedness’ (Prov 8:7, 11:1 etc.) and the Israelites should keep away from them.832
In the LXX, βδέλυγμα/βδέλυγματα are designations for idols: Deut 29:17, Jer 13:27, 39:35,
51:22, Ezek 5:9.11, 6:9.20, 8:6.9, 11:18, 16:1.2.22.47.58, 20:30, 23:36 (vile images) and they
are explicitly identified as such in Jer 51:52.
The same is confirmed by the uses in the NT. Accordingly, βδέλυγμα/βδέλυγματα, a rare
term833 features in the NT as terminus technicus identifying the domain of the idolatrous
worshipping, in the temple of Jerusalem (cf. Mark 13:14, Matt 24:15).834
In Luke 16:15, abomination becomes associated with the fact that God abhors what human
beings value. In the same negative vein, in Rom 2:22 the designated term refers to
paganism.
In the Apocalypse, βδέλυγμα features in 17:4.5, 21:27. If in the first instance in chapter 17,
the term functions as object denoting content of the cup the Whore holds in her hand. In
830
Swete, Commentary on Revelation, 216; cf. Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, 488 (ft.
15).
831
Cf. Frey, The Relevance of the Roman Imperial Cult, 240f.
832
W. Foerster, art. Bdélygma in: TDNT, 103; cf. Murphy, Fallen is Babylon, 355.
There are arrays of examples in which abominations are described: Lev 11:10ff, Dan 9:27, 11:31, 12:11, Isa
1:13, 1 Macc 1:54, Zech 9:7. (Lupieri, A Commentary on the Apocalypse of John, 257.)
833
Swete, Commentary on Revelation, 216; cf. Ruiz, Ezekiel in the Apocalypse, 330.
834
Aune, Revelation 17-22, 936; cf. Prigent, 489 and Ruiz, Ezekiel in the Apocalypse, 330-331. Ruiz argues in
favour of a Danielic model (Dan 9:27, 11:31, 12:11) as inspiration for Luke 16:15, Mark 13:14, Matt 24:15.
That is why he argues for the interpretation of the abominations in the Prostitute’s cup as involving idolatry.
251
the following verse, she is named “mother of all abominations on earth” –ἡ μήτηρ τῶν
πορνῶν καὶ τῶν βδελυγμάτων τῆς γῆς (v.5). Additionally, the ones who practice
abomination are excluded from the New Jerusalem (21:27(8), 22:3.15).
Given these references to idolatry, it does not come as a surprise why the Whore
undergoes divine judgment.
The case incongruence of ‘full with’ (accusative) with the ‘impurities of her fornication’
(gentive) –τὰ ἀκάθαρτα τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς is accounted for by Beale, as possibly the
object of the participle ἔχουσα.835
Smalley interprets the conjunction καί epexegetically to βδέλυγματα, elaborating on the

type of the abomination. As a result, τὰ ἀκάθαρτα τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς could be translated,
as “that is the impurities of her fornication”.836
Irrespective of how we account with this disparity, the phrasing above, ‘the impurities of
her fornication’ contains elements which belong to the line of dichotomies in the
Apocalypse: clean/unclean, heaven/earth, virginity/fornication, bride/whore etc.
The adjective ἀκάθαρτος occurs in the Apocalypse in association with unclean, demonic
and deceptive things, with idols (cf. 16:13-14, 18:2, 21:27).837
Purity/impurity was defined in the OT in relation to the cult838 (cf. Deut 14): anything that
destroys order in the cult is classified as impure and contagious: animals (Lev 11), diseases
(Lev 13f), bodily emissions (Lev 15), sexuality out of wedlock (Lev 18), in other words
anything having as result ‘defilement’ (Deut 22:22).
These associations between chastity and purity were kept also with 2 Cor 12:21, Eph 5:3
(Rev 14:14). Especially in Rev 22:11, (cf. 1 Thess 4:3-7), ‘impure’ is the antonym of ‘holy’.839
Maintaining the larger cultic context of idol worshipping, in which the Whore’s attributes
unravel, Sals interprets the horrendous content of the cup as a libation wine offered for
some idol-worshipping ceremony, or something similar, perceived by John as a false
liturgy.840
“Idolatry is not restricted to the cultic sphere that is a reality with profound roots in the
economic and political arena as well.”841
835
836
837
838
839
840
841
252
Nevertheless, the opposition between the similar constructions ‘wine of God’ and ‘the
woman’s beverage’ points to a loss of boundaries, to annihilating differences between
creation and Creator. In this framework, the ones who drink form the woman’s concoction
praise creation, the corporeality, the bodily more than their Creator. In doing so, they
become blind (inebriated) in their perception regarding the Almighty.
The construction ‘of her prostitution’ –τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς is mentioned for the second
time in this chapter, linking the wine of her [i.e. Whore’s] fornication –οἴνος τῆς πορνείας
αὐτῆς (v.2) with the impurities of her prostitution –τὰ ἀκάθαρτα τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς.
Since an extensive discussion of πόρνη, respectively πορνεία was provided in the previous
subsections, I shall not repeat the already mentioned.
However, I would like to reiterate the fact that the construction –τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς
parallels that describing God’s wrath –τῆς ὀργῆς αὐτοῦ.842
Additionally, the explanation offered previously to ποτήριον could highlight the trial of the
gendered character to imitate God sacrilegiously in her actions. The implications of her
posture evident in worldwide influence, as well as the use of expensive clothes and jewelry
are constitutive of the fact that the Great Whore arrogates upon herself a divine right.
In Apocalypse 17, besides the mysterious content of the Whore’s cup in this verse, there
are mentioned two important drinks, respectively ‘blood’ and ‘wine’.
While ‘wine’ belongs to God, ‘blood’ is mentioned with the Prostitute. The latter motif
could be inspired by the harlot persecutor model843 as depicted in Jer 2:34: the lifeblood of
the innocent poor is found on the Prostitute’s skirts.
Similarly, the Whore will be depicted as drunk with the blood of the martyrs in 17:6, which
will be also repeated in 18:24 (cf. 19:2). The image is not singular for it was previously
employed previously, as forcibly intoxicating “all nations” with the “wrathful wine of its
prostitution” (14:8; 18:3), with which then “earth-dwellers have become drunk” (17:2).
Besides the persecutor nature of the Prostitute, her intoxicating influence entails a
“deception of people so that they acquiesce idol worship”844 (cf. 14:8, 17:2), as well as
‘amazement’ (v.6).
The next chapter reuses the image of deception in 18:23, when Babylon is accused of
deceiving all nations with her sorcery –ὅτι ἐν τῇ φαρμακείᾳ σου ἐπλανήθησαν πάντα τὰ
ἔθνη.
842
843
844
253
The Greek word φαρμακεία can refer positively to a ‘medicine’ but also to ‘sorcery’, or a
narcotic, poisonous drug.845
Subsequently, Babylon the Whore does not offer good wine, but a dangerous poisonous
narcotic with disastrous consequences for the ones consuming it.
Additionally, through intoxication, sensuous and luxurious apparel, the woman effectively
seduces the kings of the earth to prostitute themselves with her (17:2; 18:3). Indeed, this
adultery by the kings of the earth is elaborated further as “living in excess (luxury) with
it/her” –οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς οἱ μετ᾽ αὐτῆς […] στρηνιάσαντες (18:9).
Summary
By evaluating the intratexts, I have shown that important characters hold objects at
dramatic moments in the Apocalypse, so the depiction of the Great Whore is conceived in
the same line of ideas.
The golden cup in the woman’s hand matches perfectly with the previous enumeration of
luxurious items.
However, if we move beyond the literal use, in the Apocalypse, the cup has a symbolic
value: it is opposed to the cup of God, usually incurring judgment.
Since the content of the cup features a πόρν- cognate, it functions to unite the scene of the
Whore (from the previous subunit) with that of the woman. The (whore-) woman’s cup
brings about a loss of commonsense to whomever mingles with her.
The phrasing of the so-far-unheard content combines metaphors of idol worship with
intoxication united by a strong sexual compound.
The strong ethical dimension of the above image opens up a whole range of dichotomies,
where purity is contrasted with impurity.
By encompassing all the symbolic items in the description of the woman, as well as the
mysterious source of her success, the Great Whore is responsible for abominations and
impurities of her prostitution.
In view of the above, the ‘woman’ and the ‘whore’ are identical generically and
functionally, so the appellatives could be used interchangeably.
Although I mentioned that the gendered character in the Apocalypse unites designations
such as ‘whore’ and ‘woman’, they occurred with different accounts (the angel’s and the
845
Cf. George Abott-Smith, A Manual Lexicon of the New Testament, s.v. φαρμακία, New York: Scribner,
1937, 466.
254
Seer’s). In this verse ‘woman’ and ‘whore’ converge in order to denote one entity solely –
the enemy subjected to divine judgment, the Great Whore.
The corporeal dimension will be continued in the following verse, as well as in the
subsequent interpretation of the angel.
255
It is generally accepted that the majority of exegetical analyses of the gendered character
in Apocalypse 17 confines the feminine imagery to verses 3 and 4 in Apocalypse 17.
The current analysis regarding v. 4 acknowledges the above assumption and attempts at
correcting it. This is in accordance with the scope of this study identifies the feminine
imagery in various references, scattered throughout chapter 17.
The conceptual domain ‘woman’ deals with the superficiality of the studied appearance
(featuring precious linen, and jewels, and precious objects). The description in v. 4 is
exclusively passive, probably objectifying for the woman, just like other cases in the
Apocalypse.846
The Seer is actual reporting the tableau before his eyes: he describes a “woman clothed in
purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding a golden cup in
her hand.”
Her description in terms of dress and jewels is not at all devoid of symbolism at the textual
level of the Apocalypse. As it was shown, such details are importnant for they circumscribe
more appropriately the character in discussion.
One should note however, that although mentioned in the vision of 3b-6a, none of the
items –purple, scarlet, gold, jewels, pearls, cup –is interpreted by the angel in the section
dealing with the interpretation of the vision (17: 7-18).
This may be due probably to the fact that one should understand them collectively: taken
together, these allude to the Whore’s extravagant wealth, arrogance, pretension of royalty
–commonplaces presented previously with other occasions.
Of all the details pertaining to the Whore’s description the only element, which is
mentioned in the interpretation of the angel, is that she will lose her clothes (17:16).
The dress discourse is thus placed within the dimension of her divine punishment, for she
will be rendered naked –γυμνή in 17:16.
This act prompts an extremely important intratextual connection with the various
connotations of ‘desert’ from the previous verse, as well as an intertextual link with some
of the OT prophetic texts, where a change in status is marked profoundly by a change of
clothing.
846
The passive character is also very well represented with the Woman Clothed with Sun and the Bride of the
Lamb.
256
By presenting every single item of her clothing in detail, I attempted and hopefully
succeeded in elaborating two aspects.
The feminine source domain of the items presented reinstated the importance of the
corporeal aspect in the portrayal of the Great Whore, which historical-critical
interpretations usually elude.
In addition, the associations of these items reinscribed the negative associations, by
contributing to the Whore’s indirect characterization. Clothing and jewels belong to the
larger theme of the Apocalypse’s use of ornamentation and apparel in order to delineate
boundaries between the pure and impure ones, between honorable and dishonorable
behaviour, insiders and outsiders.
By this, I mean that luxury does not fit within the apocalyptic ascetic frame favoured
throughout the book.
Unjustified claims of authority stemming from hubris –just like in the Beast’s case –as well
as murder, to which the Apocalypse adds a cosmological scale, materialized ultimately in
the persecution of the righteous.
Concisely, the interest John shows in the description of the Whore is rather ethical than
simply voyeuristic.
This is accomplished by means of repeating certain cognates, such as the ones for gold, for
example, the Seer tries to show the abundance of sinful behaviour.
Via similar colours, as well the use of “full” in rather parallel descriptions, the Whore is also
put in connection with the Beast.
By means of the emotional, as well as semantic charge of certain concepts previously
analyzed, John aims to complete the image we got in the first subunit (vv. 1-2), where a
‘whore’ was introduced.
With these observations, I have shown that extending beyond the Apocalypse’s textual
borders in terms of rich textual meaning is not always a necessary venture. As a result, one
can rightly identify the extent and implications of the colours by inferring from and
considering them in their apocalyptic context. The interest John shows in the description of
the Whore is more ethical in character, than voyeuristic.
By means of repeating certain cognates, such as the ones for gold for example, the Seer
tries to show the abundance of sinful behaviour.
In view of similar colours, as well the use of the phrasing “full” in almost parallel
descriptions, the Whore is also put in connection with the Beast.
The content of the Whore’s cup bears a very close resemblance and links with the religious
cultic phenomenon.
257
The importance of the OT context has been stressed several times throughout this analysis.
Without these intertextual connections, readers would have a different perception and
subsequently, interpretation of the gendered character. When analyses of feminist
substance overfocuse in an unjustified manner on the corporeal dimensions of the image,
we get a reductionist picture.
Additionally, considering the above, I would like to stress that the metaphor of the Great
Whore functions in an intersubjective way: while it is grounded in the realities of the 1st
century, it also relates to us in a postmodern environment.
Though this study does rely extensively on the historical interpretations of each item in the
description of the Great Whore, it cannot however remain confined to 1st century realities.
When transposed onto postmodern issues the presentation and negative evaluation of a
gendered character, such as the Great Whore becomes very problematic. On the one hand,
certain gender-related stereotypes are reiterated, aiding in strengthening the androcentric
ideology. On the other hand, the negative assessment of the Great Whore is problematic
when conceived as a matter of the readers’ dissociation from what is read. Subsequently,
everything in the portrayal of the Great Whore, including her corporeal aspect could be
evaluated negatively and even condemned.
Although this approach brings to the foreground the question of whether text creates
reality or reality creates text, certain aspects in the presentation of the woman are very
problematic especially that John reiterates the image of sexual promiscuity with every
verse he adds to the Whore’s description.
It is then crucial to underline the rhetorical function and force of the images, such as the
ones prompted by the list of items in v.4, which occur the same time undivided from the
generic character.
258
5. Titles of Harlotry
καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ μέτωπον αὐτῆς ὄνομα γεγραμμένον,

μυστήριον, βαβυλὼν ἡ μεγάλη,
ἡ μήτηρ τῶν πορνῶν
καὶ τῶν βδελυγμάτων τῆς
γῆς
(And upon her forehead a name has been written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, mother of
whores and of the earth’s abominations)
The Seer was invited to witness the judgment of the Great Whore, seated upon many
waters. It is in this verse only –after her attire and bejeweled appearance –that we are
informed on her identity. This brings the third and the last component in the Great
Whore’s dimensions, namely the political one. Up to now, we are provided indirectly with
details, hinting and possibly circumscribing and/or identifying the implications of this
character.
The theme of the previous subunit features also with verse 5. Similarities are registered in
the form and function. As a result, this verse continues the description of the Whore (v.2) –
turned woman (vv.3-4), elaborating more on the femininity of the apparition, as well as on
her wickedness.
The cognates of πόρν- operate in this verse in an interesting fashion. If so far, the
abominable acts of the Great Whore were disclosed, we are introduced now to her
motherly aspect, as ‘genetrix’ of whores.
Regarding the structure of this verse, the name βαβυλὼν ἡ μεγάλη lies at its core. A local
deictic precedes the Whore’s name –ἐπὶ τὸ μέτωπον, being in turn, followed by a complex
apposition –ἡ μήτηρ τῶν πορνῶν καὶ τῶν βδελυγμάτων τῆς γῆς, which can invite to
different readings as presented below.
The introductory καί, just like in the previous verses functions as a connector of this
particular verse with the one preceding it. It continues the description of the woman,
started in v.3a –καὶ εἶδον γυναῖκα καθημένην ἐπὶ θηρίον κόκκινον, as well as introduces
259
some new information, which would confirm the appellation of v. 1a –πόρνη from the
previous subunit.
Up until this verse, the whore-woman has never been named, being introduced as either
πόρνη (v.1a) or γυνή (v.4a).
Now she will be introduced in a new manifestation, that of mother –μήτηρ, as the
inscription on her forehead reads βαβυλὼν ἡ μεγάλη, ἡ μήτηρ τῶν πορνῶν καὶ τῶν
βδελυγμάτων τῆς γῆς.
The name ‘Babylon’ –which will be taken up and used exclusively in the following chapter
(Rev 18) especially when discussing the whore’s actual punishment –stands in an extended
apposition.
It not only adds a further dimension to what we discussed so far, but also confirms what
was argued in the first subunit (vv.1-2). We deal with a ‘great’ –μεγάλη (vv.1a.5. 18) figure,
who is not only a ‘whore’ (v.1a, 5) but also the ‘mother of whores’ herself. At the same
time, the biological attribute extends as it encompasses “the earth’s abominations” (v.5).
The implications of the name become thus universal. Although the characterization we
obtained in vv. 3-4 was of a particular kind, now, in v.5 one can see the extent of the Great
Whore’s wickedness, her destructive power.
As mentioned previously, it is my contention that the name enunciated above points to the
third aspectof the Whore’s identity, namely, to the political dimension, important for the
following chapter.
This fact is not overall acknowledged, for some authors, among whom Ruiz, interpret the
motherly dimension of the Whore as an “immediate return to gynomorphic imagery.” 847
For them, the change in focus, from whore to city occurs at a later point, in the last verse of
chapter 17848 when the mystery of Babylon is explained as referring to the ‘great city that
has dominion on Earth’. Starting with the beginning of the next chapter, the dimension
gains its full political power.
Upon her forehead, a name
Along with the hand, in which the Great Whore holds a golden cup, the other body part
John mentions is her ‘forehead’–μέτωπον.
847
848
For exemplification, cf. Ruiz, Ezekiel in the Apocalypse, 286.
260
As we can see John is not particularly interested in facial descriptions with different
characters in the Apocalypse, but rather focuses on key body parts, imbued with symbolic
meaning: hands, in which the characters hold different objects,849 or heads, feet, hair, eyes,
with various examples of anthropomorphism and zoomorphism.850
Within the Apocalypse, the branding of ownership would be noticed on the forehead (7:3,
9:4, 13:16, 14:1.9, 17:5, 20:4, 22:4).
The marking on the forehead, as Kowalski points out can act as a protection-sign in Ezek
9:4.851 Such is τὸ σημεῖον ἐπὶ τὰ μέτωπα τῶν ἀνδρῶν –the mark on the foreheads of those
who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it [Jerusalem].
Conversely, a similar image of a σημεῖον used on foreheads is a “mark of destruction“–τὸ
σημεῖον τῆς ἀπωλείας (cf. Psalm 15:9).
God’s servants were sealed on their foreheads (7:3, 14:1 22:4) and the monster’s
worshippers were marked either on the forehead or/and on the right hand (13:16, 14:9,
20:4).
Additionally, 19:16 notes ‘thigh’ as the place where the rider on the white horse (19:11-12)
had a name inscribed, i.e. ἐπὶ τὸν μηρὸν. Its implications will be in following mentioned.
In other words, “like the Hebrew ‫ֵשׁם‬the Greek word, ὄνομα carries information about the
identity and essential characteristics of whom or what is named”852 pointing ultimately to
the reality of a being.853
The object of branding can include semantically related terms in the Apocalypse. Some of
these list ‘seal’ –σφραγίς (9:4), ‘mark’ –χάραγμα (13:16, 14:1.11) and ‘name’ –ὄνομα as
mentioned in 14:1, 22:4.
Irrespective of the type of branding, markers of such kind function either to designate the
person wearing it, or the one with whom the bearer of the name stands in close relation.854
Besides the occurrence in 17:5, ὄνομα is conjoined with μέτωπον in 14:1 and 22:4, these
times with reference to God’s faithful followers, having their name written on their
foreheads.855
849
Cf. the previous part, respectively, v.4.
850
Most of these elements feature with the descriptions of clothes presented in Table 3, of the previous
subsection.
851
852
853
854
855
This also conjoins with the idea of the ‘Name’ alone can give salvation, as described in Deut 6:8 (cf. Lupieri,
A Commentary on the Apocalypse of John, 260).
261
In virtue of the fact that the whore-turned-woman of the current unit bears a name, she is
thus included in the list of apocalyptic characters/figures that bear names. Among them I
mention Death –[ὁ] θάνατος –in 6:8, Wormwood –ὁ Ἄψινθος –in 8:11, Abbadon –Ἀβαδδών
(Ἀπολλύων) –in 9:11, and the place Armageddon –Ἁρμαγεδών –in 16:16.856
Due to the content of her name she belongs to the group of the ones carrying the mark of
the Beast, described 13:16-17.
Similarly, the followers of the Beast stand in contrast with the companions of the Lamb
(14:1), the 144,000 (7:1-8, 2:3), as well as with the name of the ones given the promise of
the victor (3:12) and with the name of the twelve tribes is on every gate in the New
Jerusalem (21:12).
Having a name is of importance as only those, whose names are mentioned in the Book of
Life – βιβλίον τῆς ζωῆς shall receive eternal life (3:5, 13:8, 17:8, cf. Luke 10:20, Phil 4:3).857
By contrast, the lack of reward ensuing from this branding is valid for the names of the
ones belonging to the Beast, who shall find no place in the Book of Life (13:8, 17:18). 858
These are cast into the lake fire (20:15), excluded from the New Jerusalem and labeled
clearly as “the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, the murderers, the fornicators, the
sorcerers, the idolaters and all liars” (21:8, cf. 21:27) – τοῖς δὲ δειλοῖς καὶ ἀπίστοις καὶ
ἐβδελυγμένοις καὶ φονεῦσιν καὶ πόρνοις καὶ φαρμάκοις καὶ εἰδωλολάτραις καὶ πᾶσιν τοῖς
ψευδέσιν. As such, they will suffer a second death – ὁ θάνατος ὁ δεύτερος.
From the above, one can see that the name not only serves as means of classifying, but
also as means of ordering, of establishing order in the new creation. The Chosen Ones are
thus separated from the rest, only they will rejoice in the divine city.859
In search for similitudes regarding the association between ‘whore’ and ‘forehead’, as well
for the implications of carrying different types of branding on the forehead, intertextual
sources are usually considered.
The ones at hand are provided by some prophetic texts of the OT, where the political
dimension of Israel is mingled with the cultic component in a very powerful image.
856
857
858
859
Sals, Die Biographie, 83. She notes the reciprocity between the walls of New Jerusalem carrying the
inscriptions of the sons of God (cf. 21:12.14, 22:4), and, in the return, of the chosen ones carrying on their
forehead the name of Jerusalem, of God and of Jesus (3:12).
262
Considering the first of the two aspects, the closest OT reference could be found with Jer
3:3. When criticizing the lewdness of Israel, God refers to ‫‘– וּ ֵ ֙מַצח ִאָ֤שּׁה זוָֹנ֙ה‬the forehead of
a whore’, refusing to be ashamed. This reference is placed in the larger context of the
improper practices of idol worshipping denounced by Isa 48:4 and Ezek 3:7.
The ‘forehead of the whore’ is also antithetical with Exod 29:6, 36:37, Lev 8:9 (cf. Ezek
21:31, Sir 45:12) 860 i.e. πέταλον χρυσοῦν –the rosette which is to be placed on the High
Priest, that reads ἁγίασμα κυρίου861 (cf. Exod 28:36).
Whereas the inscription on the forehead of the Whore reads ἡ μήτηρ τῶν πορνῶν καὶ τῶν
βδελυγμάτων τῆς γῆς –‘mother of whores and of the earth’s abominations’, such a parallel
could therefore suggest a parody and cheap imitation of the High Priest.
As for non-Christian sources on the function of human branding, Seneca, Declamations

1.2.7862 and Juvenal, Satires 6.122 are commonly employed. These sources allude to an
ancient custom of prostitutes wearing their name on their forehead. 863
Invariably, this can be perceived metaphorically as “mark of disgrace and ridicule.”864
However, recent studies agree in that there is not enough data to confirm this claim.865
Even if the sources for this image cannot be identified, this social phenomenon is amply
documented in anthropological studies: “human branding was virtually unknown in the
Roman world but tattooing was far more common than hitherto suspected”.866 Applied on
the forehead,867 it acted as a “sign of degradation”.868
From this vantage point, this could create a contrast between what the Whore arrogates
regarding her own persona, including posture, dress and ornamentation and the actual
reality of having her name tattooed upon her forehead.
860
Lupieri, A Commentary on the Apocalypse of John, 258; Cf. Sals, Die Biographie, 83.
861
The other variant Exod 36:37 has the dative ἁγίασμα κυρίῳ. Sir 45:12 reads simply ἁγιάσματος.
862
The Latin formulation of interest is “nomen tuum pependit in fronte”.
863
This phenomenon is also featured in the exegetical commentaries by Charles, Revelation 2:65, Beale, The
Book of Revelation, 858, Swete, Commentary on Revelation, 217; Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of
St. John, 489, (ft. 17), Ruiz, Ezekiel in the Apocalypse, 332 (ft. 78).
864
C.P. Jones, Stigma: Tattooing and Branding in Graeco-Roman Antiquity, in: The Journal of Roman Studies
77/ 1987, 139-155, 150.
865
Alan James Beagley, The "Sitz im Leben" of the Apocalypse, with Particular Reference to the Role of the
Church's Enemies, (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 50), Berlin: de Gruyter,
1987, 102; Lupieri, A Commentary on the Apocalypse of John, 257f.; Rissi, Die Verführung, 55; Smalley, The
Revelation to John, 431; Glancy and Moore, How Typical a Roman Prostitute, 559 (ft. 45).
866
867
Jones, Stigma, 142-143.
868
Jones, Stigma, 143. He argues that “the author of the Revelation perhaps imagines the Woman not only as
whore, but as a whore of the most degraded kind, a tattooed slave.” (Jones, Stigma, 151).
263
The image is thus transformed from the queen-like apparition to the slave-like
presentation. Maybe, her mystery lies in the branding, since the Great Whore’s looks are
definitely deceitful and deceiving. With ‘mystery’ divine intervention on the behalf of the
angel is imperious.
Considering further the social aspect of branding prostitutes, it also implies not only the
depersonification of the human being in general, but also of the woman in particular. In her
corporeal dimension, the Great Whore becomes reified and commoditized. 869
This aspect is part of modern concerns and is imbued with feminist substance.
The feminist agenda may engage actively and conscientiously in combating real870
prostitutes’ social stigma and isolation by referring to the image of the Great Whore as
depicted in the Apocalypse.
Summary
The name of the Great Whore circumscribes her identity more closely as well as confirms
explicitly already described features, thus connecting semantically with the previous unit.
The Whore’s name appeared on her forehead.

