Great Harlot in Early Christian Writings
Early Christian writers usually read the Great Harlot as Babylon, a corrupt city marked by luxury, idolatry, and blood-guilt. Hippolytus gives a direct reading of Revelation 17, and Tertullian and Cyprian also connect the image to Rome and to the world’s sinful power. The main Bible passages are Revelation 17–19, with older prophetic background from Nahum, Hosea, and Jeremiah. The evidence is strong for the symbol’s meaning, but mixed on whether the writers mean Babylon, Rome, or both.
123 early-church witnesses · 211 source quotations · compared with Scripture
What did early Christians believe about the Great Harlot?
Early Christian writers mainly used the Great Harlot of Revelation as a picture of a proud, corrupt city that seduces rulers and turns against God’s people. Hippolytus gives the clearest early reading of the woman as Babylon, a great city, and Tertullian and Cyprian also link the image with Rome and with Revelation’s warning about luxury, fornication, and blood-guilt.
The Bible passages most directly tied to the topic are Revelation 17–19, with strong background echoes from Old Testament harlot-city language like Nahum, Hosea, and Jeremiah. The evidence is broad for the image itself, but mixed on the exact identity of the city, since some writers speak more generally of Babylon while others point to Rome. Many more early Christian quotations, Bible passages, and source links are gathered below so you can study the evidence for yourself.
Key Takeaways
- The Great Harlot was read as a corrupt city, not just a private sinner.
- Hippolytus clearly links Revelation 17’s woman with Babylon and a great city.
- Tertullian and Cyprian connect the image with Rome, luxury, and persecution.
- The strongest Bible passages are Revelation 17–19, with Old Testament background in the prophets.
Questions Answered by the Sources
What did early Christians think the great harlot in Revelation was?
The early sources here mainly treat the great harlot as the figure in Revelation 17–18 and identify her with a great city, often Babylon and sometimes Rome. Hippolytus, Tertullian, and Victorinus all connect the passage to a city that reigns over the kings of the earth and opposes the saints.
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Hippolytus, Treatise on Christ and Antichrist Direct teaching
Upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth.
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Hippolytus, Treatise on Christ and Antichrist Direct teaching
I will show unto you the judgment of the great whore that sits upon many waters;
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Hippolytus, Treatise on Christ and Antichrist Direct teaching
...heir kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. And the woman that you saw is that great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth."
Why did early Christians connect the great harlot with Babylon or Rome?
Several sources say the woman is 'that great city' and use Babylon as the image behind the passage. Tertullian explicitly calls Babylon a figure of Rome, while Victorinus and Hippolytus describe the city as powerful, wealthy, and hostile to the faithful.
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Tertullian, Against Marcion Direct teaching
By a similar usage Babylon also in our (St.) John is a figure of the city of Rome, as being like (Babylon) great and proud in royal power, and warring down the saints of God.
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Victorinus, Connection to Revelation 17:1 Direct teaching
"There came one of the seven angels, which have the seven bowls, and spake with me, saying, Come, I will show thee the judgment of that great whore who sitteth upon many waters. And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs." The decrees of that senate are always accomplished against all, contrary to the preaching of the true faith; and now already mercy being cast aside, itself here gave the decree among all nations.
What symbols are used to describe the great harlot?
The supplied Bible texts and patristic quotations repeatedly highlight the same imagery: purple and scarlet clothing, gold, jewels, pearls, a golden cup, and intoxication with fornication. Cyprian and Hippolytus quote these features directly, showing that early readers treated them as central to the passage.
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Hippolytus, Treatise on Christ and Antichrist Direct teaching
...ne of her sexual immorality.’ And he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls. She had a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and the uncleanness of the earth’s sexual immorality. And on her forehead a name was written: ‘Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Prostitutes and of the Abominations of the Earth.’”
