The Second Angel Announces the Fall of Babylon, no.50 from The Apocalypse of Angers, 1373–87, Tapestry, Musée des Tapisseries, Angers, France, Musee des Tapisseries, Angers, France / Bridgeman Images
The book of Revelation is a dramatic expression of hope in exile. Christian tradition holds that John was exiled to the island of Patmos and, while asleep, received a tour of heaven and things to come. The narrative that plays out for John is a great cosmic battle between God and the heavenly hosts on one side and the forces of evil on the other. The sequence is full of symbols and strange imagery. A new heaven and a new earth ensues.
One of the principal images of evil used in this text is that of Babylon. Babylon was for the Jews what Patmos became for John: it was a place of exile. In the Hebrew Bible, the Neo-Babylonian army destroyed the city of Jerusalem and brought the people back to the city of Babylon as captives.
The devastation of this historical event was the source of great mourning for the Jews. But the subsequent fall of Babylon to Cyrus the Great and the Persian army opened an opportunity for their return to Jerusalem, to reclaim their land, and to rebuild. The fall of Babylon signalled a turning point in this ancient story.
In Revelation 18, an angel shows John the fall of Babylon, but this is not the historical event from the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible. Instead, this Babylon represents a new collection of evils and combines themes of the apocalyptic destruction of cities from multiple other Hebrew Bible texts. Revelation 18 describes this city as being haunted by demons (v.3), as having grown rich from luxury (v.3), as being a place of pride and excess (v.7) where prophets and saints were murdered (v.24). As a result, the angel tells John that Babylon will experience numerous plagues in a single day, bringing pestilence, grief, famine, and fire as a sign of God’s judgment (v.8). Just as the fall of Babylon was a turning point in the ancient story, so is the fall of Babylon a turning point in this apocalyptic story.
Elaine Pagels has commented on the constancy with which Christians throughout their history have compared their enemies to figures of evil in Revelation (Pagels 2012). Different biblical interpreters from different historical periods have identified Babylon as a symbol for a multitude of evils in their own times. Whatever the specifics of their particular associations, the drama and pathos of the fall of Babylon have provided commentators, artists, and readers, with an appealing way to criticize their enemies.
Embedded in this exhibition’s three visual representations are different kinds of challenge, which typically centre on the notion that human achievements—represented in the image of the city—are ephemeral follies that will eventually be destroyed by human or divine action (or both).
The unnamed medieval artist of the Angers Apocalypse tapestry imagines the Fall of Babylon in Revelation 18 as the crumbling and decay of a corrupt city—though this seems to be more by human neglect than any divine action, supernatural earthquake, or demonic attack. It is a city hollowed out from within.
Focussing on the book of Daniel, on which Revelation 18 also draws, John Martin’s The Fall of Babylon inserts more detail and drama into the destruction of the ancient city. The viewer is invited to contemplate the vastness of the building programmes in the metropolis and the destruction wrought on it by the Persians. Here, the natural elements and the invading army are part of God’s plan to restore the Jewish people to Jerusalem and remember God’s covenant with their forebears. Martin revels in both its grandeur and its devastation.
Endre Rozsda’s painting of the Tower of Babel is markedly different from the other two works shown here. Its abstract style suggests human and architectural forms without ever fully committing to them. The tone of this painting is one of chaos—perhaps born out of Rozsda’s experiences of fleeing political violence—and the Tower of Babel is used as a vehicle for commenting on greed, power, and humanity’s sowing of its own demise.
These representations of the Fall of Babylon remind viewers that humanity’s achievements are not permanent and do not grow in a linear fashion, but are ephemeral, subject to the limitations of human greed, powerless in the face of nature and the divine, and deceptive in appearance.
Yet in both the Old Testament and the New Testament accounts, the Fall of Babylon serves as a turning point, and offers a curious kind of hope. Whether by natural consequence or divine action, those who celebrate greed, luxury, and deception will fail.
Within the larger story of Revelation, this failure paves the way for the descent of the Heavenly City (Revelation 21:9–27), where justice and good governance will prevail.
References
Elaine Pagels. 2012. Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation (New York: Viking), pp. 1–36
18 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority; and the earth was made bright with his splendor. 2And he called out with a mighty voice,
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!
It has become a dwelling place of demons,
a haunt of every foul spirit,
a haunt of every foul and hateful bird;
3For all nations have drunk the wine of her impure passion,
and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her,
and the merchants of the earth have grown rich with the wealth of her wantonness.”
4Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,
“Come out of her, my people,
lest you take part in her sins,
lest you share in her plagues;
5for her sins are heaped high as heaven,
and God has remembered her iniquities.
6Render 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.
7As she glorified herself and played the wanton,
so give her a like measure of torment and mourning.
Since in her heart she says, ‘A queen I sit,
I am no widow, mourning I shall never see,’
8so shall her plagues come in a single day,
pestilence and mourning and famine,
and she shall be burned with fire;
for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”
9 And the kings of the earth, who committed fornication and were wanton with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning; 10they will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say,
“Alas! alas! thou great city,
thou mighty city, Babylon!
In one hour has thy judgment come.”
11 And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo any more, 12cargo of gold, silver, jewels and pearls, fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet, all kinds of scented wood, all articles of ivory, all articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, 13cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls.
14“The fruit for which thy soul longed has gone from thee,
and all thy dainties and thy splendor are lost to thee, never to be found again!”
15The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud,
16“Alas, alas, for the great city
that was clothed in fine linen, in purple and scarlet,
bedecked with gold, with jewels, and with pearls!
17In one hour all this wealth has been laid waste.”
And all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off 18and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning,
“What city was like the great city?”
19And they threw dust on their heads, as they wept and mourned, crying out,
“Alas, alas, for the great city
where all who had ships at sea grew rich by her wealth!