First, the significance of this body part was analyzed. In view of intra- as well as intertextual
relations, the forehead, or more exactly what is written on it designates primarily that
person’s identity.
Her disclosed identity operates as a classificatory category: it delineates boundaries
between the one named, respectively the Great Whore and God’s chosen ones. The larger
intertextual context provided references from the prophetic writings, where idolatry
alluded at was constantly condemned. The OT references have also shown the contrast
between the Great Whore and the High Priest’s appearance. This contrast also implies the
idea of imitation, well-known so far with the antagonistic presentations of the Great
Whore and God, or God’s chosen.
Next, I have cited from Ancient sources in an attempt to extend the boundaries of the
significance of carrying a name on one’s forehead. The information pointed to human
branding as to a sign of degradation, featuring mostly with slaves.
In particular, although contemporary sources offer less support of an Ancient custom of
branding prostitutes, they do offer some valuable insight into the social aspect as well as
869
870
Also cf. Susannah Cornwall, Nicholas Buxton, Theology and Sexuality, London: SCM Press, 2013, 113-116.
264
implications of human branding reverberated through the ages in the lives of prostitutes in
the Graeco-Roman World.
Phrased in gender-informed terms, the phenomenon of prostitution with all its implications
still affects our lives today. Issues such as loss of human essence, of human content, as well
commodification of women were raised and elaborated upon by authors like Caroline
Vander Stichele or Avaren Ipsen, who also used the image of the Great Whore in their
respective argumentations. The feminist agenda may actively and conscientiously use the
inherited stereotyping to combat the propagation and vicious circle issued by this
phenomenon spread across all cultures.
As a result, in assessing this phenomenon, a non-judgmental insight is imposed.
Has been written
Based on its neuter (singular) form, the participle γεγραμμένον –‘has been written’ can
function both as part of the prepositional phrase ἐπὶ τὸ μέτωπον […] γεγραμμένον or as an
object complement to ‘name’ as in ὄνομα γεγραμμένον.
Cognates of the verb γράφω occur 29 times in the Revelation, mostly with three particular
usages: in the aorist imperative form (γράψον), the verb is connected with a divine voice
commanding the Seer to write the things revealed to him in 1:11.19, 2:1.8.12.18, 3:1, 10:4,
14:13, 19:9, 21:5.
Another finite verbal form is used with the keeping of a promise towards the one who
conquers – ὁ νικῶν in 3:12.
The perfect passive participle γεγραμμένον occurs, except 17:5, in 2:17, 5:1, 14:1,
19:11.12.16, having a double function, both identifying and ordering.
Additionally, 21:12 mentions a similar compound (ἐπιγεγραμμένα, translated as ‘inscribed’
in NRS), with the description of the New Jerusalem. The city has who has the name of the
sons of Israel inscribed is thus superior to the Whore’s. 871
Judging by the occurrences in the Apocalypse, the written aspect is extremely important. It
gives an official status to the object, or person on whom is engraved, a status beyond any
doubt.
The passive form γεγραμμένον employed in this verse exhibits interest concerning the
agent, namely, the one who wrote the name on the Whore’s forehead.
871
265
In view with other passive occurrences in the Apocalypse, this particular usage may be
accounted by a passivum divinum.
Given the omnipotent image of God, as well the content of the despicable name written on
the Whore’s forehead, writing could have a further function, namely that of judgment: God
singles her out as belonging to the Beast and its followers. Subsequently, her judgment, as
well as punishment by divine hand is justified (cf. 17:16, also 19:2).
Further, the grammatical construction of 17:5 καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ μέτωπον αὐτῆς ὄνομα
γεγραμμένον – and upon her forehead a name has been written indicates a conspicuous
analogy with 19:16 καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν μηρὸν αὐτοῦ ὄνομα γεγραμμένον –“and upon his thigh a
name has been written”.
Given their function and importance in the apocalyptic scenario, one should agree that the
two characters are brought into an opposable relation with each other.
The importance of this intratextual dependence has not been really taken into account by
commentators so far, although some of them, while noticing the contrast, limit themselves
to only pointing it out. 872
Nevertheless, the antithesis between 17:5 and 19:16 is not accidental, but aims thus at
reinforcing a parody to God.
When considering the importance of the representative in 19:16, paired with the singular
occurrence of the noun ‘thigh’ in the Apocalypse and the NT, a secondary intertextual
insight into the OT occurrences of the term μηρός is offered. It operates in the larger
theme of making an oath (Gen 24:2.9, 47:29, Num 5:21) 873 representing an extremely
serious engagement of God with humanity.
Therefore, the Whore’s forehead, just as her posture point to her engagement with the
Beast, to her being subservient to the Beast’s usurping claims of worship.
Moreover, the description of God in Psalm 45:4874 includes wearing a sword on His thigh.
This could indicate a close resemblance with the titles assumed by the character in 19:13-
16, including ‘Word of God’ –ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ (19:13), and ‘King of Kings and Lord of
Lords’ –Βασιλεὺς βασιλέων καὶ κύριος κυρίων (19:16). Such titles are conspicuously
superior to ‘Babylon the Great, mother of whores and of Earth’s abominations’ –βαβυλὼν
ἡ μεγάλη, ἡ μήτηρ τῶν πορνῶν καὶ τῶν βδελυγμάτων τῆς γῆς.
872
Cf. among others Harrington, Revelation, 174.
873
John R. Spencer, art.“Thigh” in: David Noel Freedman, Allen C. Myers (eds.), Eerdmans Dictionary of the
Bible, Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2000, 1301.
874
The verse I am referring with Psalm 45:4 is the following: Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one, in
your glory and majesty.
266
Summary
The written character of things or events in the Apocalypse is very important, for they carry
dramatic weight in unfolding the apocalyptic scenario.
The implications of the passive form of the name written on the Whore’s forehead revolve
around judgment.
In virtue of her function within the unfolding of the apocalyptic events, she joins the
doomed group of the Beast(s) and its followers.
It is not therefore the first time when the Whore’s contrast with divine matters and
representatives is mentioned. She is opposed on the one hand to the character of those,
whose names are written on the walls and foundations of New Jerusalem (cf. 21:12.14). On
the other hand, she is antithetical to the Word of God (cf. 19:16). In terms of the
notoriousness of her title, as well as the Whore’s slave-like status, the branding is a means
of differentiating from God’s faithful followers.
Mystery
Although overtly written on the woman’s forehead, the name is referred as ‘mystery.’ Even
more paradoxical is the reading or voicing of the respective name.875
Names are not always overt in the Apocalypse. Sometimes, they hide identities (2:17,
19:12) revealed only the ones wearing them. 876 However, the divine implications of the
mysterious name of the rider in 19:12 will be subsequently revealed in 19:13.16.
In 17:5 the noun ‘mystery’ –μυστήριον associates with ‘name’ –ὄνομα.
Mυστήριον appears four times in the Apocalypse respectively in 1:20, 10:7, 17:5.7.
Three out of four occurrences are followed by a genitive: τὸ μυστήριον τῶν ἑπτὰ ἀστέρων
–the mystery of the seven stars in 1:20, τὸ μυστήριον τοῦ θεοῦ –the mystery of God in
10:7, τὸ μυστήριον τῆς γυναικὸς καὶ τοῦ θηρίου –the mystery of the woman and the beast
in 17:7.
Regarding the last occurrence, in 17:5 μυστήριον appears isolated, two verses later, in 17:7
it will become the “mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her” –τὸ μυστήριον
τῆς γυναικὸς καὶ τοῦ θηρίου τοῦ βαστάζοντος αὐτήν.
875
876
267
Additionally, in two out of four instances, i.e. 1:20 and 17:7 (cf. 17:18) μυστήριον is
subsequently explained. The explanations provided877 entail a contrast between the
“mystery of the seven stars” (cf. 10:7) which belongs to God and the “mystery of the
woman and the beast” in 17:7, pertaining to God’s opponent –Satan.
By the formulation ‘mystery of the woman and the beast’ the anchoring with the
previously introduced characters, namely Beast is achieved. This phrasing points to the
unity of the two characters. Subsequently, this confirms the assumption that what is said of
one is also valid for the other.
The above formulation entails not only a divine hermeneutical imperative dictated by the
name of the Whore. By extension, it now refers to the complex picture as a whole, to the
vision marked by μυστήριον.
As previously mentioned, the problem posed by v.5 is whether to understand μυστήριον in
apposition with ὄνομα, or with βαβυλὼν ἡ μεγάλη since grammatically, all key terms
display the same case and number.
The first option would be to consider ‘mystery’ as referring either to ‘a name’, in which
case, the translation would render the use genitive as ‘a name of mystery’.
It can also be translated by grammatically equivalent terms ‘a name, a mystery’. The name,
in this case “Babylon the Great”, written upon the Whore’s forehead is a mystery.
The other option could be to interpret ‘mystery’ as part of the woman’s name, in which
case the punctuation would be the following “a name: Mystery Babylon the Great”.
Since the angel intends to explain in v.7 the ‘mystery’, one would rightfully opt for the first
variant: the mystery is the name itself: Babylon the Great.878
This interpretation is consistent with other occurrences of the same title throughout the
Apocalypse (cf. Babylon the Great in 14:8, 16:9, 18:2) and what follows could be viewed in
terms of an appositional relationship.
When discussing the function of ‘mystery’ in the Apocalypse, it does not support a literal
interpretation. An equation in terms of meaning of the noun ‘mystery’ –μυστήριον with the
adverb ‘spiritually’ –πνευματικῶς (11:8), 879 could be achieved although the two terms
stem lexically from different roots.
The association between ‘mystery’ and ‘spiritually’ could get even more substance when
considering the hidden identification of another important location in the Apocalypse,
877
878
Blount, Revelation, 315, cf. Beale, The Book of Revelation, 859 also Vander Stichele, Re-membering the
Whore, 109, ft. 13, Osborne, Revelation, 612.
879
Charles, Revelation 2:65; Cf. Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John, 692, cf. Smalley, Revelation to John, 431.
268
namely Jerusalem, the city ‘where also Lord was crucified’ cryptically named ‘Sodom and
Egypt’ (11:8).
In any case, ‘mystery’ would imply we are dealing with something that only God could
explain via some divine revelation880 and could be linked to the fulfillment of God’s plan (cf.
17:17, also 1:20, 10:7).
This terminology is not singular in the apocalypse but also features in other NT
occurrences, which refer to the “mystery of salvation” in Rom 11:25, Eph 3:6-11, Col 1:26,
and to the eschatological process in 2 Thess 2:7. With these references, the term gains an
eschatological dimension.
However, by far the Judaic context of apocalyptic literature is relevant: with apocalypses,
mysteries of God are revealed only to the chosen ones, by means of divine revelation. It is
for this reason that the role of angelus interpres in aiding with their interpretations is
important.
To exemplify, Dan 2: 18-30.47881could inspire the OT context prompting explanation of a
divine mystery.
‘Mystery’ thus pertains to the realm of the transcendent, so the symbolical expression is a
human response to an event, which extends beyond the natural human apprehension.
It is for this reason that the angel subsequently expresses the willingness to explain it to
the Seer (17:7).
If unexplained, ‘mystery’ can lead to amazement that can have negative consequences for
the inhabitants of the earth, just like in 13:3-8. As a result, it is related to a hermeneutical
imperative. The Seer is overwhelmed with amazement (17:6) –ἐθαύμασα ἰδὼν αὐτὴν
θαῦμα μέγα so the Angel offers him an interpretation of the vision, in which wisdom –
σοφία plays a key role.
The wisdom is paired in this verse with rationality, the rational mind –νοῦς (v.9).882
880
Beale, The Book of Revelation, 859; cf. Murphy, Fallen is Babylon, 356.
881
Kowalski, Die Rezeption des Propheten Ezechiel, 182; cf. Beale, The Book of Revelation, 858; Smalley,
Revelation to John, 431.
882
Since secrecy seems to pertain to the very essence of revelation, ‘mystery’ is equated with ‘secret’ or with
‘divine wisdom’. ‘Divine wisdom’ is known only through such revealed mysteries, since her abode is in heaven
(1 Enoch 42: 1, 48: 1, 49: 1) also Dan and 1 Enoch and the human person as a result may see history in a
totally new light (Rowland, The Open Heaven, 13).
269
In this manner, one can observe the contrast between the description of the vision in
Apocalypse 17, where senses are involved and feelings are aroused and the interpretation
of the vision, in which amazement is involved.
In contrast with the other occurrences of the word, this time, μυστήριον entails an aspect
of irony, if considered from the prism of the demise of the character in chapter 17-18. The
‘mystery’ resides in the actual fulfillment of God’s will. It delineates “the unexpected way in
which the kingdom of evil will begin to be defeated: that kingdom will turn against itself
and start to self-destruct even before Christ returns.” 883
Summary
After establishing that ‘mystery’ is not part of the title on the woman’s forehead, I
presented aspects related to its interpretation. The designation contains also a hint of
irony, when read against the background offered by the title and the demise of the Whore.
‘Mystery’ usually implies elsewhere,884 the Apocalypse included, the necessity of a
hermeneutical imperative of divine origin. It refers to unveiling a phenomenon.
Its function is similar with other intertextual references, where it operates similarly,
bearing an eschatological nuance. Considering the occurrences, the readers are summoned
to a careful reading of symbols.
Similarly, its occurrence with this verse is particularly highlights the importance of divine
aid in the correct interpretation of the vision imbued with wisdom (cf. 17:9).
If readers had not considered ‘mystery’, its function and meaning in the Apocalypse, they
would have remained anchored in the sensuous presentation of the Whore. They could not
have understood her nature as well as the consequences of her disastrous acts.
By virtue of the association with the woman, ‘mystery’ here is negatively charged, pointing
to unveliling the Great Whore’s real character and function.
Babylon the Great
The name of mystery reads βαβυλὼν ἡ μεγάλη, ἡ μήτηρ τῶν πορνῶν καὶ τῶν βδελυγμάτων
τῆς γῆς.
883
Beale, The Book of Revelation, 858, cf. Osborne, Revelation, 612.
884
Apocalyptic writings are preoccupied with the disclosure of the divine secrets. (Rowland, The Open
Heaven, 20).
The constitutive quality of these “mysteries” is not in the first instance their hiddenness, but their belonging
to the heavenly (divine) world. (Collins, Seers, Sibyls and Sages in Hellenistic Roman Judaism, 29).
270
It combines the political resonances by association with the city ‘Babylon’, as well as
gynomorphic traits, by the formulation ‘mother’ –μήτηρ. The title completes in the same
register the picture delineated so far by the Seer, namely that of ‘prostitute’ –πόρνη and
‘woman’ –γυνή, also characterized by items belonging to the feminine domain, as it was
amply shown.
Similarly, the title on the Whore’s forehead reinstates motifs already known from previous
analyses, such as that of ‘whore’ with ‘mother of whores’ –ἡ μήτηρ τῶν πορνῶν and the
adjective ‘great’ –μεγάλη also featured in 17:1-2, as per the formulation ‘Great Whore’ –ἡ
πόρνη ἡ μεγάλη. Now, the above mentioned adjective describes Babylon as ‘Babylon the
Great’ –βαβυλὼν ἡ μεγάλη.
The Whore’s extended name and her role as chief-prostitute is formulated.

She carries the name one of the most well known cities in the Antiquity, Babylon. Just like
the ancient city Babylon, the Great Whore occupies a leading position, as ‘mother of
whores’.885
When describing the content of the Whore’s cup, filled with abominations and the
impurities of her fornication –ποτήριον (…) γέμον βδελυγμάτων καὶ τὰ ἀκάθαρτα τῆς
πορνείας αὐτῆς, the noun ‘abomination’ relates semantically with the Great Whore. She is
named by virtue of zeugma, mother of earth’s abominations –ἡ μήτηρ (…) τῶν
βδελυγμάτων τῆς γῆς.
Considering the above, the name is not as mysterious as one may initially think. Its phrasing
has delineated certain interpretative coordinates. These were already established by the
close intratextual connections.
The first part of the name reads Βαβυλὼν ἡ μεγάλη. The phrasing will be repeated
verbatim in the following chapter focused on the destruction of the city (18:2.10886).
The name Βαβυλών appears six times in the Apocalypse, having the following cognates:
great (14:8, 16:19, 17:5, 18:2.10.21) with the cup of wrath (14:8, 16:19, 17:5f, 18:2f), with
prostitution (14:8, 17:5), with downfall (14:8, 16:19, 17:5f, 18:2.10.21)887 but also city
(16:19, 17:5:18, 18:2.10.16. 19.21).
Prior to 17:5, ‘Babylon’ is not unknown to the readers: it occurred previously in 14:8 and
16:19.
885
886
In 18:21, it will be referred as Babylon, the great city –Βαβυλὼν ἡ μεγάλη πόλις.
887
271
These references are phrased in a way that assumes the readers were already familiar with
this application,888 although, both μυστήριον and Βαβυλών refer in fact “to third party,
hinted at but never explicitly named”.889
The adjective ‘great’ continues the cluster of images that revolve around a figure of power
and greatness. The adjective inscribed on the woman’s forehead portrays her as the
paragon of licentiousness, implied by the supra-dimensionality of ‘great’.
Not only that the protagonist was introduced as the Great Whore, few verses later (v.18), it
will be referred as having power –βασιλεία over the kings of the earth.
Just like in the case of gold, which appears both in divine-related contexts, as well as in
those of a Satanic, evil nature, the adjective μεγάλη notes within the Apocalypse, the most
intense usages of all the NT, being ambivalently featured both with good (11:7,12:1, 15:1,
18:1) and bad (13:2.13, 17:2.5).890 Here, due to the context in which it operates, the
adjective “great” intensifies the negative character of the designation.
When considering the triad employed to describe the character introduced as the Great
Whore, respectively ‘whore-woman-city’, one can see that this adjective does not feature
in one dimension of the triad, namely that of ‘woman’. It describes ‘Whore’ in 17:1 and
19:2, as well as the ‘city’ materialized as Babylon.
Subsequently, in the Apocalypse, the phrase ‘Babylon the great’ occurs five times (14:8,
16:19, 17:5, 18:2, and 18:21).
Light is shed on its meaning as Babylon is referred to as ἡ πόλις ἡ μεγάλη –the great city
seven times in the book (11:8, 16:19, 17:18, 18:10.16.18.19.21).
With one occasion, in 18:21, the two expressions, respectively, ‘Babylon the great’, and
‘the great city’ emerge, becoming Babylon, the great city –Βαβυλὼν ἡ μεγάλη πόλις.
Especially considering the political dimension of the gendered complex, Beale points to an
alternate translation of the adjective μεγάλη as ‘famous’, ‘notorious’, having influence (cf.
vv.1-2).891
Although Beale does not insist very much on this issue, it would be appropriate to add,
such a translation is pertinent because Babylon has a notorious892 fame in the Old
Testament: it becomes the object of downfall (Gen 11, Psalm 137, Isa 13:21, 47, Jer 50-51);
888
889
890
Sals, Die Biographie, 85. She carefully notes all the instances of this adjective featuring with auditions and
visions: in the context of the millstone (18:21), the heavenly feast (19:17), the mountain upon which John
looks (21:10), the wall of Jerusalem (21:12).
891
892
272
sometimes it is a divine means itself (Jer 25:8-11.15-25, Ezek 24, Micah 4:10).893 As a result,
Babylon became synonymous with opposition with God, being thus asserted a negative
connotation associated with infidelity.
As a result, the name above may invite a clear reference to Dan 4:30.894According to this
text, the king Nebuchadnezzar is arrogantly attributing to himself the building of such a
magnificent city and that constitutes a reason for divine judgment.
In this manner, the epithet μεγάλη does not bear any laudatory value. It is pregnant with
irony, since Babylon’s greatness is evident in what is despicable to God.
This type of irony operates like a red thread in the vision. It was previously detected with
the Whore’s posture. Also, it featured in the enumeration of expensive clothes and
ornamentation against the very nature of the woman wearing them –a whore. In addition,
such aspect can be detected in the turning of the tables concerning the demise of the
Great Whore, as fulfillment of God’s will.
Another interpretation of μεγάλη suggests that Babylon’s greatness lies not in its notoriety,
but it is “particularly her fall which is great (14:8, 18:2.10.16.19.21).”895
Considering my observations on the three dimensions of the Great Whore in Apocalypse

17, namely those of ‘whore’, ‘woman’ and ‘city’, an over-emphasis on the last of them has
lead traditional approaches to the text towards a loss of content concerning the previous
two.
As part of these approaches, references to the Great Whore though textually accurate
were replaced by the ones pointing at ‘Babylon the Great’. Feminist critical approaches
were formulated in order to resist and correct such interpretations.
A variety of readings of the vision of Apocalypse 17 occurred896 trying to maintain the

balance between the corporeal and the political dimension of the Great Whore. Usually,
when references to the geopolitical entity predominate in the interpretation, gender issues
fall into the background.
When the political implications of this title are emphasized, gender becomes a political
expression, it becomes an ideological construct, “inflected by other relations of
893
894
Kowalski, Die Rezeption des Propheten Ezechiel, 183; Beale, The Book of Revelation, 858; cf. Ruiz, Ezekiel in
the Apocalypse, 271; Osborne, Revelation, 612; Gordon Campbell, Antithetical Feminine Urban Imagery and a
Tale of Two Women-Cities in the Book of Revelation, in: Tyndale Bulletin 55(1)/2004, 81-108, 86. Also cf.
Labahn, ‘Apokalyptische’ Geographie, 127, (ft. 65).
895
Campbell, Feminine Urban Imagery, 87.
896
Cf. Part I (History of Research).
273
domination, such as race, status, religion and colonial imperialism,”897 so speaking about
gender becomes synonymous with speaking of a structure of power, which leads ultimately
to speaking against an oppressive structure of power.898
With the analysis of ‘Babylon’ as theological concept and motif throughout the Apocalypse,
exhaustive studies support a one-to-one identification regarding who Babylon in the
Apocalypse may allude to. Such endeavour, popular though, has failed to exhaust the
potency of the signifier ‘Babylon’.
Additionally, studies on why this name is used and how it functions as well as what it
entails have not met the extent of the popularity, those focused on decoding the identity
of Babylon have.
Such interpretations range from historical to a-historical, from corporeal to immaterial,
from literal to metaphorical.
The referents of ‘Babylon’ have been Rome, Jerusalem, the actual Babylon, or a more
transhistorical-ethic representation of a civitas diaboli –the evil, immorality of every
historical period.
Alternatively, when devoid of any geopolitical content, interpretations of Babylon the
Great would revolve around corporeal identifications. They could even touch upon
mythological content expressed in different depictions of Goddesses,899 absorbed in cosmic
battles.
Historical interpretations opt either for an anti-Jewish or anti-Roman stance.900 While the
majority of the contemporary influential exegetes prefer Rome901 as the addressee of
897
Schüssler-Fiorenza, The Power of the Word, 132.
898
Cf. Stenström, The Book of Revelation. A Vision of the Ultimate Liberation or the Ultimate Backlash?, 1-61,
cf. Vander Stichele, Just a Whore, 7.
899
To name a few, cf. Aune’s magisterial commentary, where the whore is a parody of Goddess Roma
(Revelation 17-22, 919-928, also 937). Cf. for variations on the same motif Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza’s
reference to the ‘Great Mother Goddess’ in Vision of a Just World, 96f; or ‘Queen Ruler’ of David L. Barr,
Women in Myth and History: Deconstructing John’s Characterizations, in: Amy Jill Levine, Maya Robbins
(eds.), A Feminist Companion to the Apocalypse of John, 55-68, also Yarbro Collins’s ‘Terrible Mother’ as per
Feminine Symbolism in the Book of Revelation b, 121-130, Mary Ann Beavis, Jezebel Speaks: Naming the
Goddesses in the Book of Revelation, in: Amy Jill Levine, Maya Robbins (eds.), A Feminist Companion to the
Apocalypse of John, 131-146, cf. Paul Duff’s approach to the ‘Harlot Queen’, in: Who Rides the Beast?, 83-96.
900
G. Biguzzi, Is the Babylon of Revelation Rome or Jerusalem?, in: Biblica, 87/2006, 371-386, available at
http://www.bsw.org/Biblica/Vol-87-2006/Is-The-Babylon-Of-Revelation-Rome-Or-Jerusalem/111/article-
p371.html (last accessed 10.10. 2009).
274
John’s writing, some other opt for Jerusalem,902 stating that the book represents an anti-
Jewish libel.
Others903 opt for a transhistorical dimension, rooted in another level of interpretation than
the ones above. For them the text remains open to much more than an identification with
the historical realities, referring either to Jerusalem or to Rome. They perceive Babylon as
an embodiment of evil, going beyond the immediate historical context of the writing up of
the Apocalypse. In doing so, they advocate the ambiguity of the city’s ultimate symbolism
of Babylon, thus its interpretation achieved timelessness.
As previously mentioned, some interpretations even take Babylon in its literal sense.904
With feminist critical concerns, interpretations focus on Babylon as both a corporeal image,
having either a particular woman as referent, or the more abstract concept of ‘woman’ in
general.
With the latter variant, interpretations tend towards an immaterial understanding of the
image, based to various degrees on the different understandings of the theory of
‘metaphor’.
With substitutionary905 approaches to interpreting Babylon the Great, the works of
feminist theologians reflect an important contribution in the process of the correct reading
of the name.
901
For similar views cf. commentaries by Aune, Revelation 17-22, Charles, Revelation, Blount, Revelation,
Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, also the article of Frey, The Relevance of the Roman
Imperial Cult.
Nevertheless, equating the interpretation of Babylon the Great with Rome poses two major problems for
contemporary exegesis as emerging form the readers’ response. On the one hand, in view of 1:1, this one-to-
one correspondence denies the essential nature of the polyvalence of the apocalyptic language, together
with its openness, indeterminacy and ambiguity. On the other hand, such an identification as the above
usually neglects the emotional appeal of the metaphors.
902
Lupieri, A Commentary on the Apocalypse of John; Massyngberde Ford, Revelation, 285; cf. Beagley, The
"Sitz im Leben" of the Apocalypse.
903
Cf. Beale, The Book of Revelation, 859, also Leonard. L. Thompson, Revelation (Abingdon New Testament
Commentaries) Nashville: Abingdon, 1998; Rissi Die Verführung.
904
This approach is especially prominent with some Neo-Protestant literal readings of the Apocalypse, which
interpret ‘Babylon’ as the historical Babylon. For this interpretation cf. among others Steve Gregg (ed.),
Revelation: Four Views, a Parallel Commentary, Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1997; Robert L. Thomas,
Revelation 8 to 22: An Exegetical Commentary, Chicago: Moody Press, 1992; Charles H. Dyer, The Identity of
Babylon in Revelation 17 and 18 (Th.M. Thesis) Dallas: Dallas Theological Seminary, 1979; Andy Woods, What
is the Identity of Babylon in Revelation 17-18? My Hermeneutical Approach to Apocalyptic Literature,
available at http://download.ebooks6.com/What-is-the-Identity-of-Babylon-in-Revelation-17-18-by-Andy-
Woods-pdf-e105652.pdf (no pagination), (last accessed 20.08.2011).
275
There are Biblical scholars and exegetes906 who cannot neglect or disregard the actual
female characteristics of Babylon in 17:3-5. They argue that the generic identification of
the Great Whore permeates the whole vision of Apocalypse 17.
A sensuous image of a woman, named after a city is not aleatory constructed. It aims at
conveying a clear message and warns the readers of the imminent danger of succumbing to
the charms of the figurative complex of woman/city.
Nevertheless, the strategy employed for this purpose is deeply entrenched in patriarchal
society and imbibed with androcentric thought. The observations above represent the
starting point and quality as initial assumptions for a feminist critique.
Excursus on female images as cities
This excursus has been prompted by the tradition of using feminine images to depict
cities907 as well as the identification of these personifications with a particular type of
female behaviour –whore, or whoring.
My argument is that the author merely recepts this already existing tradition in the
Apocalypse.
As such, this reception is not problematic, but the gender-blindness attributed to it and
perpetuated into the postmodern social theory has been criticized extensively by gender-
informed scholarship triggering an exegesis with social implications.
By appealing to the OT city-whores tradition, it is generally assumed that John’s writing

