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In the New Testament (e. g. 1 Peter 5:13) and the Judaism of late antiquity, "Babylon" is a symbol for Rome. No one dared attack Rome by name; so they used a more ancient empire capital as a substitute symbol.
In Hebrew each letter also stands for a number. If you write "emperor Nero" in Hebrew letters and add them up, the total is 666 (see the symbolic Beast in Revelation 13:18). This Beast is mortally wounded but miraculously restored to life by Satan (13:3) to continue his persecution of believers. Contemporary ancient Roman historians reported rumors that Nero was dead and conflicting rumors that he was brought back to life and would march on Rome to reclaim his empire. They report that there were 3 Nero impersonators! So Revelation are talking about symbolism of the Roman empire, not the Vatican! The relevance of this to modern times need not detain us here. I don't want to get long-winded!
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