In one hour she has been laid waste.
20Rejoice over her, O heaven,
O saints and apostles and prophets,
for God has given judgment for you against her!”
21 Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying,
“So shall Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence,
and shall be found no more;
22and the sound of harpers and minstrels, of flute players and trumpeters,
shall be heard in thee no more;
and a craftsman of any craft
shall be found in thee no more;
and the sound of the millstone
shall be heard in thee no more;
23and the light of a lamp
shall shine in thee no more;
and the voice of bridegroom and bride
shall be heard in thee no more;
for thy merchants were the great men of the earth,
and all nations were deceived by thy sorcery.
24And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints,
John Martin
The Fall of Babylon, 1831, Mezzotint with etching, 464 x 719 mm, The British Museum, London, Mm,10.6, ©️ The Trustees of the British Museum
Endre Rozsda
The Tower of Babel (La Tour de Babel), 1958, Oil on canvas, 82 x 100 cm (?), ©️ 2022 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris; Photo: Courtesy Atelier Rozsda
Nicolas Bataille
The Second Angel Announces the Fall of Babylon, no.50 from The Apocalypse of Angers, 1373–87, Tapestry, Musée des Tapisseries, Angers, France, Musee des Tapisseries, Angers, France / Bridgeman Images
A Curious Kind of Hope
The book of Revelation is a dramatic expression of hope in exile. Christian tradition holds that John was exiled to the island of Patmos and, while asleep, received a tour of heaven and things to come. The narrative that plays out for John is a great cosmic battle between God and the heavenly hosts on one side and the forces of evil on the other. The sequence is full of symbols and strange imagery. A new heaven and a new earth ensues.
One of the principal images of evil used in this text is that of Babylon. Babylon was for the Jews what Patmos became for John: it was a place of exile. In the Hebrew Bible, the Neo-Babylonian army destroyed the city of Jerusalem and brought the people back to the city of Babylon as captives.
The devastation of this historical event was the source of great mourning for the Jews. But the subsequent fall of Babylon to Cyrus the Great and the Persian army opened an opportunity for their return to Jerusalem, to reclaim their land, and to rebuild. The fall of Babylon signalled a turning point in this ancient story.
In Revelation 18, an angel shows John the fall of Babylon, but this is not the historical event from the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible. Instead, this Babylon represents a new collection of evils and combines themes of the apocalyptic destruction of cities from multiple other Hebrew Bible texts. Revelation 18 describes this city as being haunted by demons (v.3), as having grown rich from luxury (v.3), as being a place of pride and excess (v.7) where prophets and saints were murdered (v.24). As a result, the angel tells John that Babylon will experience numerous plagues in a single day, bringing pestilence, grief, famine, and fire as a sign of God’s judgment (v.8). Just as the fall of Babylon was a turning point in the ancient story, so is the fall of Babylon a turning point in this apocalyptic story.
Elaine Pagels has commented on the constancy with which Christians throughout their history have compared their enemies to figures of evil in Revelation (Pagels 2012). Different biblical interpreters from different historical periods have identified Babylon as a symbol for a multitude of evils in their own times. Whatever the specifics of their particular associations, the drama and pathos of the fall of Babylon have provided commentators, artists, and readers, with an appealing way to criticize their enemies.
Embedded in this exhibition’s three visual representations are different kinds of challenge, which typically centre on the notion that human achievements—represented in the image of the city—are ephemeral follies that will eventually be destroyed by human or divine action (or both).
The unnamed medieval artist of the Angers Apocalypse tapestry imagines the Fall of Babylon in Revelation 18 as the crumbling and decay of a corrupt city—though this seems to be more by human neglect than any divine action, supernatural earthquake, or demonic attack. It is a city hollowed out from within.
Focussing on the book of Daniel, on which Revelation 18 also draws, John Martin’s The Fall of Babylon inserts more detail and drama into the destruction of the ancient city. The viewer is invited to contemplate the vastness of the building programmes in the metropolis and the destruction wrought on it by the Persians. Here, the natural elements and the invading army are part of God’s plan to restore the Jewish people to Jerusalem and remember God’s covenant with their forebears. Martin revels in both its grandeur and its devastation.
Endre Rozsda’s painting of the Tower of Babel is markedly different from the other two works shown here. Its abstract style suggests human and architectural forms without ever fully committing to them. The tone of this painting is one of chaos—perhaps born out of Rozsda’s experiences of fleeing political violence—and the Tower of Babel is used as a vehicle for commenting on greed, power, and humanity’s sowing of its own demise.
These representations of the Fall of Babylon remind viewers that humanity’s achievements are not permanent and do not grow in a linear fashion, but are ephemeral, subject to the limitations of human greed, powerless in the face of nature and the divine, and deceptive in appearance.
Yet in both the Old Testament and the New Testament accounts, the Fall of Babylon serves as a turning point, and offers a curious kind of hope. Whether by natural consequence or divine action, those who celebrate greed, luxury, and deception will fail.
Within the larger story of Revelation, this failure paves the way for the descent of the Heavenly City (Revelation 21:9–27), where justice and good governance will prevail.
References
Elaine Pagels. 2012. Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation (New York: Viking), pp. 1–36
Revelation 18
Revised Standard Version
18 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority; and the earth was made bright with his splendor. 2And he called out with a mighty voice,
4Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,
9 And the kings of the earth, who committed fornication and were wanton with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning; 10they will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say,
11 And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one buys their cargo any more, 12cargo of gold, silver, jewels and pearls, fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet, all kinds of scented wood, all articles of ivory, all articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, 13cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls.
15The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud,
And all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off 18and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning,
19And they threw dust on their heads, as they wept and mourned, crying out,
21 Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying,
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