alludes, or echoes the OT prophecies, but in a very original manner, pertinent to the
current history of the author of the Apocalypse.908
905
This substitutionary approach draws on understanding metaphor as word-based: taking the word as its
unit of reference and single-word figure of speech, a trope of resemblance can be attributed (Cf.
Ricoeur, The Rule of Metaphor, 3, also Moughtin-Mumby, Sexual and Marital Metaphors, 7).
906
Mary Wilson Carpenter, Representing Apocalypse: Sexual Politics and the Violence of Revelation, in:
Richard Dellamora (ed.), Postmodern Apocalypse: Theory and Cultural Practice at the End, Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995, 107-135; Cf. Vander Stichele, Just a Whore. The Annihilation of
Babylon According to Revelation 17:16 (no pagination) available at http://www.lectio.unibe.ch/00_1/j.htm
(last accessed 24.06.2013), Rossing, The Choice, Pippin, Apocalyptic Bodies, also eadem, Death and Desire,
also Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Studies in Bible and Feminist Criticism.
907
Cf. Sandra L. Gravett, Art. Female Images for Nations in Ezekiel, in: Carol Meyers, Ross Shepard Kraemer,
Toni Craven (eds.), Women in Scripture: A Dictionary of Named and Unnamed Women in the Hebrew Bible,
the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books, and the New Testament, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002, 523-524,
523 and Brian Doyle, The Apocalypse of Isaiah Metaphorically Speaking: a Study of the Use, Function and
Significance of Metaphors in Isa 24-27, Leuven: University Press, 2000, 225.
276
The frame in which such description operates is construed with the help of the nuptial
imageries, and delineated by the marriage metaphor,909 nevertheless encompassing the
politico-religious character.
The marriage metaphor draws extensively from human experience. It was and it is a
regulated relationship in the organization of societies.
However, by appeal to the dynamics and knowledge of the social context within which it
operated, one avoids creating a false consciousness, a distorted and retrodictive
perception, by transposing contemporary ideas of marriage onto ancient assumptions. As a
result, the importance of marriage should be analyzed in its anthropological context.
Wedding presupposes the existence of a covenant between the spouses. Any breach in the
contract was understood in theological terms as adultery, and/or fornication.
The OT operates with feminine imagery either in biological terms or social roles. City
personifications in the Hebrew Bible confer women diverse status designations: virgin (Gen
24:16, Judg 21:12, Esther 2, Joel 1:8), mother (Isa 50:1, Lam 1:5.16), whose sons and
daughters are the inhabitants of the city (Isa 47:8-9, 54:13, Ezek 16:20, Judg 1:27, 2Sam
20:19), wife (certain individual cities acquire this status: Jerusalem –Ezek 16:8, 23:37,
Samaria –Ezek 23:37, Zion –as ex-wife in Isa 50:1), widow (Isa 47:8-9, 54:4, Lam 1:1),
mistress/powerful woman (Lam 1:1), princess/ruler (Lam 1:1). Pertaining here are the
additional images of being enthroned (Jer 48:18) and sovereign (Micah 4:8), as well as
crowned (Ezek 16:2), captive (Isa 52:2), laborer (Lam 1:1).910
It contains generic markers: the masculine represents the divine, either God or the God-
sent –the prophet, while the feminine denotes the human part, usually delineated by
either by biological markers (mother, daughter) sexual ones (virgin, whore), or culturally
assigned societal roles (mother, widow, bride).
Within the dynamics of this metaphor, the female part is always subordinate to the
masculine911 and from a sexually-relevant perspective, “these images are inflexible in that
908
Cf. Christopher A. Frilingos, Spectacles of the Empire. Monsters, Martyrs and the Book of Revelation,
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004, 58. Also, Gregory K. Beale, The Use of Daniel in Jewish
Apocalyptic Literature and in the Revelation of St. John, Lanham: University Press of America, 1984;
Bauckham, The Climax of Prophecy; Moyise, The Old Testament in the Book of Revelation, idem, The Language
of the /Old Testament in the Apocalypse, in: Journal for the Study of New Testament 76/1999, 97-113.
909
Mumby acknowledges the fact that the marriage metaphor unites sexual and marital metaphorical
language (Mumby, Sexual and Marital Metaphors, 6). Cf. Zimmermann, Geschlechtermetaphorik und
Gottesverhältnis, 404.
910
Day, The Personification of Cities, 283-284.
911
Cf. Brenner, Pornoprophetics, 64.
277
they invariably reflect female sexuality as negative912 and male sexuality as neutral or
positive.”913
Besides generic undertones, the OT sexual and marital metaphorical language expresses
usually a variety of aspects.
The referential spectrum of the metaphor includes themes such as foundation, nurture,
protection, also exclusivity of the marriage relationship as mirroring God’s love,
commitment, permanence and intimacy. By association with the marriage metaphor,
another dimension unfolds, namely of the adultery, as betrayal of the wedding covenant.
Fornication is also part of this semantic field.
As previously mentioned, it has a strong political character, as either referring to the
Israelites as a nation, or to individual cities, to which the following attests:
“In continuity with a long tradition of biblical and extrabiblical writings, the polis and the
woman stand for human communities or groups, either in faithful relationship to God, or in
rebellion and infidelity.”914
Judgmental values and attributes are associated with it. As a result, within this referential
framework, adultery is often condemned, which implies the worship of foreign gods,
antagonistic to YHWH, subsequently resulting into various degree of inappropriate
participation in cultic practices, as initiated by the political alliances with foreign nations.915
Subsequently, prostitution, as the chief act of a city depicts man’s rebellion against God
and carries political implications and this is proven in the case of Jerusalem (Isa 1:21-31;
Ezek 16, 23; Lam), respectively, Sion (Isa 48, Psalm 87), Samaria (Ez 16:46-61), Babylon
(Psalm 137, Isa 47, cf. Rev 17-19), Tyre (Isa 23:15-18, Ez 27) and Niniveh (Nah 3), but also
Dibon (Isa 15:2f, Jer 48:8), Heshbon (Isa 15:4), or Sidon (Isa 23:12).916
The one pursuing the adulterous breach is the feminine counterpart, often termed as
harlot. The prophets and other Biblical authors developed this further.917 Any breach in the
contract was understood in theological terms as adultery, and/or fornication.
912
I do not fully agree with the assumption that there is a negative display of the female sexuality throughout
depictions of marriage metaphor, but I contend on its ambiguity: that is, female sexuality can be viewed as
blessing by virtue of son production, and it can equally be perceived as negative, posing a threat. Cf. Phyllis
Bird, Images of the Women in the Old Testament, in: Rosemary Radford Ruether, Religion and Sexism, New
York: Simion and Schuster, 1974, 41-88, esp. 65.
913
914
Humphrey, A Tale of Two Cities, 83.
915
Moughtin-Mumby, Sexual and Marital Metaphors, 1. Cf. Schüssler-Fiorenza, The Power of the Word, 135.
916
The textual identifications stem from Sals, Die Biographie, 30.
917
Doyle, The Apocalypse of Isaiah Metaphorically Speaking, 227.
278
Spousal infidelity is frequently used in Scripture to depict man’s rebellion against God (Isa
1:21; Jer 2:20; Ezekiel 16; 23), harlotry is also used to personify individual cities, such as
Tyre (Isa 23:16-17) and Nineveh (Nah 3:4), and Jerusalem (Ezek 16:30.35) that engaged in
shameful practices revolving around idol worshipping.
From the above, it is obvious that the marriage metaphor includes references to
corporeality as well as political, being in this way very close to the dimensions of the
gendered character of the Great Whore in the Apocalypse.
However, the political aspects are deemed more important than the corporeal ones.918
Among the corporeal references, sexual markers such as ‘whore’/’whoring’, ‘prostitution’,
‘adultery’, are frequently cited, in conjunction with ‘punishment’.
However appealing could a comparison with the OT tradition may apparently be, a careful
consideration is imposed: the marriage metaphor does not function for every of the cities
mentioned (cf. Tyre, Nineveh and Babylon of the Apocalypse). Then, an additional problem
is whether one can ascribe adultery the same value as fornication. Additionally, by contrast
with the Apocalypse, the order in the prophetic book is reversed: whereas the city
becomes personified, in the Apocalypse 17, the woman is equated with a city.
As disclaimer, I would like to stress the fact that the marriage metaphor is far more
complex,919 than in the following.
All these feature with the Great Whore, as resulting from the vision of Apocalypse 17.
However appealing could a comparison with the OT tradition may apparently be, a careful
consideration is imposed: the marriage metaphor does not function for every of the cities
mentioned (cf. Tyre, Nineveh and Babylon of the Apocalypse). Then, an additional problem
is whether one can ascribe adultery the same value as fornication. Additionally, by contrast
with the Apocalypse, the order in the prophetic book is reversed: whereas the city
becomes personified, in the Apocalypse 17, the woman is equated with a city.
918
For a detailed description cf. Schüssler-Fiorenza, The Power of the Word, 133-144, also Yarbro Collins,
Feminine Symbolism in the Book of Revelation a, 27.
919
It indeed comprises motifs of the ‘city’, but it also encompasses by means of feminine imagery, all
associated commonplaces: allusions to Israel’s punishment (cf. Hos 9:11.14.16, 13:13, Isa 13:16, 26:18, 32:4,
33:11, 47:9, Ezek 19:7,22:25 Zech 14:2, Jer 13:33.26, 15:8.9, 18:21, 22:26, 38:22-34, 41:10, 50:12, Nah 3:5),
condemning enemies (Isa 19:16, Nah 3:13, Jer 48:41, 49:22, 50:37 cf. 51 30), but also images of restoration
(Jer 30:6, cf. Isa 31:13, 49:18. 21, 54:1, 60:16), as well as various blessings (Isa 62:4.5, 66:7.8.9.11-12). For
every item mentioned, refer the analytical enterprise by Alice Laffey, Wives, Harlots and Concubines. The Old
Testament in Feminist Perspective, London: SPK, 1990, especially pgs. 160-165.
279
Mother of Whores
Babylon is not just “the great prostitute” (17:1; 19:2) –ἡ πόρνη ἡ μεγάλη ‘the mother of
prostitutes’ (17:5) –ἡ μήτηρ τῶν πορνῶν. Not only is she mother of prostitutes, but also, by
extension ‘[the mother] of the abominations on earth’ –[ἡ μήτηρ] τῶν βδελυγμάτων τῆς
γῆς.
Now, as presented in the earlier verse, the category that of abominations –βδέλυγματα
circumscribes perfectly the cultic aspect, namely idol worshipping, while the former
category of whores – τῶν πορνῶν points to a type sexually promiscuous behaviour.
The image of the Great Whore contains therefore a motherly dimension, applicable to
women in general, but also entails associations with promiscuous behaviour. In view of the
associations and the phrasing of the horrendous name, μήτηρ purports a negative
connotation.
Nevertheless, despite the negative substance, ‘mother of whores’ is the only textually
mentioned ‘mother’ in the Apocalypse.
There are basically several variants of translating the possessive ‘of whores’ –τῶν πορνῶν.
Grammatically, it can be derived from the noun πόρνη having the genitive form τῶν
πορνῶν, but it can also be derived from the masculine noun πόρνος having the genitive
τῶν πόρνων. 920
Charles921 suggests a third variant of the genitive as found in the expression in the
misreading of the Hebrew ‫זוָֹ֔נה‬which, in this case would read as mother ‘of harlotries’ –τῶν
πορνειῶν derived from the noun πορνεία, respectively ‘fornication’.922
A reference of Cornelius Tacitus (The Annals. 15.44) to Rome as the city “where all things
hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become
popular”923 is frequently quoted.
In addition to that, in a text without accents, the genitive can have three readings: ‘mother
of female prostitutes’ (πόρνη) and/or ‘mother of male prostitutes’ (πόρνος) in particular
or, ‘of fornicators’924 in general.
920
Smalley, The Revelation to John, 420; Aune, Revelation 17-22, 909.
921
Charles, Revelation 2: 62, 65; cf. Aune, Revelation 17-22, 909, Ruiz, Ezekiel in the Apocalypse, 335 , ft. 81.
Featuring with the Latin versions and commentaries of Primasius and Beatus, the Greek ἡ μήτηρ τῶν πορνῶν
becomes mater fornicationum, paralleling τῶν βδελυγμάτων with the rendition ‘abominationum’ . Ruiz
enumerates among others Heinrich Kraft, Die Offenbarung des Johannes (Handbuch zum Neuen Testament
16a), Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1974, 212, also 215 whose preference for this option in translation is also
considered to suit better the context, for it matches πορνεία in 17.4.
922
Also cf. Smalley, The Revelation to John, 420f.
923
The Latin text reads “sed per urbem etiam, quo cuncta undique atrocia aut pudenda confluunt
celebranturque”.
280
I find the first variant to be most convincing and in full concordance with the text, as well
as supported by references from the OT background as following.
Firstly, the OT intertextual references show that this association of ‘mother’ and ‘whore’
were relevant metaphorically in a gendered form. Hos 2:5.7 (cf. Isa 50:1) refers to Israel in
terms of ‘a mother playing the whore’ – ‫ ָֽזְנָת֙ה ִאָ֔מּם‬.
Secondly, in terms of being a ‘mother of harlots’, Ezek 16:43-45 records the generic
manner in which Yahweh speaks of the lewdness of Israel, quoting the proverb “Like
mother like daughter” in Ezek 16:44. Similarly, Hosea names the children of such a woman
‘children of harlotry’ – τέκνα πορνείας (Hos 2:6, cf. 1:2).
Given this reference to the Great Whore as ‘mother’ is apparently an act of “textual
injustice” with regard to the woman of chapter 12 –the one and only de facto mother of
the Apocalypse. The injustice can be removed however, when the gendered characters in
question are evaluated in the context in which they feature, as it will be the case at a later
point.
Methodically, I will pursue a contrast and a comparison with other gendered characters in
the Apocalypse.
The feminine trait of ‘mother’ is the main criterion of the comparison. As a result, I will
elaborate on the contrast with the ‘mother’ of chapter 12, the Woman Clothed with the
Sun, which Corrington Streete perceives as “perhaps a resexualized version of the Bride,
now married and pregnant.”925
My argument focuses on the fact that John employs similar compositional motifs in
describing the first pair of mothers.
This similarity between Rev 12 and Rev 17 is supplemented by thematic correlations926 to
Jezebel, the self-proclaimed prophetess and her children (2:20-23).
The textual relationship with the latter will also be exploited also in tabular form in the
following, in order to underscore the similitudes better.
The contrast between the two different visions in the Apocalypse clearly highlights to
various degrees the clear distinction between the two ‘mothers’.
924
Humphrey argues with little conviction on the possibility of reading πορνῶν as either male or female
(Edith McEwan Humphrey, The Ladies and the Cities: Transformation and Apocalyptic Identity in Joseph and
Aseneth, 4 Ezra, the Apocalypse and the Shepherd of Hermas (Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha
Supplement Series 17), Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995, 108; cf. Lupieri, A Commentary on the
Apocalypse of John, 264.
925
Gail Corrington Streete, The Strange Woman. Power and Sex in the Bible, Louisville: Westminster Press,
1997, 149. Contra Zimmermann, Geschlechtermetaphorik und Gottesverhältnis, 425. He considers that
although such a perception interrupts the linearity of the chronological time in the Apocalypse, a direct
connection of the Bride of the Lamb (Rev 19) to the Woman in Rev 12 is improbable.
926
Cf. Räpple, The Metaphor of the City, 102-103.
281
The table below will provide a better visual aid in serving the purposes of contrast and
comparison between Rev 12 and Rev 17.927
Table 4
Woman of Rev 12 Woman of Rev 17
σημεῖον –sign […]ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ –in heaven μυστήριον –mystery […]εἰς ἔρημον –in the desert
(Earth)
περιβεβλημένη τὸν ἥλιον, καὶ ἡ σελήνη ὑποκάτω περιβεβλημένη πορφυροῦν καὶ κόκκινον,
τῶν ποδῶν αὐτῆς, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτῆς κεχρυσωμένη χρυσίῳ καὶ λίθῳ τιμίῳ καὶ μαργαρίταις
στέφανος ἀστέρων δώδεκα Clothed in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold,
Clothed with the sun (v.1) jewels and pearls (v.4)
δράκων μέγας πυρρός, ἔχων κεφαλὰς ἑπτὰ καὶ καθημένην ἐπὶ θηρίον κόκκινον, γέμον[τα] ὀνόματα
κέρατα δέκα καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς κεφαλὰς αὐτοῦ ἑπτὰ βλασφημίας, ἔχων κεφαλὰς ἑπτὰ καὶ κέρατα δέκα
διαδήματα Seated on a scarlet beast with seven heads and ten
Potentially under attack by red, great dragon with horns (v.3)
seven heads and ten horns (v.3.4)
δράκων ἕστηκεν ἐνώπιον τῆς γυναικὸς τῆς καὶ τὰ δέκα κέρατα ἃ εἶδες καὶ τὸ θηρίον, οὖτοι
μελλούσης τεκεῖν, ἵνα ὅταν τέκῃ τὸ τέκνον αὐτῆς μισήσουσιν τὴν πόρνην, καὶ ἠρημωμένην
καταφάγῃ ποιήσουσιν αὐτὴν καὶ γυμνήν, καὶ τὰς σάρκας αὐτῆς
Dragon attempts to devour her child (v. 4) φάγονται, καὶ αὐτὴν κατακαύσουσιν ἐν πυρί·
Woman is devoured by beast (and the kings) (v.16)
καὶ ἔτεκεν υἱόν, ἄρσεν, ὃς μέλλει ποιμαίνειν πάντα ἡ μήτηρ τῶν πορνῶν καὶ τῶν βδελυγμάτων τῆς γῆς
τὰ ἔθνη ἐν ῥάβδῳ σιδηρᾷ Mother of whores and earth’s abominations (v.5)
By virtue of her giving birth she becomes mother of a
son who is to rule all nations (v.5)
καὶ ἐδόθησαν τῇ γυναικὶ αἱ δύο πτέρυγες τοῦ ἀετοῦ εἰς ἔρημον ἐν πνεύματι. καὶ εἶδον γυναῖκα
τοῦ μεγάλου, ἵνα πέτηται εἰς τὴν ἔρημον εἰς τὸν Is already in the wilderness (v.3)
τόπον αὐτῆς
Fled into wilderness (v.14)
ὕδωρ ὡς ποταμόν, ἵνα αὐτὴν ποταμοφόρητον καθημένης ἐπὶ ὑδάτων πολλῶν
ποιήσῃ Seated on many waters (v.1)
Threatened by water like a river (v.15)
Protected by God from the dragon (vv. 6:14-16) ὁ γὰρ θεὸς ἔδωκεν εἰς τὰς καρδίας αὐτῶν ποιῆσαι
τὴν γνώμην αὐτοῦ
Killed by the beast (and the kings) according to the
purposes of God (vv.16-17)
927
Cf. Mitchell G. Reddish, Revelation (Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary), Macon: Smyth & Helwys, 2001,
335.
282
Although placed in a similar context informed by visionary experience, the actual setting of
the two characters differs: the apparition of chapter 12 is situated in heaven, the other one
is localized on earth.
Besides the importance of the contrast between a ‘heavenly’ and an ‘earthly’ woman, such
a differentiation points to their nature in terms of heirs: the ‘heavenly’ woman gives birth
to Messiah, whereas the ‘earthly’ to unfaithful inhabitants of the earth, who easily indulge
in earthly pleasures.
The apparition of the two gendered protagonists is marked each time interestingly. While
the pregnant woman in chapter 12:1 occurs as a great sign –σημεῖον, the woman in 17:5 is
strongly marked by mystery –μυστήριον. Whereas one’s apparition is overt, unveiled, the
other’s is unclear, maybe even deceiving. As such, the Great Whore’s apparition requires
divine aid in understanding.
A clear contrast between the dress and ornamentation of the woman in 12 is configured as
opposing the gaudy attire and adornment of the Whore.
Additionally, the association with astral bodies gives the grandeur of the apparition in
chapter 12.
In contrast, the greatness of the gendered apparition in Rev 17 is relevant in her
promiscuity, a fact amply certified in her presentation.
With both apparitions, animals with similar characteristics feature: a red Dragon and a
Beast.
While the Dragon is awaiting to devour the child about to be born, the Beast in chapter 17
is submissive to the Whore. The animals are thus placed on the Apocalypse’s perpetrators
side.
Although different, the Beasts are ultimately identified in terms of their destructive nature:
one devours (Rev 12), the other dismembers (Rev 17).
However, their role in the apocalyptic scenario is different: in the introduction, the Dragon
of chapter 12 is depicted as active, while the Beast is passive. As the rising action unfolds,
their role changes as Michael will defeat the dragon and throw it to Earth. In addition,
chapter 17 narrates of a riot against the Whore in 17:16, in which the Beast plays an active
role.
283
The Whore of chapter 17 is labeled ‘mother’. She is diametrically opposed to the actual
mother of the Apocalypse. Although not named ‘mother’, the gendered apparition in Rev
12 is “described in the process of giving birth –the maternal act par excellence.”928
Despite the terminology, the Great Whore does not generate ‘a son, a male child, who is to
rule all the nations with a rod of iron’ –υἱὸν ἄρσεν, ὃς μέλλει ποιμαίνειν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ἐν
ῥάβδῳ σιδηρα (12:5). Nor is she mother of ‘the rest of her offspring, who keep the
commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus’ –τῶν λοιπῶν τοῦ σπέρματος
αὐτῆς τῶν τηρούντων τὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἐχόντων τὴν μαρτυρίαν Ἰησοῦ (12:17).
The Great Whore is biologically linked to ‘whores and earth’s abominations’ –τῶν πορνῶν
καὶ τῶν βδελυγμάτων τῆς γῆς (17:5).
Lupieri marks the interesting contrast between the male son of the Woman Clothed with
the Sun and assumingly the daughters of the Great Whore, respectively prostitutes.
Depending on how one reads πορνῶν, it remains valid that an association with femininity
was considered in some Gnostic circles “a sign of imperfection and negativity.” 929
The woman of chapter 12 finds refuge in the desert, as God offers there protection. Her
counterpart in chapter 17 is condemned by God by means of a double entendre –the vision
is located in the desert, where she will be made desolate –ἠρημωμένην (17:16).
In addition, another natural element functions similarly, namely ‘water’.930 The Woman
Clothed with the Sun is menaced by water, whereas ‘water’ represents the seat, the abode
the Whore in 17:1, since she is introduced as καθημένη ἐπὶ ὑδάτων πολλῶν.
The presentation above has made it very clear that the motifs pertaining to the textual
construction of the images of the two gendered characters are antithetical, to the point
Paul Duff names the two gendered characters in the Apocalypse “contrasting feminine
paradigms”.931
928
929
930
Regarding chapter 17, I would like to make a small amendment: water will be destructive even to Babylon,
as the reference in 18:21 testifies: “Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it
into the sea, saying, "With such violence Babylon the great city will be thrown down, and will be found no
more.”
931
Duff, Who Rides the Beast?, 71; cf. Gordon Campbell, Antithetical Feminine-Urban Imagery and a Tale of
Two Women-Cities in the Book of Revelation, in: Tyndale Bulletin 55(1)/ 2004, 81-108, 90. The Seer pictures
the Whore intentionally as a reflection of the celestial woman. Contra Prigent, who does not contest such a
resemblance, but he doubts its relevance for his exegetical analysis (Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse
of St. John, 489).
284
From a sociological perspective, motherhood is a positive trait of a woman, being highly
appreciated in the Ancient Near East. In view of the previous, “a childless woman was a
failure, someone who had apparently committed some sin or at least been judged
unworthy of bearing a child. This all her life was an agony of humiliation (Gen 16:4, 1 Sam
1:6).”932
Martha T. Roth mentions a cultural assumption that prostitutes would remain childless (or
at least without natural heirs).933 Therefore, prostitution would be perceived as menacing,
for a woman without children is evaluated negatively (cf. Isa 59:21, 54:1).934
Another reference to motherhood in the Apocalypse features with Jezebel of Rev 2:20.
In the same context, the extension of the gendered metaphor to the other named woman
of the Apocalypse could be achieved. Jezebel’s characterization is full with sexual markers,
to which Babylon strongly resembles.
In the Apocalypse, the cognomen Ιεζαβελ is a ‘recycled’ version of King Ahab’s Phoenician
wife customarily associated with forcefully admitting to and promoting immorality and
idolatry935 in Israel (1 Kgs 16:31; 2 Kgs 9:22), as well as killing the prophets of Yahweh (1
Kgs 18: 4.13).936
With Jezebel in the Apocalypse, John makes only subliminal use of any notion of usurpation
of power. Such a fact is only implied by her leading position as prophetess in the
community of Thyatira.937 The social political dimension of image is however outweighed
by that regarding her sexuality.
In view of the above abhorring associations, Jezebel in the Apocalypse is currently
‘tolerated’ among inhabitants of Thyatira.938
As a result, the self-entitled prophetess shows an array of traits, very similar to the ἡ μήτηρ
τῶν πορνῶν, this time not by focusing primarily on the essence of “motherhood”, but that
of ‘whore’ and her “whore-generating” capacity.
Jezebel is placed within the Apocalypse in the context of the accusations against idol
worshipping, defined as a teaching to ‘practice fornication’ (πορνεῦσαι) by ‘eating food
sacrificed to idols’ (φαγεῖν εἰδωλόθυτα).
932
John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah. Chapters 40-66 (The New International Commentary on the Old
Testament) Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1998, 418.
933
Martha T. Roth, Marriage, Divorce and the Prostitute in Ancient Mesopotamia, in: Christopher A. Faraone
and Laura K. McClure (eds.), Prostitutes and Courtesans in Ancient World, 21-39, 32.
934
Sharon Moughtin-Mumby, Sexual and Marital Metaphors, 153.
935
Allen C Myers, art. ‘Asherah’, in: Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, 112-113, 113.
936
Trebilco, The Early Christians in Ephesus, 317.
937
Cf. Barr, Jezebel’s Skinny Legs.
938
Tavo, Woman, Mother and Bride, 115 (ft.246).
285
Table 5
Jezebel (Rev 2, cf. 1 Kgs 16:31-19:3, 21, 2 Kgs 9: 4-37) Whore (Rev 17-18)
Gendered identification: Woman (2: 20) Gendered identification: Woman (17:3.4.6.9.18)
Her cognomen brings to mind negative associations Her name is pregnant with negative associations
from Israel’s past. Responsible for killing the witnesses to Jesus (17:6), as well as
Remembered for many harlotries and sorceries –αἱ killing the prophets and saints (18:24).
πορνεῖαι καὶ τὰ φάρμακα αὐτῆς τὰ πολλά (2 Kgs Her faults are similar, being subsequently explicated in Rev
9:22) as well as for killing the prophets (2 Kgs 9:7). 17:1-3, 18:23, 18 overall.
The accusation of fornication in two variants Cognates of πόρνη are omnipresent with her description in
(2:20.21) mentions fornication –πορνεία (2:22) and 17:1.2.4.5.15.16, 18:3.9, 19:2.
μοιχεία–adultery. These are constant throughout the
maledictions John casts upon her.
Claims herself as ‘prophetess’ –προφῆτις (2:20), but Claims herself ‘queen’ –βασίλισσα (18:7) but is nothing but a
is a nothing but a whore (2: 21.22 cf. 2:20, her chief whore (17:1.5.15.16, 19:2).
activity is to entice into committing acts of
immorality).
Cf. Jezebel’s royal status in Kgs.

By virtue of her actions, she is deemed as By the use of the appellative ‘mother’ –μήτηρ, her children
inappropriate mother to her children. are identified in 17:6 as ‘whores’ –πόρναι. By extension, the
Her children/followers –τέκνα αὐτῆς (2:23) are most same appellative could be applied to the different groups
probably God’s servants of 2:20 –τοὺς ἐμοὺς (inhabitants of the earth, kings, merchants etc.), with whom
δούλους. the Whore-mother associates. Through her “whore-
generating” capacity, her associates will be eventually
Her children will be stricken dead (2:23). punished in 19:17-18. 20-21.
She will be put to death (with time for repentance for The Whore will be punished (no time for repentance
her fornication –πορνεία (2:21)) by throwing her on a mentioned) by making her desolate and naked; they [the
bed –βάλλω αὐτὴν εἰς κλίνην (2:22). kings and the Beast] will devour her flesh and burn her up
with fire –ἠρημωμένην ποιήσουσιν αὐτὴν καὶ γυμνὴν καὶ τὰς
σάρκας αὐτῆς φάγονται καὶ αὐτὴν κατακαύσουσιν ἐν πυρί.
(17:16)
Chief activities: διδάσκει καὶ πλανᾷ –teaching and Chief activities: committing fornication, ἐπόρνευσαν οἱ
beguiling* (2:20) βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς (17:2), deceiving by sorcery –ἐν τῇ
φαρμακείᾳ σου ἐπλανήθησαν (18:23) which is semantically
closely related with inebriating the inhabitants of the earth –
ἐμεθύσθησαν οἱ κατοικοῦντες τὴν γῆν (17:2).
*(sexual connotation)
Consequences of her actions are connected with Consequences of her actions are connected with death:
death: eating food sacrificed to idols –πορνεῦσαι καὶ Drinking blood –μεθύουσαν ἐκ τοῦ αἵματος (17:6).
φαγεῖν εἰδωλόθυτα (2:20).
286
The comparison above evidences how close in register are the designations for the two
gendered images.
Parallel images, even parallel words are used to describe Jezebel and Babylon, the Great
Whore. “John ties ‘Babylon’ and ‘Jezebel’ closely together so that in the reader’s minds
they are virtually equivalent,”939 making Jezebel “a prototype of Babylon-the-Whore”.940
The following observation can be drawn from the table above: both characters are
gendered. They are referred to as ‘women’, encompassing thus the corporeal dimension in
their presentation, however to different extents and purposes.
Additionally, Jezebel and the Great Whore’s names equally bring to minds of the readers
negative associations from Israel’s past.941 They both recall different episodes of Israel’s
idolatrous corruption.942
Such a fact contributes further to their labeling as enemies of God. Although Jezebel is in
no way responsible for the material killings of God’s followers, in the way that the original
Jezebel and the apocalyptic Babylon are, she is still responsible for their spiritual killing, by
means of her teaching and deceiving.
Another element that connects the two gendered characters lists committing acts of sexual
indiscretion, either explicitly or implicitly.
The information in the table above rests much on the assumption that Jezebel in the
Apocalypse is a composite character emulating the Phoenician queen in the OT, even if
with the original Jezebel, sexual accusations are not recorded, though Jehu speaks of her
“harlotries and sorceries”(2 Kgs 9:22). These become part of her image via tradition943 and
are transferred completely onto the Jezebel of the Apocalypse.944 As a result, accusations
of fornication – πορνεία and adultery – μοιχεία feature with Jezebel of Rev 2.
In the case of the Great Whore, cognates of πορν- are defining. These strengthen the chief-
aspect in her characterization.
Regarding the accusations of sexual nature, their functions differ. The original Jezebel is
deemed ‘whore’ is because she worshipped foreign deities. Jezebel of the Apocalypse,
because she is a whore, she engages into practices of fornication and adultery. There are
two aspects of prostitution involved: one deals with a cultic dimension, whereas with Rev
2, the corporeal aspect is added to the cultic one.
939
Duff, Who Rides the Beast?, 92. Cf. Thompson, Revelation, 180.
940
Campbell, Antithetical Feminine Urban Imagery, 84. Cf. Stenström, The Book of Revelation. A Vision of the
Ultimate Liberation or the Ultimate Backlash?, 90.
941
Duff, Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing, 75. Also cf. Duff, Who Rides the Beast?,91.
942
943
944
Cf. Barr, Jezebel’s Skinny Legs.
287
Jezebel and the Great Whore are characters that enjoy certain visibility within the
apocalyptic scenario. They are publicly active and to various extents (one local, the other
more universal)945 influential. However, their statuses are not universally acknowledged,
although both ascribe titles to them: Jezebel names herself ‘prophetess’, while the Great
Whore self-entitles ‘queen’.
Clearly, the woman in Thyatira is not a queen, inasmuch as Jezebel in Kgs was neither a
prophet, nor a teacher. “What fuses them is that both women constitute a threat.”946
Possibly, the high status of the prophetess may imply wealth, and so, the discourse against
Jezebel in Rev 2 may be part of John’s critique of wealth.947 This could be also valid for
Babylon: her clothes and ornamentation are diametrically opposed to the overall ascetic
character of the Apocalypse.
The overconfident Babylon of Rev 18 is not in actuality a queen –although her attire is fit
for one – but a prostitute, cosmically threatening in her role.
Moreover, Jezebel’s activity of leading astray, beguiling into idolatry and adultery (2:20)
features also with the Great Whore’s chief maneuvers (18:23). In this manner, they are
placed in the larger context of the actions delineating in the Apocalypse, Satan (12:9,
20:3.8.10) and its false prophet (13:14, 19:20). 948
In an essentialist fashion, John views his characters, both Jezebel and the Great Whore as
‘mothers’ in a most inappropriate manner.
Even if motherhood conjugates with hope and future, theirs is denied in different ways:
Jezebel’s via the killing of her children (2:23) and Babylon’s via the annulment of “the
possibility of the future, envisioned as the marriage between the bridegroom and the bride
(18:21-24).”949
Trebilco conceives Jezebel’s motherhood in terms of the relationship between teacher and
disciples, 950 where her ‘children’ are in actuality her followers.951 The same is valid for the
Great Whore.
945
Thompson, Revelation, 90, 108, cf. Stenström, The Book of Revelation. A Vision of the Ultimate Liberation
or the Ultimate Backlash?, 90.
946
Thimmes, Teaching and Beguiling My Servants, 81.
947
Schüssler-Fiorenza, Vision of a Just World, 134, cf. Trebilco, The Early Christians in Ephesus, 317, ft. 109.
948
Tavo, Woman, Mother and Bride, 115, (ft. 247); Campbell, Antithetical Feminine Urban Imagery, 84.
949
950
Trebilco, The Early Christians in Ephesus, 542.
951
Ranko Stefanović, Revelation of Jesus Christ: Commentary on the Book of Revelation, Berrien Springs:
Andrews University Press, 2002, 129.
288
Their associates will be surely punished: the Whore’s as depicted in 19:17-18. 20-21, and
Jezebel’s, nominalized as “rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching” (2:24) will
be broken like earthen pots (2:27).
All these considered, Jezebel and the Whore’s violent demises are common. With or
without time for repentance,952 their punishment is certain: while Jezebel will be thrown
on a sickbed953 (2:22) –probably implying that “she will be sick and will not recover,
because she is under judgment”954 –the Great Whore will be déshabillée and her flesh will
be devoured, being concomitantly burnt with fire (17:16).
Reasons for such extreme measures are based of course on the accusations mentioned
above: teaching and deceiving955 in Jezebel’s case and impious acts, deceiving by means of
sorcery956 (18:23), as well as possible allusions to persecutions in the Whore’s case.
Additionally, there is one point to be elaborated on, with reference to the relationship
between gender and eating and drinking, abundantly documented in anthropological
952
Trebilco suggests the ‘time to repent’ as depicting a history of conflict between himself and Jezebel
(Trebilco, The Early Christians in Ephesus, 543).
953
Although the Greek records the noun ‘κλίνη’ (2:22) translated as ‘bed’, in the Biblical account, this noun
connects two semantic fields.
The first is prompted by the sexualized language linked with the previous accusations revolving around
fornication and adultery, accomplishing thus a “graphic allusion, leaving much to the imagination, that
translators tried to defuse the rhetoric” (Thimmes, Teaching and Beguiling My Servants, 74 (ft. 24) ). Cf.
Beavis, Jezebel Speaks, 143 (ft. 51). By virtue of what immediately follows, namely “those who have
committed adultery with her”, Corrington Streete does not accept the translation ‘sickbed’ (Corrington
Streete, The Strange Woman, 154).
Another interpretative option completes the previous, informed the context of punishment. As the Eerdmans
Dictionary shows, the bed was used as “a figurative expression for death (cf. Job 17:13, Psalm 139:8)” (John S.
Hammett, art. ‘Bed’, in: Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, 159-160, 159).
For the translator’s variants, cf. Harrington, Revelation, 63 – ‘bed of pain’ and – ‘coffin’ Lupieri, A
Commentary on the Apocalypse of John, 123. Also cf. Eugenio Corsini, The Apocalypse: The Perennial
Revelation of Jesus Christ (Good News Studies 5) (trans. and edited by Francis J. Moloney, S.D.B.),
Wilmington: Michael Glazer, 1983.
954
Trebilco, The Early Christians in Ephesus, 317, (ft. 110).
955
In keeping up with Jezebel’s accusations overloaded with sexual connotations, the verb πλανάω is
translated in this instance as ‘to beguile’, although Apocalypse (English) translations note other variants such
as ‘to deceive’, ‘to lead astray’. Also cf. other options including ‘to lure’, ‘to mislead’ as well as ‘to seduce’
(Thimmes, Teaching and Beguiling My Servants, 83, 84 (ft. 60) ).
956
For the ambivalence of the word φαρμακεία used with explicating the content of the Whore’s cup, cf. the
analysis of the previous verse.
289
studies. This phenomenon seems to imply references to boundary issues957 and purity-
related958 concerns.
Evaluated as transgressions, unlawful, lustful eating and drinking are dangerous. They bring
about death especially when coupled with πορνεία959: in Jezebel’s case, eating food
scarified to idols alienates the members of the community from God, while with the Great
Whore, drinking abuse has robbed the inhabitants of the earth of their senses, which
eventually led to them following the Whore, and so alienating from God.
In view of the above, death is the major consequence of associating with the two gendered
characters. Their resemblance in terms of textual construction and motifs operates as
warning the readers off their toxic lures.
Summary
Both characters in Table 5 display similarities in their standardized depiction as enemies of