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Hippolytus, Treatise on Christ and Antichrist Direct teaching
...o one buys their goods anymore. Their goods were gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, fine linen, purple, silk, scarlet, all thyine wood, all kinds of ivory vessels, all kinds of vessels made of very precious wood, brass, iron, marble, cinnamon, spices, perfumes, ointments, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, goats, horses, chariots, slaves, that is, human bodies, and the souls of men. And the fruits your soul longed for have departed from you, and all the things that were rich and splendid have perished from you, and you will find them no more at all. The merchants of these things, who became rich because of her, will stand far off because they fear her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying, "Alas, alas, that great city, clothed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls! For in one hour such great riches have come to nothing." And every shipmaster, all who traveled by ship, sailors, and all who made their living by the sea stood far off. And they cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, "What city is like this great city?" And they threw dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and waili
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Tertullian, On the Apparel of Women Supporting witness
...only decorations, now, at all events, the daily increasing depravity of the age has raised them so nearly to equality with all the most honorable women that it is hard to distinguish them. And yet even the Scriptures suggest this reflection to us: meretricious attractivenesses of form are always joined with, and appropriate to, bodily prostitution. That mighty state which presides over the seven mountains and many waters has merited from the Lord the appellation of a prostitute. But what kind of garb is the means used in that comparison with that appellation? She sits, to be sure, in purple, scarlet, gold, and precious stone. How accursed are those things without which an accursed prostitute could not have been described! It was the fact that Tamar had painted and adorned herself that led Judah to regard her as a harlot. And so, because she was hidden beneath her veil, the quality of her garb belying her as if she had been a harlot, he judged her to be one, and addressed and bargained with her as such. From this we gather further confirmation of the lesson that provision must be made in every way against all immodest associations and suspicions. For why should the integrity of a
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Cyprian, Treatises Supporting witness
Thus in the Holy Scriptures, by which the Lord wished us to be both instructed and admonished, the harlot city is described more beautifully arrayed and adorned, and with her ornaments;
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Cyprian, Treatises Direct teaching
And he carried me away in spirit; and I saw a woman sit upon a beast, and that woman was arrayed in a purple and scarlet mantle, and was adorned with gold, and precious stones, and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full of curses, and filthiness, and fornication of the whole earth.
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Revelation 17:4 Supporting witness
The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality.
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Revelation 18:3 Supporting witness
For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
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Revelation 19:2 Direct teaching
For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
Did early Christians link the great harlot to persecution of believers?
Yes. Revelation explicitly says the woman is drunk with the blood of the saints, and early Christian interpreters repeat that theme when discussing the judgment of the great city. Victorinus and Hippolytus preserve the persecution theme in their readings.
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Revelation 17:1 Direct teaching
Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters,
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Revelation 18:2 Direct teaching
And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast.
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Revelation 14:8 Direct teaching
And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
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Revelation 16:19 Direct teaching
And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
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Nahum 3:4 Background
Because of the multitude of harlotries of the seductive harlot, The mistress of sorceries, Who sells nations through her harlotries, And families through her sorceries.
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Hosea 2:5 Background
For their mother has played the harlot; She who conceived them has behaved shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, Who give me my bread and my water, My wool and my linen, My oil and my drink.’
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Zechariah 3:4 Background
because of the abundance of fornication: she is a fair harlot, and well-favored, skilled in sorcery, that sells the nations by her fornication, and peoples by her sorceries.
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Revelation 17:5 Direct teaching
And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations.”
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Revelation 17:18 Direct teaching
And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
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Revelation 17:6 Direct teaching
And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly.
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Revelation 18:10 Direct teaching
Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
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Revelation 17:16 Direct teaching
And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
More related quotations from this section 10 shown
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Revelation 18:16 Direct teaching
And saying, Alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
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Acts 1:21 Background
How has the faithful city Zion, once full of judgment, become a harlot! wherein righteousness lodged, but now murderers.
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Jeremiah 4:30 Background
And you, O desolate one, what do you mean that you dress in scarlet, that you adorn 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.
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Nahum 1:7 Background
And they shall cut in pieces all the graven images, and all that she has hired they shall burn with fire, and I will utterly destroy all her idols: because she has gathered of the hires of fornication, and of the hires of fornication has she amassed wealth.
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Deuteronomy 23:3 Background
One born of a harlot shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord.
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Revelation 17:2 Background
With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
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Revelation 18:9 Background
And the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning.
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Jonah 2:6 Background
And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they are children of fornication.
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Zechariah 3:1 Background
O city of blood, wholly false, full of unrighteousness; the prey shall not be handled.
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Romans 3:9 Background
And her fornication was nothing accounted of; and she committed adultery with wood and stone.
Common Questions
Who did early Christians think the Great Harlot was?
Many early Christian writers read her as Babylon or as a picture of Rome, a city marked by power, luxury, and violence.
Which Bible passages are used for the Great Harlot?
The main passages are Revelation 17, 18, and 19, especially the scenes about the woman, the many waters, and Babylon’s fall.
Did early Christians connect the Great Harlot with Rome?
Yes. Some writers, especially Tertullian and later Victorinus, connect Babylon’s image with Rome and its rule over the nations.
Source Index for the Great Harlot
The guided sections above show the strongest quotations. This compact index highlights 160 ranked source links from 211 compiled sources for deeper study.
Source index 160 ranked links shown
Early Christian Writings 80 shown of 123
Primary-source quotations from early Christian writers and church documents.
Bible Passages 80 shown of 88
Related Bible passages saved for comparison with the early Christian quotations.
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Book 80 1:23