God. These similarities include references to their impious and devastating activities
oriented on the people of God, paired with a generic identification, i.e. woman.
From the above parallel, it is obvious that through a deliberate choice of naming, by
evidencing “the analogies between classic situations in Israel’s past and their own
situations”, readers “are called upon to think typologically”.960
In addition, Jezebel and the Great Whore’s symbolic names contribute precisely to their
textual control. Their names establish boundaries and polarities.961 John actually controls
the manner in which readers interpret their characters overall.
It was established that Jezebel corresponds minutely to the Great Whore. Although the
latter’s influence is devastating, Jezebel’s scale of evil is significantly inferior when
compared to the Whore’s.
Their heinous influence stems from their status. This influence is materialized not only in
power, authority but also wealth.
Such issues are discussed on several occasions in the Apocalypse, being condemned
throughout the book, if not of a divine nature.
957
Thimmes, Teaching and Beguiling My Servants, 84.
958
Marshall, Gender and Empire, 24f.
959
960
961
Thimmes, Women Reading Women in the Apocalypse, 136.
290
However, their status is actually a hoax, for Jezebel and the Great Whore are not what they
themselves preach: they are neither a real prophetess, nor a queen. They arrogate unjustly
such titles upon them. As a result, their statuses are not acknowledged outside their
intimate group of followers.
Next, Jezebel and the Great Whore’s motherly essence was brought into discussion. The
analysis revealed their maternal inappropriateness. The relationship with the offsprings
they produce is seriously jeopardized. The lack of future for both’s offspring comes
naturally as a result of divine punishment.
Because for this study, incursions into the why and how of the image of the Great Whore in
the Apocalypse are required, some exegetes include the parallel between Jezebel and the
Great Whore in John’s rhetoric of conflict.962
As a result, this strategy denotes “the language or narrative strategies of persuasion and
exhortation used to influence outcomes”. It includes “expressions like speech as
competition, speech as violence, speech as control, speech as exclusion, speech as blame”.
The strategy is “propagandistic and intertwined with gender, relationships, sociocultural
and theological boundaries, authority, power and prestige (or status)”.963
This manner of contrasting matches well John’s apocalyptic dynamic of rendering the
powerful powerless.964
Considering the above delineation, one can ascertain that such literary approach applies to
Jezebel, in the same measure it applies to the Great Whore.
Along the comparative scheme above, name-calling features as part of the denunciatory
practice in which activities such as deceiving, sexual promiscuousness, and eating/drinking
impurities, i.e. food sacrificed to idols and blood rank high.
Additional aspects pertaining to the above definition were touched upon previously.
Underlying purity issues are applied argumentatively to both of them. It is not therefore
the first time, when ‘purity’ as theme features. It was mentioned previously also with the
contrast between the Bride and the Great Whore’s garments and ornaments.
Similarly, in virtue of similar sexually promiscuous actions as emerging from the textual
depiction, the Great Whore and Jezebel are impure. With their depictions, the language
remains fully anchored in the human. This aspect is not applicalble with depictions of New
Jerusalem and the Woman Clothed with the Sun. With the latter, although the language
962
Thimmes, Teaching and Beguiling My Servants, 77-82. Cf.Thompson, Revelation, 12.
963
Thimmes, Teaching and Beguiling My Servants, 77f.
964
Corrington Streete, The Strange Woman, 158.
291
initially delineates the human realm of emotions, it “quickly dissolves into the non-
human.”965
Jezebel and Babylon could equally be examined in their communitarian feature. They
become “a warning signal that any community, whose members deviate from Christian
values, whose members contest God as Lord, the Almighty, will become Babylon.”966
Mother. Further Interpretational Options
When delineating the complex apposition describing ‘Babylon the Great’, ‘mother’ could
also entail a figurative extension, that of ‘archetype’.967
In the same line of ideas, Bergmeier968 opts for the German compositum ‘Erzhure’ –
archwhore, when describing the Great Whore’s essence as described in v.5.
Accordingly, μήτηρ would imply ‘fountainhead’, or ‘reservoir’.
Another reading of μήτηρ is also suggested by Aune. According to him, the noun can have
“in the superlative sense [the] meaning [of] ‘the most depraved whore’ ”969 who “spreads
her scandalous influence throughout the world.”970
Nevertheless, the genitive construction contains much more than a simple reference to
gender.971 It is most probably a classificatory term denoting the ones who are not allowed
in the New Jerusalem (21:8, 22:15).
In this respect, the rejected ones –οἱ πόρνοι cannot be but impure, a category which
transcends gender in the Apocalypse and belongs to the cultic sphere, to which several
links were by now established.
While remaining in the same collective register, μήτηρ could also stand topologically for a
community.
965
966
Rapple, The Metaphor of the City, 78.
967
Aune, Revelation 17-22, 937. Cf. Smalley, The Revelation to John, 432; Louw-Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of
the New Testament (§58.64) also mentions among the figurative extensions of the noun μήτηρ (§10.16), that
of ‘archetype’.
968
Bergmeier, Die Erzhure und das Tier, 3899-3916.
969
970
Marion Carson, The Harlot, the Beast and the Sex Trafficker: Reflections on Some Recent Feminist
Interpretations of Revelation 17-18, in: Expository Times, 122(5)/2011, 218-227, 219.
971
292
Not only that the Great Whore could be viewed as corporate identity,972 this
communitarian perspective can be applied to other mothers in the Apocalypse, who
‘mother’ or build communities around them.
Unlike the woman of chapter 12, whose offspring show obedience to God and are faithful
to Jesus,973 the Great Whore is “mothering a counter-community, whose distinguishing
mark is infidelity”974, otherwise referred as ‘all nations’ –πάντα τὰ ἔθνη (12:5, 14:8,
18:3.23).
Intertextually, Gal 4:26 features a reference to Jerusalem as mother of Christians,975 which
can further contribute to sharpen the collective understanding of μήτηρ.
It was mentioned several times already that gender stereotyping in the Apocalypse is
limiting. This is an example of such a phenomenon.
This limitation refers to the following situation: the gendered figure gains value from the
male child (heir) she produces (12:1-6), or potentially produces (cf. the virginal Bride of the
Lamb).
Therefore, the progeny’s primary characteristic refers strictly to the character’s essence.
Osborne remarks “in the NT the phrase ‘son of’ refers to one’s primary characteristic (e.g.
‘son of righteousness’).”976
By extension ‘mother of’, in this case ‘whores’, not only describes one in terms of chief
attributes, it also means that one has reproduced the shameful characteristic in others.
Given the reference to Babylon as city and coupling this with the ‘mother’ feature, it is not
uncommon among commentators977 to elaborate on “a play on the word ‘μητρόπολις’
which in Greek means ‘mother city’. Subsequently, the figurative meaning of μήτηρ is
preserved, but it fosters of a politico-economical understanding.
972
Cf. Rissi, Die Verführung, 55f. Also Tavo, Woman, Mother and Bride, 227-232f; Räpple, The Metaphor of
the City, 89f.
973
Smalley, The Revelation to John, 432. Murphy, Fallen is Babylon, 294. Cf. Corrington Streete, The Strange
Woman, 149; Garrett, Revelation, in: Women’s Bible Commentary, 471.
974
Campbell, Feminine Urban Imagery, 89. He also quotes Beale’s comment to support this view: “The
Babylonian mother spawns faithless children, whereas the mother of chapter 12 produces faithful offspring”
(Beale, The Book of Revelation, 859).
975
976
Osborne, Revelation, 612f.
977
Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John, 692; Swete, Commentary on Revelation, 217; Rossing, The Choice, 83;
293
The term πόλις is usually associated with the “themes of foundation, nurture, indwelling
and protection”, which “when converted into masculine-feminine relations”978 can provide
an explanation for the motherly character ascribed to it.
A metropolis is a denomination for “major cities979 that have ‘given birth’ to colonies or
daughter cities”, taking, the form of a “protectress of its citizens, who are its ‘children’.”980
In this view, people’s “trading and diplomatic relationship with her are in truth an alliance
with her idolatrous and satanic rejection of the lordship of God and the Lamb”.981
The ‘mother-colony’ aspect of Babylon was fructuous as per some expressions of the
gender-informed perspectives focusing on Babylon the Great.
Here, gender issues were elaborated upon by extending Babylon’s political understanding
in various nationalistic, colonial and postcolonial discourses.982
With this perspective, the focus in the metaphor shifts.

The gender-informed interest on the city’s role as mother together with a conjoining of
other terms such as ‘goddess’, ‘queen’, implies that the “role of the feminine is not always
subordinate.”983 If taken at a face value, the Great Whore’s constitutive elements may also
point to a positive evaluation of the image.
The roots of the gendered metaphor are formulated in view of the protection ensured by
some ancient gendered depictions of cities. ‘Mother’ features as part of the title of some
ancient goddesses, such as Demeter, Rhea, Isis as well as title of some empresses, e.g. Julia
Domna –mater castrorum.984
978
John J. Schmitt, Gender Correctness and Biblical Metaphors: The Case of God’s Relation to Israel, in:
Biblical Theology Bulletin, 26/1996, 96-106, 97.
979
Rossing lists various ancient authors who envision Rome, Athens, Jerusalem, Tyre, Corinth in this manner
(Rossing, The Choice, 84, ft. 70). Cf. Henry George Liddell Robert Scott and Henry Stuart Jones, s.v.
μητρόπολις in: Greek-English Lexicon: A Supplement, (hereafter abbreviated with Liddell-Scott, Greek-English
Lexicon), Oxford: Claredon, 964.
980
Rossing, The Choice, 83. To attest such use, Rossing mentions the fact that the metaphor functions further,
because when OT makes references to a city’s losing ‘daughter-towns’ (Ezek 26:6.8), such fact is likened to a
mother’s loss of children (Isa 47:8). (Rossing, The Choice, 83f.).
981
982
Kim, Uncovering Her Wickedness, 62-65, 73f, 77-81 (as cited by Hanna Stenström, Feminists in Search of a
Usable Future, in: William Lyons, Jorunn Økland (eds.) The Way the World End? The Apocalypse of John in
Culture and Ideology, Sheffield: Phoenix Press, 2009, 240-266, 257, ft. 94). Cf. Surekha Nelavala, ‘Babylon the
Great Mother of Whores’ (Rev 17:5): A Postcolonial Feminist Perspective, in: The Expository Times, 121(2),
2009, 60-65. Also cf. Vander Stichele, Just a Whore.
983
Schmitt, Gender Correctness, 103.
984
294
Summary
Another female stereotype, namely that of ‘mother’ was elaborated upon.

I have encompassed in the above analysis the large spectre of the term’s usages, ranging
from literal to figurative and mythical, from an individual reference to a collective
reference, from a corporeal aspect to an immaterial one.
‘Mother’ is the pivotal element connecting the four major gendered characters of the
Apocalypse. Their depiction includes references to their children.
Jezebel’s children are mentioned, the Woman Clothed with the Sun of 12 is actually giving
birth to a male child, the Bride may be seen as a potential mother and the Great Whore is
the only textually named woman in the Apocalypse, mother of whores and of the
abominations on earth.
It is for reason that an important aid to the identification of the function of the Great
Whore is offered by the comparison, and contrast with the other gendered images of the
Apocalypse.
The tabular perspective highlights a dualistic view on women (good vs. bad). This strategy
places the Whore of 17-18 in the larger category of immorality/uncleanness/evil.
The contrast is achieved with the Bride, the comparison with Jezebel: the Whore stands in
opposition with the Bride of the Lamb, something that is not at all new in this study.
The contrast with 12 is also anchored in the motif of the depiction of enemies of God, as
Tobias Nicklas accurately observes.985 Such a contextualization contributes to the
development of the motif of ‘justice of retribution’, dealt with in the following chapters of
the Apocalypse.
It is important to note how the ‘mother’ personification in v.5 will be developed into a
more politico-economical interpretation of Babylon in the following chapter.
The designations ‘mother’ and ‘whore’ in this verse belong to the feminine spectre. It is
however interesting to observe that although a positive feminine trait, motherhood is
evaluated negatively with the Great Whore, a fact which is consistent with the entire
presentation of the Great Whore.
Considering the negative load of the gendered metaphor, one should attribute a great level
of importance to the emotional involvement of readers in the apocalyptic dramatic
scenario.
985
Cf. Tobias Nicklas, Der „Pantokrator“: Inszenierung von Gottes Macht in der Offenbarung des Johannes, in:
Hervormde Teologiese Studies, 68 (1)/2012, 1-7.
295
The image is consistent with the negative depiction. If unaware of the androcentric gender
ideology hidden in the gendered metaphor, the reader may rush into finding a justification
for the Whore’s condemnation, which happens in accordance with the divine will
expressed textually by the angelus interpres and rendered minutely by the Seer.
(Mother) of the Earth’s abominations
Of the possible translations of ‘mother’ presented above, the phrase ‘(mother) of the
Earth’s abominations’ purports a figurative meaning that is applied in explicating its
semantic content. This phrasing aims at epitomizing evil, extending the reference to
βδέλυγμα from the previous verse, when the noun described the content of the cup the
Whore was holding.
Maybe such a fact shows the unity of the dimensions of the Great Whore, of corporeal, i.e.
woman and geopolitical nature, respectively the Great Whore, for what is said of the
former stands true for the latter.
Additionally, in view of the Whore’s associations with the Beast, the textual connection
from v. 4 is extended and applied to ‘Babylon’.
A deeper dimension develops further the portrait of the Great Whore by association with
“earth”.
It is not the first time earth is mentioned as connected with the Whore. The ‘inhabitants of
the earth’ and the ‘kings of the earth’ were mentioned previously when the whore’s
various impious interactions with them were described.
Also, the genitive construction in question completes the scene began in v.2, where the
association with the inhabitants of the earth lead ultimately to the Whore’s damnation.
The “earth” carries significance that it delineates the boundaries of the Whore’s influence.
Positively assessed, her power, influence and status are discussed. Negatively assessed,
however, these are limited to things/people of the earth.
The genitive τῆς γῆς can be taken as descriptive as in ‘earthly abominations’, or possessive
as in ‘earth’s abominations’.
296
It can denote as well a directional genitive, translated subsequently as ‘abominations on
earth’.986 For the intents and purposes of this study, I choose the translation ‘earth’s
abominations’.
The noun βδέλυγμα –abomination –remains unspecified throughout the Apocalypse, to the
extent that the readers can imagine the term to denote whatever is most gruesome to
them.987
Because of the lack of specification, various contexts, as well as OT intertextual references
are evaluated.
Nevertheless, the plural from of the noun has a negative connotation, when analyzed in
context. It is informed either by the previous reference to the woman’s cup filled with
‘impurities’ or she being ‘mother of whores’. It can be also related to previous mentions
implying various expressions of “what is considered impure, be it food or sexual acts or
other things”988 as well as idol worshipping – for which a vast OT tradition testifies. The
instances are evident mostly in the Apocalypse with the Beast’s actions. These have been
previously referred at.
The Great Whore’s chief association with ‘abominations’ is therefore given by her immoral
deceitfulness. It is obvious in the close-connectedness, even equation between a sexual
and a religious sin:989 both are serious offenses to God and both deserve to be punished.
Because with ‘mother’ the communal aspect was already emphasized, idolatry “as abstract
phenomenon is embedded in the community”990 leading thus to its destruction.
These implications are thus not new with the current analysis, recurring frequently with the
characterization of the Great Whore.
986
987
Carey, A Man’s Choice, 155. Cf. Sals, Die Biographie, 89.
988
Stenström, Is Salvation Only For True Men?, 192.
989
990
297
The description of the woman in the vision of Apocalypse 17 continues in v. 5. It culminates

with the revealing of a name of mystery, ‘Babylon the Great’. The name is supplemented,
probably for the readers, by additional information on the Whore’s character: she is
‘mother of whores and of earth’s abominations’.
‘Prostitute’ and ‘woman’ designate the same reality: “their identification in 17.5.7.(18)
under the heading of μυστήριον” […] invites and assists “in the ‘active reading’ of Rev
17.”991
However, both when read in isolation and when read in the immediate context delineated
so far, the title hardly aims to evoke respect or sympathy for the woman depicted.
“With ‘Babylon the great, mother of whores’ in 17:5, the amalgamated feminine and urban
imagery of the woman-city metaphor becomes explicit.”992 Here, the focus shifts partially
from corporeality towards a geopolitical dimension, from woman to city,993 though not
completely. The turning point is represented explicitly by 17:18 and will be consistent
throughout the next chapter.
The vision and the setting, in which the name emerges, make it impossible for Babylon to
be taken at a face value, or literally. Moreover, the rhetorical character of the current
academic endeavour focuses rather on how Babylon operates, rather than who/what
Babylon is.
By placing the Great Whore at the centre of interest conceives the other images of women
either as antithetical (Bride, The Woman Clothed with the Sun), or as bearing resemblance
to the Whore (Jezebel), by virtue of the similitudes in actions.
The strategy applied in understanding Babylon’s character was one in which comparison
and contrast was employed.
“The feminine imagery of Rev 17 is not found in a similar form elsewhere in Revelation. The
contrast between the corporeal dimension of the Woman of chapter 12 and the Woman of
chapter 17 is intentional. In this manner, having offered a model in chapter 12, the reader
991
992
Campbell, Antithetical Feminine Urban Imagery, 87.
993
Campbell, Antithetical Feminine Urban Imagery, 87, Cf. Rossing, The Choice, 83 contra Ruiz, Ezekiel in the
Apocalypse, 334.
298
can identify easily what distinguishes the Great Whore from the Woman Clothed with the
Sun.”994
As a result of elaborating on the nature of the woman, it was clearly evidenced that the
Seer’s masculine perception has no tolerance regarding the presentation and
characterization of the Great Whore. This attitude matches very well the angel’s
introduction in 17: 1-2, who addresses the Seer because he is about to show the judgment
of the Great Whore.
The parallel literary construction of the Great Whore with Jezebel brought interesting
issues into the limelight. From the parallel itself, standardized methods of approaching the
enemies of God in the Apocalypse resulted. The ‘rhetoric of conflict’ applies to both
characters exhaustively.
Because of that, I consider the corporeal dimension in the description of the Great Whore
should not be overlooked. Without it, or the references to the whore’s femininity repeated
as leitmotifs in the vision of chapter 17, the image of the Great Whore is on the one hand
incomplete, and on the other hand, it purports a lesser emotional impact on the readers.
Similarly, the name Βαβυλών attempts at connecting the three dimensions of the Great
Whore. It links the previously mentioned terms of ‘prostitute’ (vv. 1-2) with the following
political term, that of ‘city’ (v.18).
The reference results in a plethora of interpretations on the correct identification of
Babylon, which does not pertain to the scope of the gendered reading I am pursuing.
According to gender-informed interests, if Babylon’s identification stresses the geopolitical
dimension of the name, respectively that of πόλις, it is v. 18 which is taken literally,
implying a metaphorical use of the other two terms, namely that of γυνή and πόρνη.995
If the generic perspective is favoured, images of immorality connote with seduction,

irregular sexual behaviour, perversion, usually associated with the feminine in the
description of evil are activated. Here, any politico-economical implication of πόλις is to
various degrees, obliterated.
Nevertheless, the literal dimension of Babylon in terms of referent cannot be accepted, as
the majority of exegetical commentaries exhaustively indicate.
For the intents and purposes of this study, it is imperious not to overlook the gender
ideology hidden in the title ‘mother of whores’. With the critique, two aspects are
extremely important.
994
995
299
John’s view could be referred to in modern terminology is referred to as essentialist. This
perspective involves references to biological aspects: according to this logic, women are
either mothers by virtue of giving birth, or potential mothers as brides.
Also, the dissatisfaction with the misogynist content of the title ‘mother of whores’ should
be acknowledged, even if the image is only a metaphor.
It is more than a metaphor, it is a gendered metaphor that hides in its formulation the
question of whether women “are forced to betray” their sexuality in order to have the
correct perspective on the text that male readers have.996
In other words, it can affect the readers’ relationship to the text, where the process of
immasculation may occur:
“The woman reader is thus divided: she wants to identify with the good, but is reluctant to do so because the
images deny female self-determination; she hesitates to identify with the bad but many endorse the defiance
997
of the ‘whores’ against those who would control or destroy them.”
The gendered metaphor is in dire of appropriate treatment, as it was amply shown. With
some postmodern approaches in feminist exegesis, however, it is very hard to maintain the
balance between the corporeal and the political dimensions of the image complex,
identified throughout the study as the Great Whore. As a result, some of their focuses
undergo a transformative process: from Babylon to ‘Babylon’, from ‘whore’ to ‘Whore
Babylon’ and lastly to Whore Babylon.998
996
Kim, Uncovering Her Wickedness, 61.
997
998
300
6. Seer’s reaction to the vision
a καὶ εἶδον τὴν γυναῖκα μεθύουσαν ἐκ τοῦ αἵματος

τῶν ἁγίων
καὶ ἐκ τοῦ αἵματος
τῶν μαρτύρων
Ἰησοῦ.
b Καὶ ἐθαύμασα ἰδὼν αὐτὴν θαῦμα μέγα.
(And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the
witnesses of Christ. And I was greatly amazed, upon seeing her/this)
The metaphorical composition as depicted with the portrayal of the Great Prostitute
reaches its culmination with another tableau in the ‘montage’ of the gendered metaphor.
This verse stands in the category of the most repelling images in the Apocalypse. The image
of refined woman, strongly sexualized, arrayed in expensive garment and bedecked with
resplendent ornaments, who is drunk with blood is absolutely revolting.
John contemplates the vision in the desert from afar, devoid of all possible distractions. It is
only now when the Seer perceives the Whore’s ultimate reality: judging her actions he
contributes yet again to the divine authorization of her punishment announced by the
angel in the introduction to this vision.
Compositionally, the verse concludes the vision introduced by the angel.
As if the ultimate textual image of the Great Whore as the “mother of whores and of all
abominations on earth” was not enough in her quality of epitomized depiction of evil, v. 6
introduces another ghoulish dimension in the characterization, by placing her in the same
monstrous context as the Beast, upon which she stands astride. Her persecutor nature is
revealed and the victims are the saints and the witnesses of Christ.
In other words, instead being worthy of a ‘mother’ as life giver, as originator of new
creation, the Great Whore brings about death. Her actions inaugurate the dawn of the old
creation, the end of the earthly: she ultimately destroys her very own kind. That is in
actuality a very explicit guilt marked by violence. 999
999
DeSilva, Seeing Things, 207. Cf. Yarbro Collins, Crisis and Catharsis, 123.
301
In this manner, violence is added to her committing sexual immorality, as well as
‘mothering’ whores.
At the same time, one can register a change of focus from the sexual register recurrent in
the previous verses to the ultimate moral lapse –feeding on one’s blood –even if both
abominations with which she identifies are immoral.
It can be argued that, in terms of importance, her guilt of killing God’s people is far more
atrocious in nature, than her displaying of illegitimate sexual acts.
Structurally, this verse is concluding the subunit comprising the verses 3b to 6a, by means
of a mechanism materialized in the parallel use of καὶ εἶδον γυναῖκα –‘and I saw a woman’.
With the verse in discussion, there are actually two issues implied, namely, the extent of
the Whore’s actions, conceived in genocidal terms, as well as the intoxicating effect blood
had on the perpetrator. The victims are the larger category of witnesses and saints of
Christ.
When analyzing the different compositional elements in particular, interesting semantic
phenomena are registered.
Despite the similar grammatical phrasing, the function of the verb of perception, i.e. εἶδον
differs.
In v. 3a, the verb ὁράω is charged with the anticipation of the vision unfolding before the
eyes of the Seer. Its function is retrospective, for it refers back to what was already
seen.1000
Additionally, the verb corresponds with the sequentiality of John’s narration of the vision:
for the Seer does not seem to perceive from the very beginning the Great Whore’s state of
mind or implications of her repulsive acts reverberated on the saints and witnesses of
Jesus.
Even if functionally, the two employments of the verb ὁράω are identical, i.e. descriptive,
the type of description they denote differs. By contrast, the first employment of εἶδον in
this unit, respectively v.3 has a physically descriptive valence; the other use of the same
verb is morally descriptive, for it includes references to the Great Whore’s immoral
behaviour.
Worth mentioning is also the fact that John is consistent with the gynomorphic image
elaborated previously, by referring to the Great Whore as γυνή –woman.
Therefore, this verse contributes to the cohesion of the different tableaus of the vision of
chapter 17 as a whole. It links the previous subunit (vv.1-2) in terms of the negative
interactions of the Great Whore, as a dangerous and enticing figure: by references to
‘fornication’ (v.1) and ‘intoxication’ (v.2). At the same time, it introduces new information
1000
302
on her persecuting and violent nature, which was previously only implied by her
association with the Beast.
Consequently, the Great Whore’s appetite needs to be appeased by human blood.
Further, the source of inebriation raises from a grammatical perspective various variants of
interpretation.
First, the construction μεθύω+ἐκ+genitive displays an instrumental function.
The instrumentality is given by the idea of an object or means used in performing or
accomplishing an action, in other words, the ‘blood of witnesses and the blood of saints’
represents the instrument, or means by which the Great Whore becomes intoxicated.
Here, the Seer merely contemplates only on the effects of such inebriation.
It is uncertain whether the Great Whore’s current inebriated status is because she drank
from the cup she holds in her hand mentioned previously in v. 4: ἔχουσα ποτήριον
χρυσοῦν ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτῆς, which was γέμον βδελυγμάτων καὶ τὰ ἀκάθαρτα τῆς πορνείας
αὐτῆς –full of abominations and the impurities of her fornication.
In virtue of these specifications, it is therefore very improbable that the source of
inebriation in v. 6 coincides with the one in the previous verse, even if the referent is the
same.1001
The two beverages, respectively abominations and the impurities of the Whore’s
fornication and the blood of the witnesses and the blood of saints have antagonistic value.
They most probably target different audiences: whereas the impurities of her fornications
are meant to intoxicate the inhabitants of the earth into alienating them from God as well
as the kings of the earth, the blood of the saints and of the witnesses of Christ has an
inebriating effect solely on the Whore.
Another parallel phrasing is obvious with the mentioning of the Whore’s inebriating source:
ἐκ τοῦ αἵματος τῶν ἁγίων καὶ ἐκ τοῦ αἵματος τῶν μαρτύρων Ἰησοῦ. In both cases, the
reference to blood is explicit –ἐκ τοῦ αἵματος, being followed by parallel genitive
constructions in plural –τῶν ἁγίων, τῶν μαρτύρων that indicates whose blood it is meant.
In the case of the witnesses, however another genitive formulation features: the witnesses
are Jesus’ – Ἰησοῦ.
Regarding the conjunction καί there are two possibilities listed: either as coordinative, or
epexegetical.
1001
Contra Zimmerman, Geschlechtermetaphorik und Gottesverhältnis, 403: “[Ferner] befindet sich in dem
Becher kein Wein, sondern der „Schmutz der Hurerei“, der später mit dem Blut der Heiligen un Zeugen
identifiziert wird (Apk 17,6).”
Such identification could be plausible only when judging the common effect of being contaminated both as a
result of committing fornication and of drinking blood, namely uncleanliness. However, if one remains more
anchored in the realities of the text, and considering the differences in the situations described in vv. 4 and 6,
I prefer to maintain that the two are separate both in nature and in function.
303
The option for either variant points ultimately to the number of groups implicated in the
Whore’s atrocious acts.
When the conjunction is coordinative, the two groups are clearly separated: the saints and
the witnesses of Christ. In this case, however, it denotes the similarity of construction
between the ‘blood of the saints’ and the ‘blood of the witnesses’.
When καί is epexegetical, the second phrase becomes an explanatory phrase for the first
one, having the meaning in translation: ‘with the blood of the saints, who are of the
witnesses of Christ’.1002
Furthermore, it is debated whether the genitive Ἰησοῦ in the Greek construction τῶν
μαρτύρων Ἰησοῦ should be translated as an objective genitive or a subjective genitive.1003
With the first option, the rendering of the genitive would read ‘of the witnesses to Jesus’,
having Jesus as the object of their testimony. In the second case, the phrasing could be
translated as ‘of the witnesses of Jesus’, where the witnesses are directly connected with
Jesus, in terms of their appurtenance.
In the closing verse of this vision features the first person singular. The subjective
perspective functions as red thread in framing the vision, as well as reinforces the
revelatory character of the sequence of events in the apocalyptic scenario.
The verse also records the reaction the Seer has, namely that of ‘great amazement’,
rendered by Greek with a pleonastic construction. It conjoins words from the semantic
field of the noun θαῦμα, respectively, ἐθαύμασα […] θαῦμα μέγα. The nature, object and
the rhetorical function of this reaction will be thoroughly explored.
From a gender-informed perspective, the entire verse under scrutiny is closing the
description of the Great Whore in the same negative vein. It maintains the corporeal
reference to the Great Whore as ‘woman’. Literary speaking, neither this identification, nor
its associations are new for the reader or interpreter. Such a denomination will be analyzed
against the backdrop of the verse that completes the portrayal of the Great Whore.
Subsequently, because the feminine character is involved with spilling and drinking the
blood of martyrs as wine, violence is an important theme to be discussed. It connects with
the various ethically charged expressions of divine retribution.
John, the Seer adds violence to the list of the accusations, so far formulated, respectively
whoring, self-pretension (hubris), deceiving and drinking abuse.
In this formulation, he places himself on the side of the oppressed. This category will be
there to witness the sequence of events in which the object of the divine wrath becomes
1002
Smalley, Revelation to John, 432; Blount, Revelation, 316; Cf. Beale, The Book of Revelation, 860: „The two
groups of believers may be in mind, but the καί is best taken as explanatory (‘even’). Consequently, true
‘saints’ are those who are ‘witnesses’ to Jesus.” (Author’s emphasis).
1003
Beale, The Book of Revelation, 860, cf. Yarbro Collins, art. Revelation, in: NJBC, 1012.
304
the gendered character in Apocalypse 17, since blood must be avenged1004 and God
remembers her sins (18:5). Thus the Seer reiterates an attitude of resistance for the
Christians: they already know that the Great Whore is under divine trial (17:1) and they
have been already called conquerors (cf. 2:7.11.1711.17).
It will be thus evidenced that the manner in which ‘woman’ operates is not morally neutral.
She is not the innocent prostitute blamed for every evil in the eschatological scenario, but
the malicious harlot involved in the extermination of God’s people and so, the Great
Whore is liable to be placed under divine trial.
Her lack of neutrality corresponds exactly to the Seer’s lack of neutrality in presenting the
narrative. He does not simply recounts what he sees, but acts as God’s bond-servant –
δοῦλος, whose object of testimony is the word of God and the testimony brought to Jesus
Christ (1:2). In view of these, the Seer became worthy of receiving the revelation of Jesus
Christ (1:1).
And I saw the woman drunk
By virtue of its occurrence, Kowalski classifies the above image as unique in the Bible.1005
The framing mechanisms employed in this verse include the twofold maintenance of the
first person singular of the verb of perception – ὁράω, as well as the consistence of the
gynomorphic image, namely that of γυνή.
By using the verb of perception, not only that John remains anchored in the reality of the
vision, but also he is consistent with the narrative voice. The perspective will change in the
following verses from the 1st person sg. to the 2nd person sg., as the angel will take the
lead, providing the Seer with a selective explanation of elements in the vision.
The “I” of the narratorial voice is especially important in this verse for several reasons.
Firstly, it biases the account by delineating the affiliation of the Seer with the oppressed.
Secondly, having previous textual indications on the judgment –κρίμα of the Great Whore,
it communicates on the attributes of God, who will not overlook injustice and oppression.
Thirdly, in view of the divine promises revolving around the fact that God “will wipe every
tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more”
(21:4), the perspective propagates ‘perseverance’ –ὑπομονή.
1004
The idea that blood ‘cries out‘ for vengeance is common with Gen 4:10, 2 Macc 8:3, 2, 2 Esdr 15:8, Sib. Or.
3:313 (cf. Streett, Here Comes the Judge, 198, ft. 20). Cf. Yarbro Collins, Crisis and Catharsis, 114 with
reference to the apocalyptic text in discussion: “The expectation that God would avenge innocent blood is
attested elsewhere […].”
1005
305
In doing so, the Seer rhetorically invites the reader to reason according to his logic, as well
as to envision the strong connectedness and dependence between the God and creation.
Additionally, the woman, who was introduced as the Great Whore by the angel remains so
throughout the vision, as the Seer is consistent with gynomorphic references (vv. 3.4.6).
Further, the noun γυνή contributes to the unity of dimensions featured with the
description of the Great Whore, namely that of ‘whore’ (17:1.5.15.15), ‘woman’
(17:3.4.6.7.18) and ‘city’ (17:18, 18).
Moreover, this time around the noun ‘woman’ is also articulated, just like the previous
occurrence in v.4, when the dress and ornaments of the Whore were analyzed. It indicates
the fact that the woman represented here is not new to the readers. For this reason, that
what follows contributes in terms of cohesion to the continuity of the vision, by adding up
to the already analyzed elements.
The image of ‘woman’ remains truthful to the manner in which the Great Whore was so far
depicted. As previously mentioned the implications and functions of γυνή remain valid for
the adequate grasping of the feminine dimension in the description of the Great Whore.
In view of the multiple references to the Great Whore as ‘woman’, it is to me extremely
hard to accept that some exponents even in the biblical scholarship are still reluctant to
acknowledge the implications of the generic perspective in their analyses, to an important
extent.1006
In another order of ideas, a new element is introduced in what concerns the relational
depiction of the woman. So far, the Great Whore was portayed as partaking in an immoral
liaison with the kings of the earth, then, as responsible for inebriating the inhabitants of
the earth.
Subsequently, her posture indicated a relationship with the Beast and now she is standing
in a relationship to the saints and the witnesses of Jesus.
Nevertheless, the type of this relationship is not at all new: it was proclaimed previously, by
her association with the Beast.
This association is based on two coordinates. On the one hand, readers already know the
persecuting actions of the various embodiments of Beasts. The Beast is no exception in this
vision, if we consider the belligerent actions taken against the Lamb and the Whore,
described further in chapter 17.
1006
Cf. for example Schüssler-Fiorenza, The Power of the Word, 143: “In the feminist debate about the
gendered figuration of Babylon and the disagreement about the misogyny of Revelation, I have argued
against an essentializing and naturalizing tendency, which claims that the metaphor of the Whore Babylon
connotes to a wo/man rather than to a city.”
306
On the other hand, the relevance of the posture of the Great Whore, as ‘seating’ on the
Beast was studied in v.3. then, it implied a similitude in their actions and purpose, which is
now made even clearer.
Moreover, there is no apparent enmity between the first three groups, namely kings and
inhabitants of the Earth and the Beast, who seem to cohabitate well with the Great Whore.
The Whore is placed in a clearly antagonistic posture with the saints and the witnesses to
Jesus.
In this verse, her allies are no longer mentioned, therefore one could assume that she
acted alone in exterminating1007 God’s chosen ones.
Different literary expressions of the metaphor of drinking and intoxication feature

prominently not only throughout the verses presented previously (17:2.4), but also in the
current verse of our interest (v.6). Moreover, this metaphor is also extended to the next
chapter (cf. 18:3.6).
In the following, I will discuss the manner in which the metaphor of intoxication is applied
and functions within the visionary report.
Therefore, previously, the above-mentioned image features in the context prompted by
the introduction to the vision, respectively in v. 2 and was also alluded to when the content
of the Whore’s cup was mentioned, respectively in v. 4.
The comparative verses can be subsumed to the following schema:
Table 6
Content Source Subjects
v.2 […] καὶ ἐμεθύσθησαν οἱ wine inhabitants of the earth
κατοικοῦντες τὴν γῆν ἐκ τοῦ οἴνου
τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς
[…] and with the wine of whose
fornication the inhabitants of the
earth have become drunk.
v.4 […] ἔχουσα ποτήριον χρυσοῦν abomination
ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτῆς γέμον
βδελυγμάτων καὶ τὰ ἀκάθαρτα
τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς
[…] having in her hand a gold cup
full of abominations and of the
impurities of her immorality.
1007
The issue of ‘violence’ will be reffered to at a later point in the analysis. In any case, the image of the
Great Whore in this verse surely alludes to the intimate connection of ‘blood’ with ‘life’.
307
v.6 […] καὶ εἶδον τὴν γυναῖκα blood woman
μεθύουσαν ἐκ τοῦ αἵματος τῶν
ἁγίων καὶ ἐκ τοῦ αἵματος τῶν
μαρτύρων Ἰησοῦ.
And I saw that the woman was
drunk with the blood of the saints
and the blood of the witnesses to
Jesus.
It is interesting that the compositional elements of the image, namely, the content, source
and subjects keep changing. In v. 2 the inhabitants are ‘inebriated with the wine or her (i.e.
the whore’s) fornication’, whereas in v.4, the cup held by the Great Whore had as content
‘abominations and impurities of her fornication’. In v. 6, the Whore herself is drunk,
however, with the ‘blood of the saints and of the saints and of the witnesses of/to Christ’.
I would like to develop the concept of drunkenness, as well as its implication, including the
denotative and connotative uses.
Without repeating the associations purported by drunkenness in 17:2, I would like to make
the following observations.
Drunkenness as a state of mind is condemned in OT, to various extents. For example
Proverbs warns of its potential dangers in 20:1, 21:17, 23:30. Isa 5:1f, Hab 2:5, Sir 19:1f act
in the same manner.1008 In these references it is argued that consuming wine contributes to
one’s moral and financial and physical ruining, being the source of one’s haughtiness, grief,
sorrows, strife and complaints, leading to search for prostitutes’ company.
In the NT, the above mentioned verbs are employed predominantly in their literal sense.
So, their derivates, either in substantival or adjectival form feature on the vice lists1009 in 1
Cor 5:11, 6:10, Rom 13:13, among which is mentioned sexual licentiousness, greed,
idolatry, quarelling. 1 Pet 4:3 mentions drunkenness as one of the chief characteristics of
the Gentiles.1010
There are two roots of the verb denoting intoxication, which feature in the Apocalypse and
in the images of the vision in chapter 17. In the following, I will analyze the similarities and
differences between the two occurrences of the verb, since they are relevant for the
current study.
1008
B. L. Bandstra, “Wine”, in: Geoffrey W. Bromiley et al. (eds.), The International Standard Bible
Encyclopedia (Q-Z), vol. 4, 1068-1072, 1070.
1009
H. Preisker s.v. méthē inter alia, in: Gerhard Kittel (ed.), Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (vol.
IV), Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999, 4: 545-548, 546.
1010
Barry L. Bandstra, “Wine” in: G. Bromiley (ed.), International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (vol. 4), Grand
Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1988, 1068-1072, 1070.
308
The roots mentioned above are μεθύσκομαι (or μεθύσκω) in 17:2, whereas in 17:6, the
verbal variant of μεθύω features.
On a semantic level, both denote the same action, i.e. becoming drunk, or inebriated. The
difference in form would account for that μεθύω is used only in present and imperfect (cf.
Matt 24:29, Acts 2:15, 1 Thess 5:7) –similar with the participial present form in 17:6 –and
μεθύσκω is used in future and aorist, having a middle or passive form (cf. John 2:10).1011
Another observation concerns the aspect of verb in v.2b that is passive (ἐμεθύσθησαν),
indicating most probably the Whore as agent.
In v.6a, the active meaning of μεθύω (more exactly the participial form of the verb, i.e.
μεθύουσαν) indicates the fact that the Whore is actant in the process of getting drunk.
The form of the verb in v.6a is very important, for it pendulates between the descriptive
and the performative function.
As a result, the participial construction could continue the description of the woman,1012 in
the manner of the other previous uses of present or perfect participle forms. The present
participle here could also ‘describe an action that only then happens, when John
contemplates it’.1013
Further, when comparing vv. 2 and 6 on the criterion of how the intoxication image is
employed, the following observations emerge.
Apart from the different grammatical diatheses employed with the verbs mentioned
above, the subjects of the verb vary. With v.2b, the inhabitants of the earth –οἱ
κατοικοῦντες τὴν γῆν –are drunk. In v.5 the woman herself – ἡ γυνή is being portrayed as
such.
Despite the maddening and possibly addictive effect of inebriation, the difference from the
previous reference is that the metaphor of intoxication is now defocused from the
inhabitants of the earth onto the Whore herself.
As a result, she is now portrayed as “an infernal hostess, ruining those she entices to the
luxurious table of her deadly banquet”1014, very much like a ‘femme fatale’.
Also, the source of the intoxication differs: the inhabitants on the earth were made drunk
with the wine of her fornication –ἐκ τοῦ οἴνου τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς –but the woman is
1011
Timothy Friberg, Barbara Friberg, Neva F. Miller, Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament, (Baker's
Greek New Testament Library), Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000, (BibleWorks (v.8.), s.v. μεθύω).
1012
Cf. participial construction referring to the Great Whore such as καθημένης ἐπὶ ὑδάτων πολλῶν (17:1),
καθημένην ἐπὶ θηρίον κόκκινον (17:3), περιβεβλημένη πορφυροῦν καὶ κόκκινον καὶ κεχρυσωμένη χρυσίῳ
καὶ λίθῳ τιμίῳ καὶ μαργαρίταις, ἔχουσα ποτήριον χρυσοῦν (17:4), ἐπὶ τὸ μέτωπον αὐτῆς ὄνομα
γεγραμμένον (17:5).
1013
Pezzoli-Olgiati, Täuschung und Klarheit, 144, ft. 2.
1014
309
drunk with the blood of the saints and of the witnesses to Jesus –ἐκ τοῦ αἵματος τῶν ἁγίων
καὶ ἐκ τοῦ αἵματος τῶν μαρτύρων Ἰησοῦ.”
The Apocalypse may register a derailed employment from the NT literal understanding of
the image in question. At least according to the The Friberg Lexicon1015 the two episodes in
discussion, respectively μεθύσκω in v. 2 and μεθύω in v.6 have a connotative meaning,
thus need to be taken metaphorically, or understood figuratively.
Subsequently, μεθύσκω can be paraphrased in terms of its figurative meaning as ‘to give
oneself over to something’ implying an unrestraint and orgiastic cult activity.1016
In keeping with the connotative use, the Lexicon opts for a metaphorical understanding of
the verb μεθύω in v.6 as “describing the preoccupation with killing many people.”1017
The transition registered with this image is dependent on the context in which it occurs,
whose leitmotifs are, or will be repeated throughout the Apocalypse.
As a result, the interpretation of the first image, respectively “to give oneself over to
something” is better to be comprehended in connection with sorceries – φαρμακεία, with
the capacity of losing one’s reason.
The first valence was previously discussed with Jezebel’s activity involving deception –
πλανᾷ (2:20).1018 It will be transferred onto the actual judgment of Babylon in chapter
18:23 –ἐν τῇ φαρμακείᾳ σου ἐπλανήθησαν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη –all nations were deceived by
your sorcery.
The second interpretation of the metaphor of intoxication adds another interpretative
dimension that of violence, mostly interpreted as referring to persecutions.1019 “The
preoccupation with killing many people” establishes within the Apocalypse an intratextual
link with the cry of witnesses in chapter 11 and will be repeated twice. In chapter 18, the
1015
For an identical perspective cf. Preisker s.v. méthē, in: TDNT, 4: 546.
1016
Friberg, Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament, s.v. μεθύσκω.
The TDNT (546) also notes the figurative uses of the verbs above with the Apocalypse, but ascribes the ‘wine
of fornication’ the meaning of idolatry, and woman being ‘drunk’ epitomizes the ungodly world.
1017
Friberg, Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament, s.v. μεθύω. Cf. the footnote above for the
meaning ascribed by the TDNT.
1018
Cf. the activity of the Beast in 13:14 as follows: καὶ πλανᾷ τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς διὰ τὰ σημεῖα ἃ
ἐδόθη αὐτῷ ποιῆσαι ἐνώπιον τοῦ θηρίου, λέγων τοῖς κατοικοῦσιν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ποιῆσαι εἰκόνα τῷ θηρίῳ, ὃς
ἔχει τὴν πληγὴν τῆς μαχαίρης καὶ ἔζησεν – And he [viz. the beast coming out from the earth] deceives those
who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast,
telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has
come to life.
1019
Cf. DeSilva, Seeing Things, 107: “The Roman rule is the rule of violence, spilling not only the blood of the
holy ones and the witnesses of Jesus (17:6), but also of ‘all those who had been slaughtered on earth’
(18:23b-24). It is a time in which those destined for slaughter by the sword and for captivity meet their
destiny (13:10).” Cf. Zimmermann, Geschlechtermetaphorik und Gottesverhältnis, 408.
310
political embodiment of the Great Whore –Babylon will be held responsible for shedding
the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who had been slaughtered on earth (18:24,
cf. 18:20).
Other aspects enumerated above will be presented at a later point in the current study,
when the group(s) providing the matter for the Whore’s intoxicating drink will be
discussed.
I consider the connotative uses of the verb in v. 6a to be adequate and in concordance with
various motifs expressed earlier, revolving around the devastating consequences of the
Great Whore’s dominance, which results in moral corruption, expressed as either
fornication or inebriation. The escalation to the genocidal implications of the Whore’s own
drunkenness could be conceived in terms of logical deduction.
More often than not, what is retained from the metaphorical employment of intoxication is
the violent dimension implied by the Great Whore’s actions.
In other words, the disgraceful image of the Whore being drunk will be repeated in 18:24
(cf. 19:2).1020 When reformulated as divine sentence, there it is reduced to one aspect only,
namely that of violence.
Violence is a question of power, of how power can be abused. Abuse may be constitutive
of the manner in which she exerts power.
Since the Great Whore is the manifestation of the usurpative attempt to imitate God,
abuse is therefore expected for those who oppose her claims.
Only in an abusive way and at the expense of the oppression of God’s people can the reign
of the Whore and the Beast be accomplished.
In case of the Great Whore, I have presented so far different facets of power associated
with her character, concluding that the Great Whore is indeed potent. All these implicit
references are anticipating the textual formulation of Apocalypse 17:18, in which the Great
Whore’s dominance –βασιλεία is explicitly referred at.
To sum up the results, I have established that power flows from her posture (vv.1.3) and
attire (v.4). It is therefore interesting to note that to the sexual power exerted over the
kings of the earth (v.2), the political influence and dominion over other elements of
creation was added, such as ‘water’ (v.1), ‘desert’ (v.3) and ‘earth’ (v.5). The religious
power she has could be obvious from her meddling with divine representatives: saints and
witnesses, whose blood she is drinking (to inebriation).
The question that needs to be formulated with this issue is whether the fact that the Great
Whore holds a cup (v.4) necessarily means that she procured its content.
Although the text does not make mention of such abomination, i.e. the Whore being
actively involved in the spilling of saints’ blood, one could only infer it.
1020
Ruiz, Ezekiel in the Apocalypse, 335. Cf. Beale, The Book of Revelation, 860.
311
By association with the Beast and its actions, the Great Whore partakes in the guilt of those
who shed innocent blood, for blood constitutes the source of her inebriation.
From the above it is obvious that violence is not only a contributing factor, but also a
solution when clashes between the antagonistic apocalyptic groups, defined both by ‘good’
and by ‘evil’ escalate.
It is because of this reason that I consider violence –at least in what is depicted in 17:1-6 –
to be more rhetorical in function than literal in understanding.
I apply here the term ‘rhetorical’ in relation to a stylized manner of depicting God’s
enemies in the Apocalypse, of justifying the judicial aspect of the divine intervention in the
judgment to which the Great Whore is subjected. Subsequently, her partaking in some way
in the extermination of God’s people is enough to be subjected to divine trial.
Violence is not an issue pertaining solely to God’s enemies. It is also encompassed in God’s
retributive system. However, in the apocalyptic writing, God is the only one authorized to
exercise violence1021 since this always thwarts the actions of evil, for indeed “all the
violence in Revelation wrought on the side of good is wrought by God and the Lamb”.1022
Of the many forms of divine violence listed by David L. Barr in the Apocalypse, respectively
“cosmological violence directed against the earth, military violence directed against the
Dragon and his armies and judicial violence directed against both the leaders of the
opposition and all who follow them”,1023 it seems that the scene depicted in 17
corresponds to the last category.
In the divine scheme of retribution in the Apocalypse, the Whore’s atrocious and
potentially violent behaviour will face divine violence double in measure, as in 18:6:
ἀπόδοτε αὐτῇ ὡς καὶ αὐτὴ ἀπέδωκεν καὶ διπλώσατε τὰ διπλᾶ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτῆς, ἐν τῷ
ποτηρίῳ ᾧ ἐκέρασεν κεράσατε αὐτῇ διπλοῦν –render to her as she herself has rendered,
and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double draught for her in the cup she mixed.
In terms of communal aspects, the Great Whore’s crime becomes paradoxically her
punishment: “she is forced to drink blood, the ultimate impurity in its synecdoche of the
ultimate taboo: cannibalism.”1024
As per the gender-informed interest, there are two observations I would like to consider.
1021
J. Denny Weaver, The Nonviolent Atonement, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001, 254, quoting arguments
from Miroslav Volf, Christianity and Violence, Boardman Lectureship in Christian Ethics, March 6, 2002,
th
available at http://repository.upenn.edu/boardman/2, (no pagination) (last accessed 12 of May 2011).
1022
1023
David L. Barr, The Lamb Who Looks like A Dragon? Characterizing Jesus in John’s Apocalypse, in: idem
(ed.), The Reality of Apocalypse: Rhetoric and Politics in the Book of Revelation, Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2006,
205-220, 208.
1024
312
It is relevant to mention that this image in one aspect confirms, in another contradicts the
previous depictions of the Whore.
By virtue of the cruelty showcased previously as manifested in her sexual manipulation of
kings and inhabitants of the earth, her posture, dress, and body power poses confirm the
negative vein in which the Great Whore is to be conceived and correctly articulated. From
this perspective, she seems to be in full control of her sexuality and feminine charms, a
fully assumed character, vindicative and destructive by her very nature.
However, from the narrator’s perspective, this image represents another instance of the
woman’s lack of self-control (σωφροσύνη)1025 evident in two ways, namely her drinking
human blood, which is a taboo and secondly, pursuing such transgression to inebriation.
Previously, her sexual immorality (πορνεία) manifested at a large scale, not only as a result
of immoral liaisons with the kings of the earth, but also as ‘the mother of whores and of
earth’s abominations’.
Next, if one considers the grandiosity of the Beast’s roles in the Apocalypse, and analyzes
them against the posture of the Whore and her attire, her being drunk represents a
rupture in the image created so far: this state of mind brings about not only a display of her
uncontrollable self, but also implies the loss of reason. Subsequently, the Whore’s
authority is sublimated, preparing the way for the Whore’s rendering “ineffective and
vulnerable to attack”1026 as well as ridiculed.
The portrayal in this verse could have two possible consequences.
It could delineate the context in which her royal pretense, appearance and immoral acts
and are adequately interpreted. These show how insane and very inadequate the idea of
the Whore possessing whatever type of power actually is.
Alternatively, it could indicate that precisely her faulty nature renders her as a gate of
every evil, of syncretism and moral laxity. By refusing to remain exclusive in her sexual
behavior, the Great Whore displays openness towards the kings and the inhabitants of the
earth, or even the Beast.
With these ideas in mind, the Great Whore’s fate in 17:16, mentioned several times so far
could make sense.
Maybe a corrective understanding of how violence with regard to the Great Whore of
Apocalypse 17 could be needed.
Textually, there is no indication that the Whore’s intoxication is a result of her deeds.
Subsequently, not taken literally, but understood rhetorically, violence can be nuanced as
guilt, or a co-participation in killing God’s ones and as such is subjected to divine
punishment.
1025
Vander Stichele, Re-membering the Whore, 118, cf. Duff, Who Rides the Beast, 101.
1026
Carson, The Harlot, the Beast and the Sex Trafficker, 224.
313
Having the adequate terminology for the Whore’s actions minimizes, in this case, the
notorious accusations of persecution.
Summary
Two coordinates of analysis, namely a generic one paired with a metaphoric coordinate
constitute the focuses of the above analysis.
The first remains truthful to its referent so far by sustained references to ‘whore’, ‘woman’,
as well as their corresponding conceptual domains.
The second needs to be evaluated according to the context informed by devastating
consequences of violence and lack of self-control.
I started by noting some grammatical data referring to the value of the inflected verb,
implying the Seer’s affiliation with the oppressed, respectively, those whose blood quench
the intoxicative thirst of the Great Whore. I continued with contouring the attitude of
Christians. At the same time alluding at some of God’s attributes, such as steadfastness the
verse brings about yet another gynomorphic identification of the Great Whore.
In accordance with the previous analyses, the corporeal dimension confers unity as well as
continuity to the earlier portrayals.
Introduced in relationship with the inhabitants and kings of the earth, as well as with the
Beast, now her relationship expands to at least one new group, nominalized in this verse as
saints and witnesses to Jesus. It seems they are so obvious in what they represent, that the
angel will never explain these.
The relational characterization of the Great Whore reveals an antagonistic stance with the
group whose blood she drinks to inebriation.
Given the fact that the Great Whore is the focus of the image of the ‘drunken’ woman, the
formulation ‘drunk with the blood of the witnesses’ was analyzed both within the
Apocalypse, as well as in an extended context that is most certainly informed by the
apocalyptic writing.
At the level of the Apocalypse, the image continues the various expressions of the vision
concerning the metaphor of intoxication. At the same time, this is new and unique when
considered at the macro level of the Bible.
In the analysis above, it was shown how the metaphor of drinking is constantly
reinterpreted in vv. 2 and 6. It is defocused from the inhabitants of the earth onto the
Great Whore and these additional elements aid in deepening the levels of meaning.
Its figurative understanding entails references to different contexts informed by sorcery
and persecution. In the latter reference, Whore’s arrogant vices result in possible
oppression of God’s bound servants.
314
The Great Whore has not only inebriated the inhabitants of the earth, now she is drunk
with what are possibly her own acts of violence.
The violent aspect provided by v.6 is stressed in its entirety, precisely because it adds
another aspect to the Great Whore’s exertion of power materialized in the sexual, political,
creational, as well as cultic or religious dimension.
Conversely, this power pairs with vulnerability, according to the perspective one takes.
The gender-informed interest questioned the Great Whore’s direct culpability in procuring
the blood to the extent that violence was understood as rhetorical in function. A distance
from the text is thus adequately imposed aiming to reduce the emotional impact of the
image purported by v.6 on Christian readers.
The need for a corrective understanding of how violence is employed with the description
of the Great Whore was mentioned.
With the blood
The source of the Whore’s inebriation, respectively blood occurs twice with the two
groups, being linked by the conjunction καί.
There were two issues discussed previously with this formulation. Besides the ambiguous
construction that the text offers, which were discussed previously,1027 I would like to add a
further semantically related issue that needs to be evaluated.
The usage of the verb μεθύω with the preposition ἐκ followed by the genitive is rather
Hebrew than Greek in formulation.1028
This is another example when alimentary imagery1029 is connected with death (or life) in
the Apocalypse, depending on the context in which such image operates.
1027
Cf. the introductory part to this verse.
1028
The Greek would usually employ the proposition ἀπό. (Aune, Revelation 17-22, 909: The LXX notes the
latter usage with Deut 32:42, Isa 34:7, Jer 26:10, Psalm 35:91, Sir 1:16).
Other variants include τῳ αἷματι, and τοῦ αἵματος.
Whereas the latter variant is a correction in the classical usage of the verb, the other one represents a more
radical rendition of the dative of instrument, in the Greek Hellenistic use (cf. Eph 5:18). (Smalley, Revelation
to John, 421; Aune, Revelation 17-22, 909).
1029
Throughout the Apocalypse, alimentary references to water (22:1.7), or fruits (18:14, 22:2), are life-giving
and life-sustaining, being found in abundance with the description of the New Jerusalem, in contrast with
meat offered to idols (2:20), but also wine (14:8.10, 16:19, 17:2, 18:3), impurities of abominations (14:8,
17:4), as well as blood, that are detrimental to all creatures and human beings altogether. A contrastive point
to what was mentioned earlier represents 19:17-18, where at the heavenly banquet, the birds of heaven are
invited to eat the flesh of the various groups, previously depicted as opposing God.
315
Just like in Jezebel’s case, in which eating εἰδωλόθυτα brought about immediate physical
danger1030 for the one pursuing such practice, drinking has the same disastrous
consequences.
The Great Whore drinks blood as if it were wine.
It was suggested wine –οἶνος and blood –αἷμα be conjoined, possibly due to a natural
association “since red wine would look like blood.”1031
In the following, I will present the meaning, implications and the extent of the metaphor of
intoxication as presented in v. 6a, having blood as its source.
The concept of blood has been symbolic of certain powers in the Ancient World, combining
ideas of “war, destruction and death, and thus crosses the lines of different concepts of
sacrifice.”1032
Further, blood is used to denote the colour red (6:12, 16:3.4). It is also an indicator of an
eschatological catastrophe such as ‘hail’ and ‘fire’ (8:7), the ‘moon becoming like blood’
(6:12), affecting bodies of water (8:8.9, 11:6 and 16:3.4).1033
In the Apocalypse, blood carries both a positive and a negative connotation, both as
representing life and death. As a result, it can associate with following Christ, expressed as
undergoing some sort of suffering, but it can also connote with punishment (14:20).1034
The latter interpretative option includes the intratextual reference to Apocalypse 17:6,
respectively 16:6: “because they shed the blood of saints and prophets, you have given
them blood to drink. It is what they deserve” –ὅτι αἷμα ἁγίων καὶ προφητῶν ἐξέχεαν καὶ
αἷμα αὐτοῖς [δ]έδωκας πιεῖν, ἄξιοί εἰσιν.
Because this image will be employed more than once in the Apocalypse, I am comparing it
against two other occurrences, respectively, the almost similar phrasing in 18:24, on the
one hand and on the other hand, Great Whore’s the state of mind of the as a result of
consuming blood.
First, the difference between 16:6 (the blood of the saints and the prophets) and 18:24 (the
blood of prophets and saints, and of all those who have been slain on Earth) is the larger
scale of Babylon’s atrocious acts, which are registered at a cosmological scale.
Second, the same line of ideas accommodates the image of the Great Whore being drunk
with “the blood of the saints and of the witnesses of Jesus (17:6, cf. 18:24) and that blood
1030
Duff, Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing, 74.
1031
Osborne, Revelation, 613. Cf. Räpple, The Metaphor of the City, 124.
1032
1033
Thompson, The Book of Revelation, 51.
1034
Cf. Johannes Behm, s.v. haíma, in: TDNT, 1:172-177.
316
is exacted from her hand by judgment (19:2) and destruction (18:21-24),”1035 for God
avenges bloodshed.
Unlike the reference in 17:6, where blood appears to have an inebriating effect, in the
other instances, those whom blood had been given to drink, are in this way punished, since
“the drinking of the blood [without drunkenness] is a punishment and for the creatures of
the sea is fatal”.1036
The image of being ‘drunk with blood’ is unique in the Apocalypse.1037 In understanding the
implications of the metaphor of intoxication, some exegetes have expanded their research
horizon in order to incorporate the classical background1038 of the image, as well as the
Hebrew1039 tradition.
With regard to the latter variant, there could be two directions in the interpretation of this
image. Either that “blood belongs to the divine sphere, is life given by God (Lev 7:11). In
that sense, the harlot’s drunkenness suggests the violent act of taking away life given by
God.”1040 As a result, the judgment/punishment scheme applies perfectly, having as result
the perpetrator’s own loss of life. The image could also be transferred onto ‘saints and
witnesses’, where ‘life’ could imply ‘loss’ as consequence for whoever turns away from
God.
Alternatively, such image could allude to blood as source of contamination.1041 Such an
observation would situate the interpreter in the context of the moral evaluation of
transgressions that operate with concepts such as ‘clean’/‘unclean’. In this framework,
blood implies an impious trespassing of the boundaries between ‘sacred’ and ‘profane’.
1035
Thompson, The Book of Revelation, 50.
1036
1037
One should keep in mind the distinction between the Whore’s intoxication with blood and the
intoxication of those she corrupts with her wine.
1038
Swete, Commentary on Revelation, 217; Charles, Revelation, 2:66, Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John, 694.
Also Cf. Aune, Revelation 17-22, 937; Osborne, Revelation, 613; Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St.
John, 490; Smalley, Revelation to John, 432.
1039
Duff, Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing, 76 (identical quote in Duff, Who Rides the Beast?, 92) quotes “The
consumption of blood […] is taboo in the Jewish tradition […]. However, in this case the blood is doubly
defiling because it is human blood.” (Author’s emphasis)
1040
Räpple, The Metaphor of the City, 91. As an argument for this claim, she refers back to an article by D. J.
McCarthy, The Symbolism of Blood Sacrifice, in: Journal for Biblical Literature, 88/1969, 166-176. Cf. Duff,
Who Rides the Beast?, 76.
1041
Lupieri, A Commentary on the Apocalypse of John, 265. This idea is very much supported by writings
pertaining to the Qumran community. For the text he quotes, refer to page 266 of the same commentary.
317
Ancient writers1042 have employed such expression. Literary topoi such as ‘drinking blood’,
also ‘becoming drunk with blood’ feature quite frequently with them.
With these authors, the expression being ‘drunk with blood’ has brutal military undertones.
It concentrates images of siege and devastation of lands and territories.
The military and political implications mentioned above could reverberate in the
Apocalypse in the following manner.
Commentators, who opt for a more historical approach to this image and who adopt the
perspective of the Christians identify the most probable historical target in John’s time,
namely different expressions of ‘Rome’s rule’ as implied by this metaphor.
They find in this image a politically charged symbol for Rome as the oppressor of
Christians1043 and suggest various tensed historical moments that bring to memory the
regrettable event of the Neronic massacres against the Christians.1044
To sum up, in this manner, the image shifts semantically from an eschatological-
redemptive frame in the Apocalypse to a more political dimension. Occasionally, it bears
also economic aspects.
All the above observations, as well as other implications will be explored in detail below.
Implications of the metaphor
The metaphor of intoxication, both in OT and NT intertexts connotes with distress, which
may or may not include persecution and/or judgment, sometimes the latter as a result of
the former.
1042
Josephus, Bellum Judaicum 5.343-344, Philo, Legum Allegoriae 3.202, but also Cicero Philippics 2.29,
Plinius the Elder, Naturalis Historiae, 14.22.28, or Suetonius Tiberius, 59.
1043
Since this opinion is beyond dispute among commentators, and due to space limitation, I would suggest
only a few proponents of this interpretative path: Bauckham, The Climax of Prophecy, Harry O. Maier, Staging
the Gaze: Early Christian Apocalypses and Narrative Self-Representation, in: Harvard Theological Review
90/1997, 131-154, here 149-150; Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza, Babylon the Great: A Rhetorical-Political
Reading of Revelation 17-18, in: David L. Barr, The Reality of the Apocalypse, 243-270, 262, eadem, The Power
of the Word, 137. Also, Rossing, The Choice, 86.
On the history of interpretation, see Boxall, The Many Faces of Babylon the Great, 51-68.
1044
Charles, Revelation 2:65, Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John, 694, also Prigent, Commentary on the
Apocalypse of St. John, 490, Rissi, Die Verführung, 56, cf. Susan Garrett, Revelation, in: Women’s Bible
Commentary, 469-474, 473.
Another interpretative variant considers Domitian’s persecutions. For details, see below under the
Implications of the Metaphor.
318
In the Apocalypse, tribulation –θλῖψις (1:9, 2:9.10, 7:14) –as motif appears constantly
together with its cognates.
It occurs because of the word and the bearing witness to God and Jesus –διὰ τὸν λόγον τοῦ
θεοῦ καὶ διὰ τὴν μαρτυρίαν (6:9), usually resulting in death (11:7, 12:17, 13:7).
The groups who are presented in some sort of distress are prophets (οἱ προφῆται), saints
(οἱ ἅγιοι), witnesses (οἱ μάρτυρες), slaves (οἱ δοῦλοι, cf. 1:1, 2:20, 7:3, 10:7, 11:18, 15:3,
19:2.5, 22:3.6 ), as well as [souls of the] ones slaughtered –ψυχὰς τῶν ἐσφαγμένων (6:9,
17:6, 18:24) who are required endurance –ὑπομονή –mentioned in 1:9.
Being the only of the weapon of the oppressed,1045 endurance is defined as “a radical
attitude, which excludes compromise […] even if in some cases it leads to becoming a
martyr […] due to their (i.e. people’s) keeping God’s commission of God and witnessing
him.”1046
In the Apocalypse, endurance is connected with the dimension of time. The cry of the two
witnesses of 6:10: “Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long will it be before you judge and
avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?” is responded in the next verse by the
fact that they to wait a little longer –ἔτι χρόνον μικρόν, although in 10:6, we are informed
that there will be no delay –ὅτι χρόνος οὐκέτι ἔσται. Hope is thus a key element that
permeates the text of the Apocalypse, enforced through endurance and perseverance in
faith.
This attitude represents not only the complete abandonment of God’s chosen to divine
providence, for God’s judgments are holy and true (19:2) –ἀληθιναὶ καὶ δίκαιαι αἱ κρίσεις
αὐτοῦ. In this framework, God is acting as a δεσπότης –sovereign, in accordance with Rev
21:3-4, “he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and
crying and pain will be no more”. 1047
Though the Apocalypse as a whole reinforces on numerous occasions the Christian

commitment to stand vertically in face of persecution, little evidence adduced by historical
data actually supports the claim that the book was written as a Christian response to
Domitian’s persecutions.1048
It is for this reason that Adela Yarbro Collins coined the term “perceived crisis” that
describes a feeling of alienation as a result of separation of Christians in some communities
1045
1046
Nicklas, Pantokrator, 1-7.
1047
Cf. Nicklas, Pantokrator.
1048
Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce in John’s Apocalypse, 34-38.
319
from the synagogue, as well their tensed relationships with the Gentile neighbours and
conflictual issues having an economic base.1049
She is not the only one who thinks persecution could also have economic undertones.
Beale argues that “the persecution of saints took the form of ostracism from trade.”1050
This orientation is particularly valid with the various condemnatory expressions of
Babylon’s wealth.
Rev 18, which was alluded at previously with the description of the attire and bejewelment
of the Great Whore (cf. 17:4) exemplifies more vividly the extent of economic prosperity to
which the political expression of the Great Whore, respectively, Babylon has reached.
In another order of ideas, in the Apocalypse, persecution of God’s elect is paired with
judgment.
As such, it connotes quite freely not only with the unjust suffering of the ones bearing
witness to God and Jesus, but also with the just suffering of the persecutors, who were not
fred from their sins by his blood (1:5). This is the basis according to which the just are
promised entrance in the true, real and all-encompassing life with God and Christ. The
Book of life is the book of the slaughtered Lamb.1051 In this way suffering receives a deeper
dimension.
The role reversal, where the persecutor is being persecuted is circumscribed to the motif of
the justice of retribution as Nicklas observes.1052
Subsequently, one of the reasons for Babylon’s punishment, respectively because in it “was
found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slaughtered on earth”
(18:24) will be paired with the fact that Babylon is about to drink the cup of the wine of
God’s wrath (16:19, cf. 14:8, 18:6). Moreover, she will be subjected to a heinous death in
17:16, when she will be will made desolate and naked, her flesh devoured and burnt with
fire.
The interpretation of punishment of persecutors shows similitude with Isa 49:29:1053 οἱ
θλίψαντές (…) πίονται ὡς οἶνον νέον τὸ αἷμα αὐτῶν καὶ μεθυσθήσονται – “your oppressors
(…) shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine” (cf. Isa 34:5-7, Jer 26:10, also Judith
1049
Yarbro Collins, Crisis and Catharsis, 84-89. Cf. Thompson, Revelation, 55, 57.
1050
1051
Nicklas, Freiheit oder Prädestination? Also, Udo Schnelle, Theologie des Neuen Testaments (Uni
Taschenbücher), Göttingen: Vanderhoeck & Ruprecht, 2014, 723.
1052
Cf. Nicklas, Pantokrator.
1053
Contra Lupieri, A Commentary on the Apocalypse of John, 264: “The text specifies at the outset that this is
the blood of the holy ones and […] the blood of the witnesses; it is not, therefore, the blood of the enemies
nor of Babylon herself (which makes it impossible to see this passage as a paralle to the often-quoted verses
from Isa 49:26 […] or Isa 34:7, where “the land [of the Idumeans] will be drunk on [their] blood”). ”
320
6:4, or Ezek 39:18-191054). At the sacrificial feast feature gruesome examples of eating flesh
and drinking blood of princes of the earth as if it were the blood of rams, of lambs, and of
goats, of bulls, all of them being fatlings of Bashan.
In this context, the intoxication with blood relates to God’s castigating the wicked (cf. Deut
32:42, Zach 9:15).
The role reversal occurs not only in the retributive scheme, but also in the manner in which
death is perceived.
For God’s chosen, death does not represent an end. The idea of resurrection expresses and
contains hope.1055
In this interpretative frame, the Whore’s fate is far more radical. Not only that her death by
torture will be certain, it will also be final, devoid of any prospects for the future.
Considering unjust suffering as preceding death, the logic of the book is quite simple: since
Christ was the firstborn of Messianic community (12:5), for those who keep the
commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus – τῶν τηρούντων τὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ
θεοῦ καὶ ἐχόντων τὴν μαρτυρίαν Ἰησοῦ(12:17) death is necessary. Saints conquer by
emulating the Lamb, not the lion.1056
They are called victors, or overcomers1057 and so their death is not in vain.
A series of eternal promises counterbalances death. The promises include permission to
eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God (2:7), the crown of life (2:10), the fact
that they will not be harmed by the second death (2:11). Also, they will be given water as a
gift from the spring of the water of life (21:6), hidden manna, a white stone, and a new
name written on the stone (2:17), authority over the nations (2:26), white garments (3:4.5).
Because saints are worthy (3:4), their name will feature in the book of life (3:5). They will
be spared from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to test the inhabitants
of the earth (3:10).
Moreover, they will be made a pillar in the temple of God, on which it will be written the
name of God, and the name of the city of God, the new Jerusalem that comes down from
my God out of heaven, and a new name (3:12), as well as granting them the privilege ‘to sit
down with God on the divine throne, as Jesus also overcame and sat down with the Father
on the throne’ (3:21). Especially the last formulation implies the fact that this emulation is
necessary.
1054
Aune, Revelation 17-22, 937; Kowalski, Die Rezeption des Propheten Ezechiel, 183.
1055
Yarbro Collins, Crisis and Catharsis, 69, 152.
1056
Johns, Lamb Christology, 190.
The Lamb is often presented by association with ‘slaughter’, either in the form of a participial adjective
(ἐσφαγμένον 5:6. 12), or as part of an acknowledged sacrifice (ἐσφάγης 5:9).
1057
The promise is usually formulated in the singular having as referent ὁ νικῶν (2:10.11.26, 3:5.12.21, 6:2,
21:7) and probably has as model Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed (2:13).
321
From the above, it is clear that the Great Whore contours very well as an antithetic image
of any of the groups qualified above.
With this perspective in mind, the Whore’s death is a far crueler fate than apparently the
death of the saints and witnesses.
Whereas the latter group will rejoice in the fulfillment of God’s promises, the Great Whore
will experience a full measure from God’s wrath in the following (cf. 17:16; 18).
Moreover, “heaven and saints and apostles and prophets” are called to rejoice over her
death,1058 also by means of signing a heavenly hymn (19:1.6.7).
The Great Whore is not only punished in a cruel manner, but her punishment may also be
inferred from the metaphor of intoxication featuring in her description.
The OT background of the apocalyptic image of drunkenness displays to a certain extent
similarity in terms of motifs and associations. The main similarity resides in the fact that
both images are interpreted metaphorically.
The distinction however is that generally the OT applies this violent measure to the forces
opposing God, the wicked.
Firstly, it was established previously that the image of drunkenness in this verse is
employed figuratively, possibly inspired by Isa 51:21 “drunk but not with wine” –μεθύουσα
οὐκ ἀπὸ οἴνου.
Secondly, prescriptions concerning bloodguilt or any unlawful killing feature quite a
number of times in the OT. Usually such transgressions are expiated only by the blood of
the perpetrators (cf. Num 35:31-34, Deut 19:11-13, 21:1-9, Ezek 33:6-9).
Thirdly, the two main associations pertaining to judgment (cf. 17:1.2) are more pregnant
than the ones considering persecutions.
It was specified previously that the image above can also reverberate with a political
dimension, in the forms of oracles of doom, which is the case also in the OT.
Of the oracles of doom, a relevant one is the one against Nineveh (Nah 3:7-11). In v. 11,
among other measures of punishment, the following is being mentioned: καὶ σὺ
μεθυσθήσῃ –“you will be become drunk”.
Similarly, Lam 4:21 foretells the destruction of the Edomites, who triumphed in Jerusalem's
fall employing castigatory measures such as becoming drunk, as well as associating this
state of mind with barring oneself.
Just as a side note, I mentioned numerous times so far that the political dimension could
also be encountered with the destruction of the Great Whore, especially in her geopolitical
personification as Babylon, prominent mostly with Apocalypse 18.
1058
322
In this political dimension, the association between a ‘city’ and ‘blood’ as emerging from
18:24 could possibly allude to the construct ‘city of blood’ –πόλις τῶν αἱμάτων –familiar
with Ezekiel 22:2 (38:19ff.), having Jerusalem as referent.
In the messages concerning Judah and Jerusalem, a catalogue of sins is revealed with the
purpose of showing the appropriateness of God’s judgment: whoever is guilty of bloodshed
will be punished.
In the same verse, ‘defilement by idols’ follows the accusation of bloodshed. Either
identical pairing or variants (e.g. adultery) of these motifs will be subsequently repeated in
Ezek 23:45 (cf. Ezek 16:38) inviting to various expressions of idol worshipping.1059
Two observations emerge from the above: with political reverberations, the metaphor of
inebriation with blood in the OT occurs in a gendered form, bearing explicit reference to
cities as women. Also, the generic identification allows for sexual imagery of adultery to
refer to idol worship.
These constitutive elements permeated by generic undertones via intertextual connections
that are useful for understanding of the various tableaus of the vision in Apocalypse 17.
These elements are not new for the analysis, since they featured on several occasions by
now.
The gender-informed interest also highlighted various expressions of sexual imagery,
discussed previously with reference to ‘whore’, ‘fornicate’ and ‘fornication’. It also
encompassed the implications for idol worship.
These intertextual connections open up the range of possible associations informed by
categories of ‘clean’/‘unclean’, mentioned already in this analysis by cognates of βδέλυγμ–.
Such expansion represents another vast conceptual domain dominant in the Apocalypse. It
includes ‘persecution’ and ‘punishment’ from the OT context, as well as the
‘contamination’ resulting from blood consumption.
Cleanliness corresponds with moral rigorousness and bears cultic undertones. The Great
Whore is a character lacking these traits altogether.
Although the uncleanliness of the Great Whore by drinking blood of saints and witnesses to
Jesus is not explicitly alluded at, with this image, John may be recalling the readers “the
Levitical prescriptions against drinking blood as an abomination and evoking general
taboos against cannibalism (after all this is human blood).”1060
Numerous prescriptions in the OT warn against the fact that blood is not to be consumed
(Gen 9:4, Lev 3:17, 7:26, 17:1) for blood makes earth unclean (Num 35:53, Psalm 106:38 cf.
Rev 19:2). Precisely the latter connotation brings the cultic perspective into the limelight.
1059
Moyise, The Old Testament in the Book of Revelation, 72; Albert Vanhoye, L’Utilisation du livre d’Ézéchiel
dans L’Apocalypse in: Biblica 43/1962, 436-476, 475. Cf. Kowalski, Die Rezeption des Propheten Ezechiel, 183.
1060
DeSilva, Seeing Things, 207.
323
The explanation for such a prohibition rests on Barr’s assumption that purity notions
pervade within the above image of intoxication by blood.
The human body replicates the social body, and has as a result the expulsion of the one
consuming blood (Lev 7:26-27) from the community.1061
In addition to that, the association between moral laxity materialized in sexual promiscuity
and drunkenness is not at all new here (cf. Gal 5:19-21).
Examples in the OT prove it manifested as indecent exposure (Gen 9:21, Hab 2:15) or
activity (Gen 19:31-38).1062
The Apocalypse lists those who are barred the entrance into the kingdom of God –βασιλεία
θεοῦ. Among them are those who practice the works of the flesh –τὰ ἔργα τῆς σαρκός.
These are in actuality, the chief accusations found with the Great Whore, namely
fornication – πορνεία (cf. 17:1.2.4.5), impurity – ἀκαθαρσία (cf. 17:4.5.), sorcery –
φαρμακεία (cf. 18), drunkenness –μέθαι (cf. 17:6), carousing –κῶμοι (cf. 17:6).
“The strange blending of ‘blood’ with the effects of wine suggests that Babylon engaged in
this slaughter for her own wanton amusement (getting a ‘rush’, as it were, out of doing
injury to God’s friends).”1063
These are examples in which the associations with OT expand the levels of the
comprehension of this metaphor in the apocalypse, while concomitantly reinscribing of
certain motifs used so far.
Other implications
In the Apocalypse, the image of ‘drinking blood’ (17:6, 18:24) is antithetical to that of
“drinking water” (7:17, 21:6, 22:1.17).
Unlike the atoning character of Jesus’ sacrifice (1:5, 5:9, cf. 7:14) and its positive
consequences for Christians, with the actual context, drinking blood brings death in a
manner totally opposite to that of God’s followers.
As a result, in the New Jerusalem “the deadly springs poisoned by blood in Rev 16:4 are
replaced by life-giving springs of water.”1064
In contrast to the Beast group, fresh, pure water of life that flows through the New
Jerusalem is what saints are promised.1065 This could occur in accordance with the overall
1061
Barr, Women in Myth and History, 58, ft. 10.
1062
1063
DeSilva, Seeing Things, 207. Cf. Beale, The Book of Revelation, 860 for mention of the verb connoting
“revelry and joy that Babylon expressed through its persecution”. Similarly, Sals, Die Biographie, 370 notes
the following: “Diejenigen, die andere töten sind (blut)berauscht, so dass sie besonders aggressiv sind.”
1064
324
ascetic dimension of the Apocalypse. This dimension was mentioned previously in the
study with preference for white bright garments as opposed to the Whore’s colourful and
expensive clothes.1066
In another line of interpretation, the metaphor is intoxication with blood brings naturally to
the exegete’s mind the most famous pairing of blood with wine as in ‘blood of grapes’ (cf.
Gen 49:11, Deut 32:14, Sir 39:26, 50:15)1067 evoking resemblances to the Eucharistic event
(Mark 14:24, par.).
Subsequently, it was suggested that the Whore could parodying the Lord’s Supper by
means of holding her cup. The association between wine and blood would correspond to
“communing with a poisoned chalice”.1068
Before analyzing the corollary of the association enunciated above, I would like to mention
the fact that the act of parodying was also mentioned with the sitting posture of the Great
Whore (vv. 2.3), as well tackled in the anticipatory reference to her speaking of herself as
‘queen’ (18:7). In the cases where it was mentioned, it was accordingly refuted.
Nevertheless, the rationale behind this particular association rests primarily on the Great
Whore holding a cup in her hand. Additionally, the content of her cup, which reverberated
with cultic associations (i.e. βδέλυγμα) was part of a larger alimentary metaphor,
reinscribing drinking as deadly.
Even if the Lord’s Supper mixes concepts enunciated above, namely drinking wine in
remembrance of Jesus’ blood, it gives neither the place, nor the occasion to drink as per
the antibanquet of the Whore.1069
With this Eucharistic parallel, the valence, significance and function of drinking blood
alters. It follows a logic familiar in the Apocalypse also with other elements presented with
the Great Whore, namely ‘what is divinely ruled is no abomination for human beings’.
The function of drinking ‘blood’ is different in the Apocalypse. It brings death upon Christ’s
followers. In contrast with the Last Supper, blood connotes with eternal life.
Additionally, regarding the divine proclamation in 18:6 “the drinking of blood is a
punishment by God (in a telling contrast to the significance of drinking Christ’s blood in
ritual remembrance of his death).”1070
1065
Carey, A Man’s Choice, 155. However, he corrects the above mentioned textual references in that in the
Apocalypse, it is not specified textually that the saints drink this water (cf. ft. 27 of the same study).
1066
1067
1068
Campbell, Antithetic Imagery, 100. Also cf. Adolf Pohl, Die Offenbarung Johannes, 2. Teil, (Wuppertaler
Studienbibel), Wuppertal: R. Brockhaus, 1983, 199 „die Hure…fordert auf ihrer Weise zum Abendmahl auf“.
This pairing is also familiar with Duff, Who Rides the Beast?, 102-107, especially, 104.
1069
1070
325
By presentation of the anti-Eucharistic imagery, the readers could be forced into making a
choice for participating in the real Eucharist.1071 Such a choice is thus mutually exclusive
with approving the Whore’s character as emerging from this verse.
On the whole, the image discussed above is of particular importance for the current
interpretation. It also incorporates notions of authority, as well as gender.
The manner in which the Great Whore challenges God is by now notorious with the vision
of Apocalypse 17.
Starting with her posture, associations, arrayal and pursuing with the measurable
consequences of her actions, the challenge is set at the authority level. Moreover, the
Whore’s authority is thus generically constructed. It incorporates a feminine dimension –a
far larger and more complex variant1072 of Jezebel.
In a rather mythical approach, the gendered character of the Great Whore is depicting an
instance when the Terrible Mother is in need for blood to be appeased, soaked with in
order to be fruitful.1073
Summary
The above analysis centred on the implications of the metaphor of intoxication (with blood)
as another instance of alimentary image in the Apocalypse –yet not from the perspective of
inebriated, but concerning the means to reach inebriation: blood is drunk like wine and is
drunk in such a quantity that inebriates the one drinking it.1074
It may very well be that the price for the power and luxury the Great Whore displays is
blood.
Because this is a vast and known concept in the Antiquity, the metaphor’s connotations are
exceptionally rich, having both positive and negative values attached to it.
Being drunk with blood is not, however an image proper to the Apocalypse.
It is featured in the Hebrew Bible, where it conjoins images of distress, persecution,
judgment, but reverberates also into the cultic area, maintaining overall the shameful
character of the person doing it.
1071
1072
‘Larger’ by the extent of her actions involving kings and inhabitants of the earth, as well saints and
witnesses of Christ. ‘Complex’ by not only including aspects of immoral behaviour, but also reverberating to
the cultic, as well as political domain. All these dimensions were discussed previously, so insisting on them
would be pointless.
1073
1074
326
In contemporary vernacular literature, the metaphor of drinking blood is as well
commonplace. Here, it usually takes on a political dimension. It retains the aspect of
persecution, by applying to the ruling empire during military territorial sieges. In addition,
it may imply economic aspects.
All the above aspects could very well apply to the Apocalypse. They could relate with the
various and detailed descriptions of the punishment of the wicked Babylon, materialized in
her fall, as a result of direct or indirect persecutions. Not only she falls, but also she is
causing others to lapse, respectively the inhabitants and kings of the earth.
When bearing economic undertones, it could also imply a temporary exclusion of the
Christians from trade, without trial or special accusation, these are not allowed to
participate in the commerce of the empire.
In a more eschatologically oriented scheme of retribution, the image alters significantly the
value ascribed to death. Subsequently, although necessary to emulate Christ, death of
saints is unlike the Whore’s, not final, but linked to a series of divine promises. Christians’
death situates suffering because of Christ in a new perspective.
Cleanliness was yet again an issue brought into discussion, bearing the conclusion that the
Great Whore lacks any references to sanctity.
By conjoining motifs well known, these aspects unite to reinscribe the disgraceful character
of the Great Whore in a vicious circle, not new to the readers. Moral laxity and sexual
promiscuity together with its addictive effects are reprimanded throughout the Bible.
Other implications of this metaphor included references to drinking water as opposed to
drinking blood in the Apocalypse –possibly valued as part of the ascetic character of the
book as whole.
The act of Eucharistic parody ends in death instead of eternal life.
The mythical approach was also mentioned, in an attempt to link the figure of the Great
Whore with that of the Terrible Mother.
[blood of] the saints and the blood of the witnesses to Jesus
The source of the disgraceful Whore’s state of mind is the “blood of the saints and the
blood of the witnesses to Jesus” –ἐκ τοῦ αἵματος τῶν ἁγίων, ἐκ τοῦ αἵματος τῶν μαρτύρων
Ἰησοῦ (17:6), perceived in this case as victims.1075
As mentioned in the introductory analysis of this verse, there are two options of translating
the victims of the Great Whore: either as two groups or as one.
1075
327
Also mentioned was the fact that most commentators with approaches belonging to the
historical-critical method opt for one group, considering the second denomination as an
extended apposition of the first, “for the saints whose blood was shed were by that very
circumstance also witnesses to the Faith.” 1076
They advance an epexegetical reading of the two noun phrases, i.e. “with the blood of the
saints that is with the blood of those killed for their loyalty to Jesus.”1077 Such an option
considers this phrase “‘a gloss added during the final revision of the Revelation, […] an
allegorical interpretation of the drunkenness of the woman based on the shift of
metaphors.”1078
Attempts have been made to identify the group both within the vision dynamics, as well as
within the dramatic scenario of the Apocalypse.
From what could be inferred from the context, they are positioned in an antagonistic
relationship with the Great Whore. As such, they are not for sure either associates of the
kings of the earth, nor related to the inhabitants of the earth.
Understood collectively, saints stand for a community just like kings and inhabitants.
They are however defined in terms of their belonging, irrespective if we take the
subjective, or the objective reading of the genitive Ἰησοῦ.
By their very nature, they belong to Jesus, to whom they testify, in whose suffering they
partake and for whom they die.
In terms of appurtenance, they can be also identified as “the rest of the woman’s seed who
are described in 12:17 as those keeping the commandments of God and bearing testimony
to Jesus (cf. 6:9, 11:7, 12:11, 19:10, 20:4).”1079
For the current study, I am interested more in their function within the Apocalypse, as well
as to what extent they aid in delineating the character of the Great Whore.
Rev 16:6 lists victims of persecution as ‘saints and prophets’, because of whom the
inhabitants of the earth have incurred upon them the seven bowls of wrath.
In 17:6 ‘saints and witnesses’ are mentioned.
The question that arises is whether one could equate the two categories, respectively
‘prophets’ and ‘witnesses’.
The answer can be formulated ifconsidering the textual reference in Rev 11:3, where God
gives witnesses the authority to prophesy –kαὶ δώσω τοῖς δυσὶν μάρτυσίν μου καὶ
1076
Swete, Commentary on Revelation, 214. For an identical perspective cf. Charles, Revelation, 2: 66.
1077
1078
1079
Tavo, Woman, Mother and Bride, 339, ft, 159, cf. Rissi, Die Verführung, 56.
328
προφητεύσουσιν – so these two groups could be used interchangeably.1080 As a result, by
17:6, they are not new for the readers of the Apocalypse.
To conclude with, although in Apocalypse 17:6 the Great Whore is inebriated with the
blood of the saints and witnesses –implicitly guilty of bloodshed –this image may be
reminiscent of 16:5-7.
The distinction between 16:5-7 and 17:6 is that the agents carrying out bloodshed are no
longer the ‘dwellers on earth’ referenced in 6:10, but the Great Whore, if one considers the
image in terms of the effects.
The similarity with 16:5-7 however, lies in the fact that such transgression against the
people of God will not be overlooked, since the almighty God –ὁ θεὸς ὁ παντοκράτωρ, just
and holy –δίκαιος […] καὶ ὁ ὅσιος is judging them –ἔκρινας.
Similarly, God’s true and just judgments –ἀληθιναὶ καὶ δίκαιαι αἱ κρίσεις – will be praised –
ἀληθιναὶ καὶ δίκαιαι αἱ κρίσεις αὐτοῦ by employing the same vocabulary in 19:2. This
occurs with reference to judging the Great Whore –ἔκρινεν (cf. 18:20) τὴν πόρνην τὴν
μεγάλην, who corrupted the earth with her fornication. God has avenged on her the blood
of his servants – ἐξεδίκησεν τὸ αἷμα τῶν δούλων αὐτοῦ ἐκ χειρὸς αὐτῆς.
The textual parallel with 16:5-7 thus paves the way and creates an expectation horizon for
what is to come, concerning the fate of the Great Whore as divinely ordained. Along the
process, the motif of the Great Whore’s indictment, also the gravity of the Great Whore’s
acts of violence will be developed. These serve to confirm the expectation horizon already
contoured in 17:1.
In the following, the group is analyzed individually with the purpose to better understand
how the judgment against the Great Whore is passed and to which extent it is justified.
Saints
First, the blood of the saints (οἱ ἅγιοι) is mentioned.

Holiness is fundamental with regard to the Levitical prescriptions: “You shall be holy
(ἅγιοι), for I, the LORD, your God am holy” (Lev 19:2, cf. 11:44, 20:26), reverberating with
Matt 5:48: “Be perfect (τέλειοι), therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect”.
It is thus important that God’s elect share in the same category (Lev 10:3, Deut 7:6).
‘Saints’ occur in the Apocalypse 25 times.
When used in the plural, they denote the redeemed community of God (5:8, 8:3.4, 11:18,
13:7.10, 14:12, 16:6, 17:6, 18:20.24, 19:8, 20:6.9, 22:11). This category belongs to the
1080
Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, 336, 490.
329
Lamb, praying at the Heavenly Court (8:3.4). Their members engage in the battle against
the Beast (13:7)1081 and are victims of the Great Whore (17:6, 18:24).
The saints’ profile is determined by the very fact that the consecrate themselves to the
realization of the purposes of God.
The adjectival form ἅγιος, is the attribute of God (4:8, 6:10, cf. Amos 4:2, 1 Sam 6:20) of
the angels around God (14.10) and of the city coming down from heaven (21:2.10, 22:19).
As such, these are characterized by faith and perseverance (13:10, 14:12), as well as by
righteous acts. These supply the material for the bridal garments in (19:8).1082
For their capacities, God will avenge (16:6, 18:20), as well as fully reward (11:18) them. The
macarism at 20:6 will grant them, exemption from the second death, “they will be priests
of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years”.
Considering the list of the characters rejected from the new Jerusalem, as “the cowardly,
the faithless, the polluted, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and
all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second
death” (21:8), saints are blessed for entering Jerusalem.
Their purity or undefiled state qualifies the Saints for such a privilege.
In this respect,1083 Corrington Streete conjoins the saints, as descendants of the Woman
Clothed with the Sun representatives of an “ideal community”1084 with the undefiled
mentioned in 14:1-5.1085
Such identification rests on associations between ‘holiness’ and ‘purity’ contrasted with
phenomena like menstruation, sexual relations childbirth and death.1086 The observation
above makes the text of the Apocalypse especially problematic, at least from the
perspective of a gender-informed approach.
1081
The OT literary correspondent of the image of intoxication as presented above is found with Dan 7:21 (cf.
7:18). The saints are antagonists to the fourth beast, who is given authority to berate them (7:25). From their
waging war, the saints eventually overcome (7:22).
1082
This formulation completing the reference to the Bride’s garments as ‘fine linen, bright and pure’ –
βύσσινον λαμπρὸν καθαρόν, respectively ‘for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints’ –τὸ γὰρ
βύσσινον τὰ δικαιώματα τῶν ἁγίων ἐστίν is attributed the following meaning “The subjective genitive hints at
the saints’ refusal to compromise with Babylon’s norms, values, and beliefs. (Resseguie, The Revelation of
John: A Narrative Commentary, 235).
1083
Campbell, Antithetic Imagery, 90.
1084
Lynn Huber, Sexually Explicit? Re-reading Revelation’s 144,000 Virgins as a Response to Roman
Discourses, in: Journal of Men, Masculinities and Spirituality, vol. 2(1)/2008, 3-28, here 4. Available at
www.jmmsweb.org (last accessed 14.08.2011).
1085
1086
David A. deSilva, Clean and Unclean, in: Joel B. Green, Dictionary of Scripture and Ethics, Grand Rapids:
Baker Academic, 2011, 145-147, 145.
330
As the concept of holiness registered an evolution and transformation within Christianity,
from “a spiritual quality concerned with ethics, morality or religious faith” to “a distinctive
development […], the association of holiness with sexual abstinence”.1087
At least on one particular occasion, saints are problematized1088 in terms of gender,
especially when considering a certain formulation in the Apocalypse that Hanna Stenström
questions, respectively 14:4: ‘it is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for
they are virgins’ – οὗτοί εἰσιν οἳ μετὰ γυναικῶν οὐκ ἐμολύνθησαν, παρθένοι γάρ εἰσιν.
Since with 14:4, explicit reference is made to women as potentially defiling1089, one could
question whether women are women part of the saints, given the purity language1090
employed in the Apocalypse and if so, to what extent.
Stenström’s conclusion notes the paradox between the maleness of the undefiled and their
resemblance in behaviour1091 with the Good Woman. It is for this reason that the
Apocalypse is interested in formulating of Christian identity par excellence male. In this
formulation “women are only used to think with, as a means for expressing an
understanding of Self and of the Other.”1092
1087
Judith Romney Wegner, art. Leviticus, in: Women’s Bible Commentary, 40-48, 42.
1088
Contra Schüssler-Fiorenza, who envisions Apocalypse’s sexual language to express a conventional use:
‘women’ refer in 14:4-5 to the idolatry of the imperial cult. (Schüssler-Fiorenza, Vision of Just World, 14, 88).
For a different perspective cf. Yarbro Collins’ reading of the saints as partaking in a type of social radicalism,
entailing a boycott of Roman coinage, sexual abstinence and a readiness to embrace martyrdom. (Yarbro
Collins, Crisis and Catharsis, 124-134).
1089
Cf. Pippin, Apocalyptic Bodies, 125. According to her, the text displays a misogynist vision of the world,
having women, who are powerless, excluded from the kingdom of God.
1090
Hanna Stenström, They Have Not Defiled Themselves with Women… Christian Identity According to the
Book of Revelation, in: Feminist Companion to the Apocalypse of John, 33-54, 36. She delimits the boundaries
of pure and impure in the Apocalypse, by making reference to a semantic field encompassing on one extreme
(positive) adjectives such as ἅγιος, ἄμωμοι, ὅσιος, while on the other (negative) extreme, examples such as
κοινός ἀκάθαρτος, μολύνω, ῥυπαρὸς.
1091
By this, I mean the expectation of virginity to apply to a woman, and not a man. (Cf. Huber, Sexually
Explicit, 16).
1092
Stenström, They Have Not Defiled, 50-51. For contrast cf. Huber’s article, Sexually Explicit, where she
explores the rhetorical function for which the Apocalypse had such formulation. Among these, she mentions
the opposition to the imperial discourse that lauded and expected men to marry and bear children as part of
their masculine duty (p. 15); it is not women in their biological sex that are meant, but the feminine role (that
some men assumed) is that should be avoided (p.17); the formulation above is considered to encourage an
envisioning of the Revelation’s audience in a faithful relationship to the Lamb (p. 18), as well as anticipating
John’s vision of the community as the virginal Bride of the Lamb in Rev 19 and 21 (p. 19). Given the first-
century individual circumscribed by Roman’s visions on household (pg. 21), she perceives the formulation in
question concerning Revelation’s counter-cultural image of male virginity to be liberatory.
331
Although an intriguing question, the saints’ problematizing in terms of gender actually
exceeds the scope of the current study.
Nevertheless, without discussing in detail the generic aspect of the saints’ identity,
especially when conceived in purity terms. This point could be used to provide a further
incentive to support the negative perception of women in the Apocalypse.
Subsequently, the Great Whore occurs in the vision as gendered. Much more than
politicized symbol, its character is inscribed therefore to a rhetoric of demonization of
women, considered by their very nature corrupt.
The problem with such claim is that although it serves the above mentioned assumption
regarding the negativity in women’s perception, when dealt with at a larger scale in the
Apocalypse, such argument becomes reductionist.
It is for this reason that the saints’ generic issue was raised only to show its potential
implication for a gendered reading. The current academic endeavour opts for an inclusive
reading of ‘saints’, while insisting on the personal demonization of the Great Whore in
particular, in all her dimensions.
To conclude with, I would like to underline the fact that by virtue of semantics, saints
encompass in the Apocalypse a far larger category of denominations, than the one
explicitly denoted.
Nevertheless, when the generic character of the saints is considered, the implications of
the above mentioned formulation could pose a problem for the modern understanding as
well as for a gender-informed exegesis as shown previously. For the intents and purposes
of the current study, I favour an inclusive reading of ‘saints’.
Next we continue with the precise delineation of the ones, on whose blood the Great
Whore becomes inebriated.
Witnesses of Jesus
The epexegetical reference in this verse lists the witnesses to Jesus (οἱ μάρτυρες Ἰησοῦ).
Etymologically, the Greek noun μάρτυς means witness, being employed in a legal context.
At the moment of the writing of the Apocalypse, the concept did not yet have the technical
meaning of the actual ‘martyr’.1093
1093
Swete, Commentary on Revelation, 35: “It is tempting to translate μάρτυς by martyr […] but it may be
doubted whether the word had acquired a technical sense at the end of the first century […] in the NT, this
stage had not been reached, though the course of events was leading up to it.”
332
Mάρτυς lists a diachronistic1094 change of meaning –from witness to martyr. This does not
however render the original meaning obsolete.
In the Apocalypse, the semantic field of ‘witness, witnessing, to bear testimony’ relates to
the verbal communication of a message1095, be it through Jesus, angel or human beings,
often confronted with the opposition from the Beast and the inhabitants of the earth
(11:9-10).
Jesus is the object of the saint’s proclamation and testimony –μαρτυρία (1:2.9, 6.9, 11:7,
12:11.17, 19:10, 20:4), who is not denied even in the hour of great tribulation (2:3, 6:9,
12:11).1096
He represents the prototype of ‘witnesses’, whose example will be followed accurately.
Jesus is referred in Rev 1:5 as ὁ μάρτυς ὁ πιστός “the faithful witness” (cf. 3:14) and by
extension, Antipas is lent the divine title, being named my witness, my faithful one –ὁ
μάρτυς μου ὁ πιστός μου (2:13), this affectionate title evidencing Antipas’ belonging.
Witnesses (11:3) are characterized as faithful and true (3:4) and the authority to prophesy
(11:3.6.10) is given to them.
With the above occurrences, “death is involved, but ‘martyrdom’ in the Apocalypse clearly
involves bearing witness to the truth as well as dying.”1097
The issue of death (cf. 2:13, 6:9, 11:7-8, 12:11, 17:6, 19:10 cf. also 13:9-10, 14:4-5) is of
essence here.
The Apocalypse lists various types of death1098 of the witnesses, because of persecutory
measures: either they are slaughtered (6:9, 18:24) by beheading (20:4), or their blood is
shed (16.6, 18:24) and drunk (17:6).
1094
Allison Trites, Mάρτυς and Martyrdom in the Apocalypse: A Semantic Study, in: Novum Testamentum
15/1973, 72-80. Cf. idem, The New Testament Concept of Witness, (Society for New Testament Studies
Monograph Series 31) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977. The stages he lists are five (Mάρτυς and
Martyrdom, 72-73): (1) a witness in a law court, death being excluded; (2) a witness in a law court who is
executed for witnessing; (3) death as part of the witness, (4) the idea of ‘martyr’ focusing on death primarily
but also including bearing witness; (5) martyr finally erases the idea of witness (also cf. Street, Here Comes
the Judge, 8).
At the period of the writing of the Apocalypse, the term has not reached the final two stages, being mostly
associated with bearing witness. (p. 78)
1095
Trites, Mάρτυς and Martyrdom, 78.
1096
Rissi, Die Veführung, 56.
1097
H. Strathmann, s.v. mártys, martyréō, martyría, martýrion inter alia, in: TDNT 4: 564- 570, 567.
1098
Even if exile is not tantamount to death, it represents a means of punishment, as expressed by John in
1:9: ἐγενόμην ἐν τῇ νήσῳ τῇ καλουμένῃ Πάτμῳ διὰ τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὴν μαρτυρίαν Ἰησοῦ –was on the
island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
333
Whereas saints do not need further explanation in what concerns their belonging, the
witnesses, whose blood intoxicate the Great Whore, are Jesus’.
Such a fact may indicate clearly that at the time of the writing of the Apocalypse, the
identity of Christian was clear and included appurtenance to Jesus, on the one hand, and
identification with His sacrifice, on the other hand.
Another semantic problem is whether to take Ἰησοῦ as a subjective or an objective

genitive. Charles’ analysis of the μαρτυρία Ἰησοῦ in 19:10 opts for an objective reading of
the genitive, i.e. a “testimony, which men bear to Jesus”1099 considering the relevance of
Rev 1:2.9, 6:9, 12:17 for such a reading.
Conversely, the subjective reading of the genitive is also equally important. The fact that
they are described as belonging to Jesus means that they claim no authority for themselves
but rapport themselves to Jesus.
Although I favour the subjective reading, I would consider that an objective interpretation
of the genitive Ἰησοῦ should not at all be dismissed, for their witness to Jesus is the basis of
their election and listing among the saints.
To conclude with, the quality of witness is an extremely important trait for the elect, even
if is often paired with some sort of suffering (cf. 1:9) and even death (cf. 2:13) as a result of
their holding fast to their beliefs and refusal to compromise these in any way with the
temporary rulers on earth.
The witness-nature is quintessential to Christianity. It is based on Jesus himself
commissioning his apostles to be his authorized witnesses as per Acts 1:8: ‘But you will
receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth’ –ἀλλὰ λήμψεσθε
δύναμιν ἐπελθόντος τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἐφ᾽ ὑμᾶς καὶ ἔσεσθέ μου μάρτυρες ἔν τε
Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ [ἐν] πάσῃ τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ καὶ Σαμαρείᾳ καὶ ἕως ἐσχάτου τῆς γῆς (cf. Acts 1:22,
26:16.22).
1099
Charles, Revelation, 2: 130. Cf. the references in the Introduction of this verse.
334
Summary
“An extreme and triumphant expression of godlessness”1100 represents the death of the
followers of Jesus.
The mentioning of the saints (and witnesses) is intended to delineate again, in a dualistic
manner the two great parties of the Apocalypse: the members of the true community of
Lamb, opposed to the inhabitants and the kings of the earth.
The analysis above emphasized in more detail via intratextual associations the
development of the Christian identity at the moment when Apocalypse was written.
After the epexegetical variant was favoured, I proceeded with their closer delineation.
Their relational character as people affiliated to God was given by the genitival
construction that could be interpreted both in terms of their appurtenance and as having
Christ as the object of their testimony.
Their function as victims was more clearly evidenced in comparison with another
occurrence of them, respectively, 16:5-7.
Further, saints embody a praised state throughout the Bible and the Apocalypse is not in
any way an exception from that.
In the latter book, faith and perseverance, righteous acts are rewarded by a free access to
the New Jerusalem.
At least from a gender-informed perspective, textual formulations like the one in 14:1-5
carry implications not at all laudatory from a feminist stance, for, if we are to embrace the
logic of the text, women could be excluded membership in the New Jerusalem.
Even if such assumption may run the risk of becoming reductionist, it fits very well the
apocalypticist’s rhetoric on the demonization of women, having the Great Whore as chief-
example.
For lack of a stronger case and to avoid the faulty generalisations, the saints’ sex was not
developed further, although it was not denied that at least textually, the above mentioned
formulation entails potential for a more radical gender-informed stance.
Following these, a sematic development was elaborated upon consisting in the explanatory
reading of ‘witnesses’.
Mάρτυς functions more as witness, rather than martyr, as the whole Apocalypse deals with
witnessing (11:3) primarily to Christ (1:5, 3:14).
1100
Smalley, Revelation to John, 432 referring to Jürgen Roloff, Revelation. A Continental Commentary (transl.
John E. Alsup), Atlanta: First Fortress Press Edition, 1993, 197.
335
The witnesses’ characterization ensued from intratextual references revealed the quality of
witnessesing to be constitutive of the Christian identity.
In the following, the Seer’s reaction is recorded: Καὶ ἐθαύμασα ἰδὼν αὐτὴν θαῦμα μέγα
John is greatly amazed –and this feeling is also recorded by the angel in v.7, which debuts
the selective explanations given by the Seer to the phenomena in the vision of Rev 17:1-6a.
Amazement is listed in a series of other reactions of John: weeping in 5:4, as well as

repeated attempts to worship angels 19:10, 22:8.1101
Just like in now, in the beginning of the vision (17:3b), the Seer employs a verb of
perception, respectively a form of the verb ὁράω.
Further, the verbs framing the vision report –ἀπήνεγκέν, εἶδον (17:3a.b), εἶδον, ἐθαύμασα
(Rev 17: 6a.b) are aorist forms of narration.1102 Except the first verb (ἀπήνεγκέν), all the
others feature in the first person singular, thus providing identity of the narrative voice and
continuity of the images described.
Within the pattern of the three part vision report, 17:6b functions as “the hinge between
the vision and its interpretation”,1103 semantically accomplished by the angel’s rapport to
the Seer’s amazement.
Starting with the next verse (17:7), the narrative voice will shift to the angel’s, also known
as angelus interpres, who defocuses the explanation from the character of Whore to the
identity and function of the Beast. In doing so, he will explain the Seer selectively the
meaning of some elements pertaining to the Great Whore in the vision.
The object of John amazement is ambiguous in Greek. Since the text reads “ἰδὼν αὐτὴν”,
this formulation invites to two different readings.
The personal pronoun αὐτός, αὐτή, αὐτό in its feminine form could refer back to the
woman John sees in v.3a (τὴν γυναῖκα). Alternatively, it can very well refer to the vision –
ὀπτασία as a whole, for in Greek this noun is also feminine.
Especially with some gender-informed postmodern biblical analyses of the text, the
preference for a particular reading is very important and dependent on the lexical weight
attributed to the Greek idiom denoting ‘great amazement’, respectively ἐθαύμασα (…)
θαῦμα μέγα.
1101
Christopher Rowland, The Book of Revelation: Introduction, Commentary and Reflections, in: Leander E.
Keck et al. (eds.), The New Interpreter’s Bible. A Commentary in Twelve Volumes (vol. 12), Nashville: Abingdon
Press, 1998, 501-743, 681.
1102
Mathewson, Verbal Aspects, 151. The aorist of narration will be further used by the angel in his response
to John in v. 7 (εἶπέν, ἐθαύμασας).
1103
336
Nevertheless, I do not consider the ‘vision’ to be different from the ‘woman’, since the
Great Whore constitutes the very object of the vision narrated by John in vv. 1-6.
If the Seer marvels at the Whore, he must have naturally done so, especially because of the
latter part of the presentation. It cannot be denied that the Whore dressed and bejeweled
was an apparition, meant to impress anyone who gazed upon her.
Another option enumerated above is given by the fact that the Seer could have marvelled
at the grandeur of the vision. In this case, the perspective is broadened to include the other
two verses, introducing the vision, respectively vv. 1-2.
Taking the two subunits together, namely vv. 1-2 and vv. 3-6 results into a consistent use of
the adjective μέγας, μεγάλη, μέγα: the Whore introduced in v. 1 is great –μεγάλη, the title
on her forehead reads ‘Babylon the Great’, Βαβυλὼν ἡ μεγάλη, and in v.6, the Seer is
greatly amazed ἐθαύμασα (…) θαῦμα μέγα.
This time around, the adjective does not describe the Whore, but it refers to a state of the
Seer’s.
The subjects, as well as the objects of ‘amazement’ change in the Apocalypse as in the
following. Twice in chapter 17 (vv.6.7) the Seer is depicted in this state of mind in the
context of the vision concerning the Great Whore.
Additionally, in 17:8, the dwellers on earth are the subjects having now as object of marvel
the fantastic mien of the Beast. In a similar context, the whole earth –ὅλη ἡ γῆ marvels the
power of the Beast in 13:3.
The grammatical voice of the verb θαυμάζω also changes: the Seer notes aorist active uses,
while the inhabitants and the whole earth register aorist passive (13:3), respectively future
passive (17:8).
And I was greatly amazed
The verb around which the semantics of this verse is construed, respectively θαυμάζω will
be analyzed both in seclusion from other grammatical elements, as well as part of an
idiomatic construction.
337
With the latter option, θαυμάζω occurs as ἐθαύμασα […] θαῦμα μέγα. The pleonastic
formulation means literally, ‘I wondered with great wonder.’1104
This particular phasing is unique1105 in the Bible, although the grammatical formulation is
quite frequent, being an example of a cognate (or internal) accusative.1106
Examples of idiomatic constructions are common in the Septuagint1107 although dative is
preferred over the accusative.
In the Apocalypse, examples of such grammatical construction are also evident with 16:9 in
the formulation ‘human beings were scorched with fierce heat’ –ἐκαυματίσθησαν οἱ
ἄνθρωποι καῦμα and the exhortation in 18:6 to ‘repay her double’ –διπλώσατε τὰ διπλᾶ.
θαυμάζω can denote both positive and negative amazement, depending on the
context.1108
Sals evaluates this occurrence as positive. She compares it with other instances in the
Apocalypse, as well as argues the fact that θαῦμα is not employed in Greek in a negative
sense. 1109
I tend to disagree with Sals’ evaluation, since in this instance, the verb θαυμάζω could
allude to the fact that the Seer has ‘inappropriate reaction’,1110 on account of two
observations. First, this inappropriateness is corrected by the angel’s explanation and
second, as a result of this explanation (17:7-18), the initial marveling could end in
deception.
The verb in question stands in a row of inappropriate reactions recorded throughout the
vision: the Whore displays inappropriate sexual behaviour, her union with kings of earth is
also inappropriate. Inhabitants of the earth are inappropriately presented as drunk and so
is the Whore. Her attire is deemed inappropriate when compared to the simplicity of
saints’ attire (cf. Table 3). The Whore is also an inappropriate type of mother. As a result, it
thus no wonder that the Seer’s reaction may be ‘out of place’.
1104
Smalley, Revelation to John, 432. There are other options concerning the literal translations. Aune for
example, (Revelation 17-22, 910) has ‘I was astonished with great astonishment’, or Osborne, (Revelation,
614) ‘I was awestruck with wonder’.
1105
1106
Aune, Revelation 17-22, 910, Smalley, Revelation to John, 432.
1107
Aune, Revelation 17-22, 910. He lists references from Gen 12:17, Judg 16:23, 1 Kgs 17:25, Zech 1:2.14.15,
Dan 11:2.
1108
θαυμάζω in: BDAG, Louw-Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, s.v. θαυμάζω, §25. 213.
1109
1110
Ruiz, Ezekiel in the Apocalypse, 339, 340. He notes other instances marked by inappropriateness in 19:10,
22:8.
338
For every inappropriate character, every time, the Apocalypse offers the reader a model to
follow. The saints offer examples of appropriate sexual behavior. So does the virginal Bride
of the Lamb. The Woman of chapter 12 is a mother par excellence. The Seer’s soberness
contrasts with the intoxication of the inhabitants of the earth. It highlights the wickedness
of the Whore and the temporality of the kings’ reign. Although the saints’ white garments
are simple, they are bright, unsoiled and favoured by God. The Whore’s jewels cannot
compare with the precious stones found with the New Jerusalem.
In the following, I will make a presentation in which the lexical weight of the verb θαυμάζω
is emphasized. The meaning provided by the lexicons invariably includes translations such
as ‘to wonder, to be amazed, to marvel’.1111
I mentioned in the introduction to this verse an observation concerning the
correspondence between the verb of perception ὁράω (vv.3b.6a) and the verb θαυμάζω
(v.6b). The correspondence between the two verbs is a fact generally overlooked.
The example of the latter mentioned verb in the first person singular shows the amount of
subjectivity and involvement of the Seer, just as εἶδον previously mentioned.
My argument behind such claim rests on the fact that the latter verb evokes several
instances of emotional nature as shown in the following.
Usually, markers of emotion and perception provided by the uses of certain words and
images are left out from interpretation. If mentioned though, their importance is not
adequately presented.
By dealing with these markers of emotion, the divine authority of the vision would be
diminished in favour of a more personal, subjective outlook. The feeling mind would be too
much involved, thus awaking in the readers various reactions that can vary extensively,
according to each individual’s emotional background.
However, especially with apocalyptic language and imagery, pointing to such aspects can
be also extremely valuable for the interpretation, for these can adduce dimensions which
deepen the object of discussion, as well its implication, thus contributing to a greater
apprehension of the sensus plenior.
The NT records human reactions of astonishment when confronted with various

expressions of divine revelation, employing verbs from similar semantic field: ἐξίστημι
(Matt 12:23, Mark 5:42, Luke 2:47, 24:22, Acts 2:7.12, 10:45, 12:16), ἐκπλήσσω (Matt
1111
Louw-Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament s.v. θαυμάζω, §25. 213. Cf. Liddell-Scott, A
Greek-English Lexicon, s.v. θαυμάζω, 785.
339
19:25, 22:33, Mark 6:2, Luke 2:48, Acts 13:12), or idioms constructed with the aid of
ἔκστασις (Luke 5:26, Acts 3:10).
With the latter variant “in the NT, ecstasy tends to focus on a state of intense astonishment
to the point of being beside oneself” (Mark 5:42), put out of place, deeply distracted.
Although not necessarily determined by the context of vision, or falling into a prophetic
trance (Acts 10:10, 11:15, 22:17), in the case of the apocalyptic vision discussed, ἐν
πνεύματι may connote very well with the actual state of mind enunciated by the Seer in
17:3a.1112
Reasons for such interpretative choice may be on the one hand, the confirmation of the
vision experienced by the Seer in chapter 17, contributing in this way to the (semantic)
unity of images. On the other hand, it may frame the vision in itself, for what follows will be
no longer reported through the Seer’s eyes, but explained to him and shown by angels.
In view of the above, the verb θαυμάζω can denote astonished perplexity as in Mark 12:17,
Luke 4:22, John 3:7. This occurs as result to a particular teaching of Jesus or apostles (Acts
2:7), or it describes the astonishment of people, in Matt 27:14, as part of a divine behavior
of Jesus not responding to his accusers.
As a result, Aune aims at providing a deeper sense to his translation of 17:6b by choosing
the verb ‘to be perplexed’. Considering the negative context in which it features, the verb
means ‘to appall, to dumbfound’.1113
Additionally, Aune assigns the verb θαυμάζω a judgmental value: according to him, the
Seer not only “wonders”, “marvels” at what he sees, but he also tries to comprehend and
adequately discern “the meaning and significance of the female figure he has seen”.1114
The rationality attached to this verb is also evident with Prigent, who evaluates this verb as
similar with the Johanine context, implying the discernment of truth behind a person or
saying with a baffling appearance (John 3:7; 5:28, 1 John 3:13).1115
Along with perplexity conjoined with discernment, an array of feelings is evoked.

Reactions of fear and terror are conjured with Mark 5:42, 16:18, Luke 5:26, Acts 3:10 (cf.
the OT uses in Psalm 31:22, Jer 5:30, Ezek 26:26, 27:35, Dan 10:7).
1112
For details, cf. the analysis of 17:3a. There I elaborated more on the connection between being ἐν
πνεύματι vs. being ἐν ἐκστάσει.
1113
Aune, Revelation 17-22, 910. Cf. Steven Thompson, The Apocalypse and Semitic Syntax (Society for New
Testament Studies Monograph Series, vol. 52), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985, 12.
1114
1115
Prigent, Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John, 490. Cf. Smalley, Revelation to John, 433.
340
Surprise and curiosity are sustained by the word mystery – μυστήριον in v.5, relevant in the
subunit of Apocalypse 17:3-6.1116
In 17:71117 both words repectively, μυστήριον and θαυμάζω are mentioned as the angel
prepares the Seer for the subsequent explanation of the vision. This occurs because John
cannot judge for himself, nor can he comprehend the implications of these phenomena.
A much more personal involvement of the Seer with the gendered apparition is provided
by a cumulus of associative feeling ranging from fascination1118 to admiration1119 and
attraction.1120
Verse 6 recapitulates the fascination with the gendered character as expressed by the kings
and inhabitants of the earth, the Beast that associate with the Great Whore.
In the same line of ideas, Pezzoli-Olgiati is convinced that the fascination John feels is
grounded in the Great Whore’s universal position and connects this observation with the
reference in 17:15, where her mightiness manifests in the influence over λαοὶ καὶ ὄχλοι
εἰσὶν καὶ ἔθνη καὶ γλῶσσαι – peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.1121
Fascination has many faces. Another interpretation is provided by Räpple, who argues that
“in her infinite desire and deception, the harlot in the Book of Revelation essentially is the
person who symbolizes evil choice and fascinating temptation.”1122
However, such formulation is more focused on the communitarian effect of the Whore’s
hubris, since by ‘desire’ Räpple means “the epitome of human desire to surpasss being as
created, to become infinite like God.”1123
Beale contends that a possible interpretation of θαυμάζω in the sense of ‘adore, admire’ is
prompted via 17:8 and 13:3 (cf. 13:13, 17:3.8). By establishing such intratextual
connection, the angel’s question in the next verse is meant at rebuking the Seer’s attitude
not to worship the Whore, as well as at redirecting the act of reverence onto God.1124
1116
Swete, Commentary on Revelation, 215, cf. Smalley, Revelation to John, 433.
1117
Καὶ εἶπέν μοι ὁ ἄγγελος· διὰ τί ἐθαύμασας; ἐγὼ ἐρῶ σοι τὸ μυστήριον τῆς γυναικὸς καὶ τοῦ θηρίου τοῦ
βαστάζοντος αὐτὴν τοῦ ἔχοντος τὰς ἑπτὰ κεφαλὰς καὶ τὰ δέκα κέρατα. –But the angel said to me, "Why are
you so amazed? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns
that carries her.
1118
Pezzoli-Olgiati, Zwischen Gericht und Heil, 84.
1119
1120
Pippin, Death and Desire, 57; eadem, Eros and the End, 193; eadem, The Heroine and the Whore, 67, 82,
76.
1121
Pezzoli-Olgiati, Zwischen Gericht und Heil, 84-85.
1122
1123
1124
Beale, The Book of Revelation, 863, cf. Ruiz, Ezekiel in the Apocalypse, 339.
341
It would be expected the Seer’s location as located in the desert would tantamount to the
fact that he can now clearly see, being somehow safeguarded by the Whore’s seductive
charms. Nevertheless, he succumbs to her.
The context created by the vv. 3-6, in which a woman was portrayed as arrayed in soft,
luxurious clothes, bedecked with sparkling jewels implied that she displayed to say at least,
inappropriate behaviour towards various groups such as the kings and inhabitants of the
earth in a clearly manipulative, seductive manner. With the portrayal of the Great Whore,
the metaphor of intoxication was continually referred to and possibly gave way to some
sort of moral laxity that could have possibly potential to inspire erotic attraction that the
Seer may have felt towards the Great Whore.
In a scene where “female has seductive power”,1125 John’s function changes from seer to
voyeur.1126
With Tina Pippin, power can also be defined in gendered terms, as erotic power –
something amply exemplified by the Great Whore, who is both desired and feared.1127
Moore presents the following stereotypical scenario with voyeurism, coded as masculine:
“a boy or a man, himself unseen, feasts his fevered eyes on the spectacle of an
unsuspecting woman in a state of undress –a woman who moreover meets his own
personal criteria for archetypal, awe-inspiring womanhood –and he climaxes in an ecstasy
of worship.”1128
Various gender-informed commentators have discussed the implications of the male
objectifying voyeuristic gaze.
Pippin interprets this amazement, by assigning this verb sexual, or erotic capital.1129 She
stresses the manner in which desire for the Whore and the Whore as an object of death
are connected.
With Pippin, John’s amazement can be viewed as transitioning: “the object of desire is
made the object of death.”1130 Accordingly, the Seer must work against or repress his
1125
1126
To name some cf. Sals, Die Biographie, 70, Stephen D. Moore, Hypermasculinity and Divinity, in: A
Feminist Companion to the Apocalypse of John, 180-204, mostly Pippin, Death and Desire, 57-68, also eadem,
Apocalyptic Bodies, 83. Also Catherine Keller, Apocalypse Now and Then: A Feminist Guide to the End of the
World Boston: Beacon Press, 1996, 76.
1127
Pippin, The Heroine and the Whore, 70.
1128
Moore, Hypermasculinity and Divinity, 201.
1129
1130
Pippin, Eros and the End, 193, eadem, Death and Desire, 57.
342
sexual desire1131 to control it,1132 unless he wants to partake in the fate of the Great
Whore, namely her sexual murder, cannibalistic in nature that aims at destroying her
sexuality and seductiveness.1133
This interpretation is not generally accepted. It is considered far-fetched and does not
correspond to the Greek text itself. The verb in aorist records the reaction at that particular
moment when the vision unfolds and not any type of reflection of longing that the Seer
may have had in retrospective to this.
What is interesting with Pippin’s interpretation is the manner in which she draws the
readers into the reading process, namely by presenting them with two options, valid not
only for the Seer, but transferred onto the readers who are given the choices of either
death or eternal life.
Subsequently, they should not make the evil choice, succumbing to the Great Whore’s
charms. In this way, the readers are left with a longing for another gendered character,
namely the Bride of Lamb.1134
Nevertheless, I would like to point out the difficulty of such a choice, embedded in the
portrayal of the Whore, where the elements listed can be evaluated as ambiguous.
The ambiguity may occur because the description on the Great Whore has two parts:1135
already by the end of verse 4, her portrayal seriously declines, reaching its lowest point in
vv.5-6. Subsequently, with the second half of v.4, explicit negative elements are
introduced, such as the ‘cup full with the impurities of her fornication’, her title as ‘mother
of whores and of earth’s abominations’, in v.5, as well as her state of mind – ‘drunk’ and
the source of the disgraceful inebriation –‘blood’.
And such a portrayal is very different from the 17:(2).3, describing her sitting, or dressed in
luxurious attire and adorned with every kind of precious stones.
1131
Pippin, Eros and the End, 195. Cf. Lupieri, A Commentary on the Apocalypse of John, 256.
1132
1133
1134
Pippin, Eros and the End, 202. Eadem, Death and Desire, 86.
1135
I chose to split the vision of the Great Whore in these particular subunits, since I considered them
referential in delineating the portrait of the Great Whore. In this attempt and for a sharper perspective on
the moral decline of the Great Whore, I effaced the derogatory names ascribed right from the very
introduction to this vision, having as object the judgment of the Great Whore, with whom the kings of the
earth have fornicated etc. (vv. 1-2). In vv. 4-6, I hoped thus to achieve the consistency in motifs employed, as
well as continuity with the former subunit.
343
Similarly, Yarbro Collins writes that “(…) all feminine symbols in the Revelation are
ambiguous when viewed from the point of view of the desirability of mutuality between
man and woman, and of flexibility in the definition of male and female roles.”1136
Besides the emotional triggers elicited by the verb in discussion, in the following I will
delineate the intratextual as well as intertextual parallels that could possibly contribute to
the adequate contextual understanding of the verb θαυμάζω, possibly confirming the
gloomy horizon of expectation alluded at throughout the vision of Apocalypse 17.
In the Apocalypse, the verb in question occurs in the context of the Beast worship by the
inhabitants of the Earth (13:3.13f), which provides the most obvious intratextual allusion.
While Thompson intreprets 13:3 as an act of submission, in 13:8.15 the verb adduces
‘worship’ an element of ‘submission’.1137 The cause for such a response is because the
beast is given authority – ἐξουσία over every tribe, people, language, and nation (13:7),
being allowed to devastate the earth since there is no one opposing.
However, Prigent notes a difference between marveling in chapter 13 and its meaning in
the current verse. The following subunit, which starts with v.7, i.e. the explanation the
angel provides will, or at least should eliminate amazement,1138 as the Seer is summoned to
look beyond mere appearances.
As a result, in 17:6b, the negative implications prompted by the intratextual connection

translate into ‘misdirected wonder’.1139
Another difference is noted by the observation according to which John’s pleonastic
phrasing here –by contrast with chapter 13 –indicates a superior state of amazement.1140
An important intertextual allusion is Hab 1:5: “Look among the people amazed with
amazement” – θαυμάσατε θαυμάσια. 1141
1136
Yarbro Collins, Feminine Symbolism in the Book of Revelation a, 33; cf. for identical phrasing eadem,
Feminine Symbolism in the Book of Revelation b, in: Feminist Companion to the Apocalypse of John, 130.
1137
Ruiz, Ezekiel in the Apocalypse, 338. cf. S. Thompson, The Apocalypse, 12-13.
1138
1139
1140
Sals, Die Biographie, 70. Similarly, Aune (Revelation 17-22, 910) agrees that the value of intensification is
conveyed through the adjective μέγα.
1141
Lupieri, A Commentary on the Apocalypse of John, 266. Lupieri digs into the historical context of
Habakkuk and subsequently remarks that, “the amazement is caused by the approach of the powerful
‘Chaldean’ military machine, which will return to the throne of Jerusalem the rightful ruler, whose place was
usurped by an illegitimate sovereign supported by Egypt and/or Assyria.” (Lupieri, A Commentary on the
Apocalypse of John, 267).
344
Other intertexts to 17:6b are provided by establishing thematic links with “dreams,
particularly those of an oracular or revelatory nature.”1142
Especially if one considers the last references, it becomes clearer that the vision of
Apocalypse 17 and the Great Whore for that matter cannot be taken at a face value. Their
meaning need to be further deepened.
As a result, I find analyses focusing bluntly on ‘woman’s issues’, e.g. sexuality neither to be
consistent with the intertextual allusions, nor with the actual context in which any
reference to ‘woman’ is perceived as a reference to a woman.
The intratextual and intertextual connections could also point to the fact that the
theological message here is far more important than the images, which does not
necessarily imply that the means to acquire such images do not have a strong rhetorical
force.
Au contraire, the image of the Great Whore in this case is strongly shaped by gender, which
as category has a strong rhetorical implication eliciting emotional response from readers. It
is in this response that the potency of the image needs to be measured and explored into
adequate categories concerning the nature, function and implications of such phrasing.
Summary
The valences, as well the function of the verb θαυμάζω were discussed in detail, both in
isolation and in the pleonastic construction featuring in v. 6b. Both occcurences cover a
large semantic spectrum having both negative and positive associations.
In this verse in particular, the verb θαυμάζω carried a negative dimension.
It was established the verb θαυμάζω triggers an emotional response, being thus anchored
in the subjectivity of the Seer, very much like John being ‘in the spirit’ in v.3
1142
The context is marked here by dream-visions, which are more prominent with Gen 37: 2-11 and Gen 40: 5-
41:36, where Joseph plays a significant role (Smalley, Revelation to John, 433), as well informed by Danielic
parallels, respectively Dan 4: 5-27, when Daniel is interpreting for King Nebuchadnezzar (Smalley, Revelation
to John, 433, cf. Beale, The Book of Revelation, 861, 862), but also Dan 7:15, (cf. Dan 8:15) (Aune, Revelation
17-22, 938), in which Daniel himself looks for interpretation of the vision exposed in 7:1-14.
345
Analyzed in the NT context, the subjective response concretizes in a series of emotions
ranging from astonished perplexity to reactions of fear and terror, surprise and curiosity,
some of them identifying with the vision in the Apocalypse 17.
The associative feelings awakened by the gendered apparition in the vision mentioned
above contain fascination, admiration and attraction.
While fascination is more general in meaning and the feeling of admiration operates in a
religious context, attraction is very specific in meaning.
It encompasses references to erotic power, but it also involves the readers into the act of
choosing between life and death as a result of resisting or succumbing the charms of the
Great Whore, a decision sometimes hard to make due to textual ambiguity.
The intratextual comparison situated the verb θαυμάζω in the context of Beast worship
especially mentioned in chapter 13. Here images of power, resulted in submission and
worship, as well as pointed to a type of misdirected wonder. This interpretation could offer
a possible path applicable also in this verse.
The intertextual references connoted with a context informed by dream and visions. In
turn, all these proved the fact that the vision and its protagonist need to be understood
figuratively.
The latter formulation prompted the need to look beyond the surface images in the vision
of the Great Whore and explore ‘gender’ as possessing rhetorical force, by being used ‘to
think with’.
Upon seeing her/this
Additionally, the variety of associations encountered with the verb θαυμάζω is also found
with the nature and object of John’s amazement.
Structural, literary and emotional rationales are distinguished, some of which have been
analyzed earlier with this verse, or have been partially alluded at.
It was previously discussed the value of θαυμάζω as a framing mechanism in conjunction

with the verb ὁράω. The vision of Apocalypse 17 operates within these two verbs,
employed in similar tense and grammatical person.
The most common assumption is that amazement occurs as a literary artifice to introduce
the explanation of the angel.1143
1143
Louis Lafont, L’Apocalypse de Saint Jean: Texte intégral, annotations et réferénces bibliques, Paris:
Librairie Téqui, 1975, 305.
346
Cases of descriptions or ekphraseis invite to hidden, allegorical interpretations. “The
expression of confusion is juxtaposed with the introduction of the learned interpreter, a
stock figure usually found conveniently at the narrator’s elbow,”1144 although throughout
the Apocalypse, the Seer never asks for any explanation. The meaning of visions is either
volunteered by a supernatural revealer (cf. 1:20, 7:13-14), or unfolded by the writer
himself as in 4:5, 11:4, 20:14.1145
As a result, such a state of amazement could be considered a literary artifice prompting the
need for further explanation as well as the soliciting the intervention of angelus interpres.
Other emotional reasons have a purely interpretative value, being dependent on the text
(and context) to various degrees.
Such an example is provided by the discrepancy between what the Seer was promised and
what he actually saw. “The Seer has lost his clue; he was bewildered by a vision so widely
different from which he looked”1146 prompting the need for an interpreter. “The woman
seems to be relishing her drunkenness much to the amazement of John, who had perhaps
been expecting to witness her punishment and suffering.”1147
The Seer could have marveled the Whore’s cruelty and repugnant vulgarity.1148
The fact that her cruelty evident from the possible association in the killing of the saints,
transformed her into a “fearsome”1149 character, amazement could definitely imply fear,
and John could fully share in this feeling.
The Whore is certainly a sexualized figure and her fornication is highlighted. For this
reason, I also mentioned her as the object of John’s sexual desire. Repression of one’s
desire is encouraged in favour of the spiritual qualities of the Bride.
Although such interpretation is possible, not only is it textually very weakly supported, but
it is also reductionist. It overstresses the corporeal dimension in the metaphor of the Great
Whore in detriment to the other two.
When discussed thematically, this assumption may gain support from the perspective of
the ascetics in the Apocalypse.
1144
1145
Smalley, Revelation to John, 433.
1146
1147
1148
Max Dauner, Commentaire sur L’Apocalypse de Jean, Gigean: Editions Horizons Chrétienes, 1985, 260.
1149
347
Her grandiosity is also something to be amazed at. Such a figure is depicted either in a
position of power, as ‘seated upon waters’ (explained in v. 15), or on ‘a Beast’ and wearing
a resplendent garment. As a result, her wealth could also be a matter of amazement, this
motif being developed in chapter 18.
Similarly, judging from the angel’s response, focusing on the Woman’s position and the
Beast’s identity, John’s amazement may be channeled onto her power and wealth.
Summary
The nature and object of Jon’s amazement included three interpretational options,
respectively structural, literary and emotionally charged rationales.
An emphasis on the last category could channel five different focuses, ranging from a more
general to a very specific motif. The close reading of the text notes a discrepancy between
what the Seer was promised and what he saw, which could have been a cause for
amazement.
Put in context, this sub-verse could be also read in parallel with the previous one
highlighting the Great Whore’s cruelty that possibly resulted in an attitude of fear
expressed by the Seer, by means of the phrasing in discussion.
The visual aspect of the Great Whore might have ignited some erotic feelings in John, who
chooses to repress them in favour of the Bride. Such assumption is weakly supported by
the text.
A step further in the inclusion of the previous elements pertaining to her wealth, as well as
well as posture might have been indeed a reason to be marveled at, just like previously the
economic component in the description of the Great Whore may operate as contradictory
with the ascetic theme in the Apocalypse.
Irrespective of the emotional aspect entailed by ‘amazement’, this is a transient feeling for
the facts and actions of the Great Whore are far more important than any perspectival
descriptions.
348
The Great Whore’s shameful appearance as drunk in v. 6 closes the ‘visual’ part of the
vision.1150
The explanatory part, largely descriptive will occupy the textual space in Rev 17:7-18.
Among the general observations, one lists the depiction of the Great Whore in 17:6 as
consistent with the previous manifestations, at least in some anchor point such as her
gynomorphic representation and the reinterpretation of the metaphor of intoxication
alluded previously, in 17:2.4.
Moreover, her characterization was completed by the addition of another group to whom
she relates, respectively the saints, who are witnesses to Jesus.
Her actions are descriptive of her morality: introduced in 17:1 as committing acts of
immorality with the kings of the earth, as well as inebriating the inhabitants of the earth
with the wine of her immorality, it leads the Seer and implicitly the reader to expect the
Great Whore’s punishment has to do with what was enunciated above. However, in 17:6 a
new accusation is brought against her: the Whore has not only killed, but also became
intoxicated with blood of the God sent, possibly implying taking their lives.
Also, in terms of moral categories, the portrayal of a wicked woman is now complete: the
loose woman, the harlot is not only promiscuous, manipulative, possibly greedy
considering the amalgamation of expensive materials and jewels, but also murderous, as
she is bringing about death.
The fact that the ‘woman’ is conjoined with a sexually derogatory term, that of ‘whore’ is
thus in no way morally neutral. This verse is not about an innocent prostitute scapegoated
for all the evils in the Apocalypse, but responsible for getting herself intoxicated by blood:
the blood of the holy ones, witnesses to Jesus.
Because of this, the image above was most often interpreted not as a silent threat, but as a
definitive action of the Great Whore, marked by violence. In the first manifestation, the
Great Whore is successful at gaining people’s allegiance by means of her promiscuity and
her φαρμακεία, whereas now she is coercing the ones opposing her by violent means.
Indeed, violence was conceived in terms of its consequences reverberating on God’s elect –
mostly persecution, after first resulting from the Whore’s positioning in a powerful
1150
The verb ὁράω is repeated twice in the same verse.
349
hierarchy that would allow her such reprisals, bearing implications from political,
economic, or cultic domains.
Especially with the last dimension, cleanliness was brought into discussion and was
concluded that it manifested at two levels: the horrific act of desecrating a human life by
taking it and the contaminating effects of consuming blood.
Because the concept of power meshed well with the persecutor character of the Great
Whore in this verse, the other side of the coin, usually neglected by commentators, was
presented: the vulnerability associated to drunkenness, marked by a loss of reason resulted
from intoxication, the state has the potential of minimizing the Whore’s defense
mechanisms.
Subsequently, I have also tackled the manner in which the divine retribution applied to her.
Whereas the saints are made a series of promises, including plenipotentiary membership in
the heavenly city, the Great Whore will undergo the most horrific torments.
For each of the accusations presented above, she will account as the dramatic apocalyptic
scenario gradually unfolds, respectively, for 17:6 in 18:24 and for 17:1-2 in 19:2.
John recapitulates in a synthetic formula in 17:6, the devastating power of the Whore
against the Christians.
Since witnessing to Jesus is the chief quality shaping the Christian identity, it is generally
conjoined with suffering and probably death.
As a result, death was an importnat issue discussed. It was concluded that the suffering of
the elect is presenting a particular understanding in the Apocalypse. The death of
witnesses to Jesus is not the ultimate tragedy, but an expression of resistance from within
a faith perspective. It occurs as following the example of the Lamb, who “is deemed worthy
precisely because he overcame […] and he did so by dying, by being slaughtered, by
redeeming people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation with his blood, and
by making them a kingdom and priests (5:9-10).”1151
The reaction of the Seer expressed in this verse closes the larger subunit, which started in
17:3, having as object the description of judgment of the Great Whore, manifested
ultimately as the description of the Great Whore.
The subjective reaction evidenced by the verbs employed in this verse conjures an
emotional response from the readers, awakening in them feelings of fascination,
admiration and even attraction. However, such feelings are always interpreted against a
1151
Johns, Lamb Christology, 176.
350
‘sober’ background, aiming at activating contempt for the Whore, as well as persuading the
audience by rhetorical means to consent to the Whore’s punishment.
Several observations were formulated, pertaining to the condemnation of the enemies of
God. The enemies are portrayed as indulging in acts of violence, highly sexualized, thus in
dissonance with the general ascetic exhortations in the Apocalypse, as well as
rhetographically repulsive.
The Great Whore’s violent nature manifested in the persecution of the saints and
witnesses to Jesus could be in actuality perceived as the fruit of the sinful relationship
between the Beast and her. This occurs because the Beast itself had disastrous
consequence on the inhabitants of the earth. As a result, both the Whore and the Beast’s
punishment, together with that of all God’s enemies is a well-known literary convention
with the OT.1152
The intratextual allusion of the verb θαυμάζω with chapter 13 is relevant for the ironical
aspect of John’s writing: once marvelling is exposed, the adoration is not justified. However
grand she may be, the Whore is a fraud, as it is everything surrounding her.
The sexual component of the Great Whore is conjoined with the gendered one, namely
feminine one into creating a powerful image. This is animated by various expressions of
‘desire’, either in the form of hubris, bearing the print of uncontrollable political ambitions,
or in a manipulative, sexual manner.
The Great Whore is not only a woman who desires, catalogued as so, due to her
designation ‘whore’, but also may be interpreted as the object of desire of many, kings and
inhabitants, John, the Seer, included.
Finally, I agree with Greg Carey that the Apocalypse is assigning repulsive tastes to the
Beast group – that includes the Whore – among which feature “the Dragon’s desire to eat
human flesh (12:4), along with drinking blood (16:6, 17:6) […] and the unspecified
abominations and impurities the Whore imbibes (17:5-6).”1153 The reference in 17:6 is
utterly detestable and abominable especially because drunkenness is obtained at the
expense of other people’s lives.
He continues, noting that “the taste and smells associated with the Whore are particularly
striking, in that they range from the aromatic and delicious to the detestable.”
1152
1153
351
While pertinent, the observations above need to be situated in a critical-hermeneutical
situation. These imply an almost subjective involvement of the reader by means of
rhetorical strategies.
The major problem is that with the emotional involvement of the reader, the danger of
identification and personalization is at a very high quota.
And once personalized, the image ceases to function at a more general level of
understanding. So, textual abuse can happen.
With exegetical analyses, such abuse should be critically evaluated and not encouraged.
Here, the main aim is to search for the validity of arguments.
While it is true that from both divine and John’s perspective, the Whore deserves her
punishment, her perspective, or account is never presented in the text.
It is for this reason that the Seer’s account needs to be taken as it is, namely as a subjective
one.
The urge to look beyond the surface structures of the text – including the generic
component, in favour of larger picture is thus imperious.
352
Conclusions1154
The current academic endeavour is listed as a modest contribution to the growing

interdisciplinary interaction between Biblical scholarship and various other disciplines,
among them gender studies. As a result, with a gender-informed stamp, the paradigms of
interpretation are widened, as new methodological tools are employed.
In particular, my intention was to contribute to the study of Apocalypse, especially focusing
on the vision of Apocalypse 17 in which the Great Whore is introduced.
The Great Whore occurs as a gendered (feminine) image and is imbued with feminist
content, considering only in the vision of the Great Whore, the noun γυνή appears six
times. Its existence opposes the masculine images of Christ as the Lamb, which are are
central in the Apocalypse.
Given the large textual portion,1155 such an occurrence is not incidental, therefore the
current dissertation with its exegetical analysis highlighted the importance and implications
for the existence of the Great Whore in the Apocalypse.
The feminist outlook described in the previous section is also part of the reception history
of the Apocalypse, aiming to better grasp the theological message of the book,
respectively, in this case, understand its ‘wrapping’. Subsequently, the Great Whore as
depicted in the vision of Apocalypse 17:1-6 was questioned in terms of the image’s
complexity, function and the particular choice of its constitutive elements.
Generally, one could mention three main attitudes a gender-informed reading of the
Apocalypse.
In the first case, exegetes gloss over this text: because it has a very clear understanding,
they limit feminist substance or do not seem to acknowledge its existence whatsoever.1156
Alternatively, they decide to perform an excision, resulting into a denial of the value of the
text, forgetting that exegesis is not surgery.
The third option they have is to reject the text, because of pragmatic reasons. This
attidude is related with some of exegetes’ Biblicist perception, incompatible with standars
1154
Since the structure of this study was of the nature that it provided frequent assessments of concepts
discussed throughout the exegetical analysis, the length of this final chapter is significantly diminished, simply
because I wish to repeat what was already said.
Moreover, the discussions entailing problematic issues will be only mentioned, but the argumentations will
not be once more reiterated. Should the reader require further assistance in the better understanding of the
evaluative comments in the Conclusion, I kindly ask him/her to refer back in the study to the corresponding
assessments.
1155
In this formulation, I include both chapters 17 and 18 in the Apocalypse.
1156
Subsequently, they focus on other issues, relevant for a feminist perspective, such a marginalization and
oppression of a minority group, ethnicity, etc.
353
in contemporary society, or because “some interpret the imagery of the Revelation as
supporting and condoning violence”.1157
Being deeply unsatisfied by the above options, I tried to search for a compromise. As I
result, I attempted an interpretation of the Great Whore in which I chose to incorporate as
much as I could the literary and socio-cultural contexts, while maintaing the gender-
informed character in the analysis.
Context meant much more than the inner-textual references, being much more than a
literary summation. Intertextual references with the OT and other literary ancient creations
permeated constantly the textual apocalyptic formulations. Additionally, the cultural
context within which gendered metaphors operated was considered.
As a result, the rich reservoirs of the Jewish, Hellenistic as well as Roman traditions were
surveyed, for Apocalypse is situated at the cultural confluence of these environments, a
fact evident from the intertextual connection of the text that extends beyond the literary
meaning of this concept to encompass other analytical dimensions.
These references are necessary to contextualize accurately the message of the book, its
imagery. Such type of contextualization is cultural as well as historical. Context was
particularly important for two main reasons: to help contouring the readers’ horizon of
expectation in order to unveil the androcentric component in the textual formulation of
the vision of Apocalypse 17.
In addition, this step is important for a postmodern gender-informed interest, such as the
current one, where readers’ responses are valued. It aids thus with the understanding of
employed categories in the feminist discourse.
Without attention to the Ancient contexts, the understanding of the generic categories
could be very different, precisely because for example ‘gender’ as analytical category was
not present with the interpretative concerns in the history of reception of the Apocalypse,
but became one, due to recent feminist research. By this, I underline the linguistic turn in
the study of history that shed light on its socially constructed nature as consequence of the
relativity of language.
The dissertation entails two parts: the first one encapsulated more theoretical questions,
and the second, was more practical by nature, respectively, having as object the analysis of
the Great Whore as depicted in the vision of Apocalypse 17.
As a result, the first part of the dissertation started by delineating some of the theoretical
concepts of feminist interest with the Bible in general, followed by its contribution to the
1157
Susan E. Haylen, Metaphor Matters: Violence and Ethics in Revelation, in: Catholic Bible Quarterly
73/2011, 777-796, 777.
354
historical-critical method, materialized in challenging some of its fixed interpretative
coordinates.
The analysis informed the readers on the advantages as well as disadvantages, or dangers
of misusing feminist critique. By emphasizing the contextual nature of the feminist-critical
approach, this study represented a contribution to bridging the gap between the disparity
of opinions concerning interpretations employing unaltered categories of the historical
method and the gender-informed ones, on the one hand. On the other hand, the
dissertation aims to resolve the gulf created within the feminist exegetical paradigm itself,
referring to the image of the Great Whore, respectively between socio-historical feminists
and the feminist-critical ones.
Both options have altered the text in order to match their interpretative paradigm: they
either overlooked generic aspects, or over-emphasized them to the point of rejecting the
text. It is therefore important to note how different understandings of ‘context’ were
employed with the delineation of the theoretical concepts at stake.
Further, the history of research with regard to the Great Whore followed, that was based
on the two main textual dimensions, very important for the gender-informed scholarship in
delineating the Great Whore Babylon. On the one level, it encapsulates reference to a
woman/prostitute (Rev 17:1-6.15-17, 18:2.6-7, 19:2), on the other one the one to a city
(Rev 16:19, 17.18, 18:2.4.8-24). Such dimensions concord with the textually mentioned
punishment of the Great Whore, namely as whore (Rev 17:16) and city (Rev 18).
The History of Research covered an overview of the literature on both the presentation of
the gendered characters in the Apocalypse to which the Great Whore was often subsumed,
as well as an overview of the various feminist approaches with the Great Whore in
particular.
With the delineation of the terms revolving around the concept of ‘apocalypse’, I insisted
on reading the vision of the Great Whore as ‘apocalypse’, that is as literary genre in its own
right. A possible explanation for the gender-informed favouring of the Apocalypse was
formulated: feminists embraced some features pertaining to the apocalyptic genre, i.e.
indeterminacy of language, mysteries, visionary character etc.
Outlining the theoretical framework of the apocalypse was very important for the
contextualization of the apocalyptic vision, respectively from an inner as well as outer
perspective. Subsequently, the apocalypse stands in an interdisciplinary, as well as
intertextual dialogue with ancient literary and cultural phenomena.
Metaphor, in this case a gendered metaphor proved an important tool of expression by
which the content of the main topic of the study, i.e. the Great Whore was discussed. The
type of the theory of the metaphor chosen was particular important for the study in
355
question. I insisted thus on a theory that fosters the untranslatabilty of the metaphorical
expressions, but employs the fecundity of such language.
As such, metaphor taps into the existential and experiential dimension of the readers then
as well as nowadays, by shaping still our lives and existence.
The metaphorical expression contained in the description of the Great Whore had
controversial substance. Sexual signifiers permeated the description of the Great Whore.
The appellative ‘whore’ conjoins with a series of other nouns, all denoting the same
semantic field: prostitution (πορνεία), committing fornication (πορνεύω), living strenuously
from the power of her luxury (ἐκ τῆς δυνάμεως τοῦ στρήνους αὐτῆς ἐπλούτησαν),
abomination (βδέλυγμα), as well as other examples of indecent behaviour, such as drinking
both wine and blood (these are in conjunction with maddening passions, cf.18:3).
Besides being named a ‘prostitute’(πόρνη), the Great Whore is called other names, some
of them are self-given – ‘no widow’ (χήρα οὐκ εἰμι), a ‘queen’ (βασίλισσα) cf. Rev 18:7.8,
some are given to her – ‘mother of whores’ (ἡ μήτηρ τῶν πορνῶν ), ‘prison for any hated
and unclean spirit and bird’, (φυλακὴ παντὸς πνεύματος ἀκαθάρτου καὶ φυλακὴ παντὸς
ὀρνέου ἀκαθάρτου καὶ μεμισημένου) or ‘demon possessed’ (κατοικητήριον δαιμονίων
18:2), an ‘unclean woman’ (18:24), ‘vile’ and responsible for not only those whose ‘souls
were bought and sold’ (Rev 18:3) but also for those ‘who have been slain on earth’ (18:24).
For the most part of Rev 18, actually starting with 17:18, she is identified with ‘the great
city’, ἡ πόλις ἡ μεγάλη.
Additionally, this particular text (occasionally conjoining with some verses in Rev 18) is not
only addressing the judgment and fate of a feminine image imbued with violence, as
described in v.16 - οὗτοι μισήσουσιν τὴν πόρνην καὶ ἠρημωμένην ποιήσουσιν αὐτὴν καὶ
γυμνὴν καὶ τὰς σάρκας αὐτῆς φάγονται καὶ αὐτὴν κατακαύσουσιν ἐν πυρί (these shall hate
the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her
with fire) –but also the joy of such a destruction, and the moral qualification of the
measures as true and just –ἀληθιναὶ καὶ δίκαιαι –for his judgments are true and just; for he
has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has
avenged on her the blood of his servants (Rev 19:2). The value judgment is all the more
interesting because Apocalypse claims authority (Rev 1:1-2) –ἀποκάλυψις ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ,
ἣν ἔδωκεν αὐτῶ ὁ θεός, δεῖξαι τοῖς δούλοις αὐτοῦ ἃ δεῖ γενέσθαι ἐν τάχει, καὶ ἐσήμανεν
ἀποστείλας διὰ τοῦ ἀγγέλου αὐτοῦ τῶ δούλῳ αὐτοῦ ἰωάννῃ,/ὃς ἐμαρτύρησεν τὸν λόγον
τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὴν μαρτυρίαν ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ, ὅσα εἶδεν.(The revelation of/from Jesus Christ,
which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by
sending his angel to his servant John/who testifies to everything he saw –that is, the word
of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ).
356
The images in the text are far from being innocent, as the text reinscribes, reinforces
cultural assumptions on women in general. Moreover, this happens also vice-versa:
communities shape texts by their shared cultural assumptions, in order to preserve socially
accepted and universally valid status quo concerning women.
By reference to reality, the current feminist endeavour serves to unmask the ideological
and the androcentric character of the Biblical text at stake. Additionally, it insists on the
rhetorical force of (gendered) metaphors, their effectiveness in terms of rendering a
theological message.
The controversial character of this problematizes also the communicative power of the
‘written’ images.
It materialized as well in antagonistic readings. On the one hand, with the conventional
methods of appropriating the text, where the Great Whore became Babylon, the
metaphorical complex was thus reduced to the political aspect solely.
These readings were opposed by feminist critical claims of the same complex, with a broad
spectrum that invariably brought into discussion generic aspects often neglected by
previous analyses. That is one side of the coin. The other problem was raised concerning
how much weigh should be added to the constitutive elements in the creation of the
image.
I therefore opted for a reading in which I would keep generic claims, but I would employ a
contextual reading, where incursions into ancient realities prompted multiple undertones
mingling political, cultic, religious, as well as economic concepts.
The rich texture of the image and metaphor opened up complex central themes in the
exegetical analysis. The exegetical analysis explored the metaphor’s tensive character,
articulated primarily by the readership, to which active involvement in the reading process
is required.
The second part of the study represented, as mentioned previously, the concrete
application of concepts delineated in the previous part. It had as object the treatment of
the Great Whore as depicted in the vision of Apocalypse 17:1-6. For the sake of academic
clarity, I chose to refer to three main stages in the vision above mentioned. The first one
was the introduction to the vision comprised in vv. 1-2, the second one referred to the
main body of the vision (vv. 3-6a) and the third one registerd the Seer’s reaction to the
vision (6b).
Of these dimensions, especially the corporeal one, readers’ response could turn out to be a
dangerous venture. Since “Revelation is a piece of argumentative discourse, strategically
357
designed to both affect and effect”1158, a word of caution was formulated regarding the
danger of emphasizing the corporeal aspect in detriment of the other two dimensions, as
with some postmodern readers.
As a result, a critique was issued, having as main aim setting the boundaries of a feminist
critical approach such as this one.
The textual image of the Great Whore is construed via description, which also provides the
appropriate framework in which comparisons and contrasts with other evil (e.g. Jezebel) or
good characters (e.g. the Bride of the Lamb, occasionally the Woman Clothed with the Sun)
of the Revelation operate. The three dimensions in the metaphor of the Great Whore
entailed sexual, corporeal, as well as political referents. These enrich the texture and
deepen the character of the gendered image.
Throughout the portrayal of the Great Whore readers are offered clues, either explicitly,
i.e. textual or implicitly –by means of contrasts and comparisons. However, these clues
touch upon sacred areas of life, as well as Christian identity. They conjoin ideas of immoral
behavior, unethical choices, to the extent they also include prescriptive truths on the
Christian identity, an ideal imbued by ascetic concepts.
Often corrective readings were advanced, stemming mainly from a readers’ approach.
Occasionally, their formulations were not uncritical of some feminist claims, which attempt
either at scapegoating the Great Whore, or at over-victimizing her.
Further, with corrective approaches, the patriarchal dimension, materialized in the
masculine perspective was amply criticized.
With the categories of feminist discourse, the vision could be criticized at the following
levels: the perspective of the Great Whore is within the vision never an issue, therefore
biasness of the account should be taken into consideration. Additionally, the narration
displayed a comfort of the Seer and Angel with sexual derogatory signifier attached to the
conceptual domain of a ‘woman’.
The Great Whore’s portrayal knows no empathy with the Christian author, nor is such a
stance divinely approved, considering the angelus interpres’ introductory words: “come I
will show you the judgment of the Great Whore.”
Her gruesome depiction as being drunk with the blood of the witnesses and saints of Christ
triggers an emotional response from the Seer as well from readers: that of awe, perplexity.
The choice for the Great Whore corresponds from a reader’s perspective to the
incompatibility with being a member of the “witnesses and saints of Christ”.
1158
Mark B. Stephens, Annihilation or Renewal (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, 2.
Reihe, 307), Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011, 15.
358
A warning was also formulated regarding the overemphasizing of the emotional
involvement of the reader with a reader’s response, having as direct consequence the
danger of identification and personalization.
It was proven that the function of gendered images, (the Great Whore included) is to
highlight the message of the book. By appeal to emotional nature of metaphor, a clear
message transpires: whoever follows the Whore, by indulging in the pleasure of senses will
suffer punishment, repectively share in her death. To the rest, divine rewards are
promised.
In terms of the approaches employed, the theoretical ones blended with the more
pragmatic tasks. Narrative criticism following the linear progression of narrative, having the
text as point of departure provided the material for the reflection on the means through
which a work in particular achieves effects on its readers, respectively rhetorical criticism.
These approaches were contextualized, presented from the perspective of the readers, as
per reader-response criticism, a rather pragmatic approach, which added the feminist
component to the discussion.
As such, the relationship between rhetoric and context was emphasized, with focus on the
construction of gender in society, aiming at altering the definition of gender in society, as
well as the nature of the context.
Appeal to the Ancient categories and traditions boost the image’s effectiveness in terms of
generic formulations.
These incursions into Ancient context stemmed from a shared knowledge that also
operates in our own contemporary horizon.
Theological hermeneutics appropriates the Biblical text, so that one moves from the
‘understanding of language’ to the ‘understanding through language’, from knowledge of
the text, to the knowledge that the text fosters.1159 By including the interpreter in the
interpretative equation, hermeneutics has also a relative value.
My endeavour entailed reading the vision of the Great Whore from a feminist perspective
informed by faith, in order to maintain an articulate interpretation that would remain open
and actual to some of postmodern feminist claims, secondary to the text, however inspired
from life itself.
“Our faith in God causes us to think and to ask incisive questions. The hermeneutical
process begins in faith, it moves forward by asking questions shaped not only by the biblical
text but by life itself.”1160
Throughout the study, the task of the hermeneutics combined the attitude of trust
(ensuing from faith) with an attitude of suspicion, a willingness to listen to what is revealed
1159
Kirkpatrick, From Biblical Text, 363.
1160
Kirkpatrick, From Biblical Text, 358.
359
through the symbol and a suspicion, which would protect it from being misled by its overt
meaning.1161
Hermeneutics of suspicion is imperative for questioning difficult textual images, such as the
image of the Great Whore. It is an imperative not to accept everything at face value,
because metaphorical expressions hide a potential usualy negelected by interpreters.
Hermeneutics of suspicion is the incentive for a more critical depth and understanding. The
hermeneutics of trust is the result. It acknowledges the transformative power of
metaphors and works against the familiarity of interpretations.
As a result, interpretation needs to be contextualized in the light of a hermeneutics of
trust, since this understanding concerns both the world and us, resting on the assumption
that dialogue brings new perspectives to understanding.
Openness to truth, stemming from commitment to God as well as faith are parametres of
this understanding. Additionally, it includes respect for the text, intertexts and traditions of
interpretations.
It is primarily directed at the interpreter(s), who needs to question his assumptions in the
interpretative act and acknowledges his/her contextuality.
I mentioned previously that the meaning we seek to understand is one that helps us to
better understand our world and ourselves. We interpret because we are open to the
truths that can be gained from extracting the meaning in the texts and narratives, in which
the transient and tragic aspects of our human condition are expressed.
The dialectic suspicion/trust permeates the exegetical analysis offered in this study in the
following manner: suspicion occurs because there is no infallible interpretation, trust
because there can be no final interpretation.1162 The openness towards multiple
interpretations is thus not only guaranteed, but also fostered.
The current dissertation questions ‘traditional’ interpretations that deny the Whore’s
corporeality. It equally criticizes postmodern interpretations that reduce the Great Whore
to a ‘woman’.
Asking necessary and difficult questions has as equivalent in value reading receptively.
Reading receptively and trustingly acknowledge internal tensions and work their way
through them by maintaining faith, while enabling interpreters to read Biblical texts in new
and challenging ways.
I end this final part of the study by making some very short comments, or further research
recommendations which pertain both to the research on feminist issues, as well as to that
of the Great Whore.
1161
Paul Ricoeur, Freedom and Nature: The Voluntary and the Involuntary (trans. E. Kohak), Evanston:
Northwestern University Press, 1966, xxxi.
1162
Kirkpatrick, From Biblical Text, 372, emphasis mine.
360
Regarding the last option, maybe more studies should be dedicated to how exactly should
a less offensive feminist treatment of the Great Whore of the Apocalypse look like. This
should be done in an open manner, remaining open for dialogue with other perspectives
and never ceasing to actively participate in the reception history of the text of the
Apocalypse, while remaining truthful to the Christian tradition to which any interpreter
belongs.
Additionally, research of this type should be most importantly consistent. Its final gola
envisions societal change reflected in changes in perception and attitudes concerning the
role and status of women in society.
This type of analysis may be extended to other negative images of women, by unmasking
and resisting patriarchal ideology in the Biblical texts.
Extending constientization, or awareness to gender-related issues is a constructive task of
feminist criticism in general. By ‘feminist criticism in general’, I mean a type of criticism that
can be extended outside Biblical scholarship, in larger projects with socio-political
relevance.
Moreover, with feminist interpretations in particular, the exegetical reflections could be
further heightened in an attempt to anchor them in various contemporary contexts, others
than the already explored in the Biblical academic world, respectively the ones of the Third
World.
I hope the hermeneutic variant I am advancing with the completion of this study will aid in
questioning the textual formulations pertaining to the Great Whore, given the fact that the
study follows the guidelines of feminist criticism.
With gender-informed readings, emerged in the second half of the previous century, as a
result of various liberationist readings of the Bible within Churches, these acknowledged
the value of one’s standpoint (class, gender, ethnicity etc.) that can shape one’s
interpretation of the Apocalypse.
In view of the previously mentioned, I hope I managed to bring my contribution to the field
of gender studies with regard to a feminist interpretation of the Great Whore as depicted
in the vision of Apocalypse 17.
I doing so, a broadening of the interpretative horizon was achieved, having the gender-
informed perspective as a possible alternative to Biblical interpretation.
361
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What is the topic of the dissertation?

What is the topic of the dissertation?

What are the main parts/chapters of the dissertation?

What are the main parts/chapters of the dissertation?

The Great Whore of Babylon in the Vision of Apocalypse 17.

A gender-informed approach bridging the gap between socio-historical and

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Tobias Nicklas

Phd Candidate: Maria Hladiuc

Faculty of Roman-Catholic Theology

I gratefully acknowledge the support from Koordinationsstelle Chancengleichheit & Familie

My thanks go to my former colleagues, Augustine Anthony, Tina Hartl and Michael

Part I: Laying the Theoretical Foundations ..................................................18

1. Delineating the Feminist Horizon .......................................................................................18

2. History of Research ...........................................................................................................88

Part II: The Vision of the Great Whore in Apocalypse 17:1-6......................133

1. Introduction to Vision: vv. 1-2 ......................................................................................146

2. General Overview of the Vision (17:3-6)...........................................................................180

4. Dress and Ornaments ......................................................................................................228

5. Titles of Harlotry .............................................................................................................259

6. Seer’s reaction to the vision.............................................................................................301

In terms of exegetical difficulties, Apocalypse 17 is a genuine minefield.

At the same time, a constructivist approach of gender, respectively, gendered images in

This effort can be also conceived as a multilayered interdisciplinary approach, where

While considering the often-overlooked corporeal aspect, I am attempting not at a

From a gender-informed perspective, the evaluation of language in the Apocalypse

I enlist my contribution within postmodern approaches to the text of the Apocalypse,

1. Delineating the Feminist Horizon

Initiated out of socio-political motivations, as an expression of societal criticism, and drawn

The experience of women occurred as a medium in which the gender-related discourse

1.1 Main criticism to the historical-critical method from a feminist

A gender-critical approach brought about a contribution to a long row of changes meant at

As previously mentioned, the historical-critical method provides the framework, which

The interpreter is also historically conditioned. Although contemporary in terms of

Related to the above, another category relevant for a gender-related analysis is a

Provisional Conclusions (1)

The dissatisfaction of the feminists with various expressions of the historical-critical

Every society is permeated by unjust structures. Securing superior positions in a society

Provisional Conclusions (2)

My evaluation of immasculation is that it should not assume a radical stance. In contrast to

Provisional Conclusions (3)

The gender-informed interest in theology, especially in Biblical theology is as old as the

Revolutionary feminist theologians are proponents of an engagement with theology

Mainly seen as a process of constientization or awareness-raising, feminist Biblical

Turning to vitiated, respectively androcentric interpretations, language is to a certain

1.5. Delineating feminist perspectives with regard to ‘apocalypse’ and

In other words, what contextual hermeneutics in general, and feminism in particular

The sociological perspective associated with gender-informed theory in order to foster an

Some observations are imposed:

The perspective I chose to implement with my subsequent analysis concretizes in a

In this manner, I aspire at integrity of an argumentative type, which, in spite of the

2.1 Coordinates of the main analyses of feminine imagery in the Apocalypse

2.1.1 Gendered images overall in the Apocalypse

Another valuable observation for a current gender-informed interest in the Apocalypse is

Given the above, a series of questions could be formulated.

The rather traditional gender-informed interpretations fostered by the methodological

Convinced of the politico-rhetorical character of language, Elizabeth Schüssler-Fiorenza

By contrast, postmodern gender-informed analyses of gendered images question whether

2.1.2 Some relevant examples of gender-informed analysis of Apocalypse 17

As mentioned previously, there is no consensus, a universally valid interpretation of the