John Gill Commentary Revelation 17:18

"And the woman whom thou sawest is the great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth." — Revelation 17:18 (ASV)

And the woman which you saw
(Revelation 17:3) as there described,

is that great city ,
often mentioned in this book; great Babylon, the city of Rome, (Revelation 11:8) (14:8) (16:19) which reigns over the kings of the earth; which then reigned in John's time over the kings of the earth; and this clearly points out the city of Rome, for there was no other city then, but that, which reigned over the kings of the earth; that was then the metropolis of the Roman empire, to which the whole world was subject; and therefore it is called all the world, (Luke 2:1) and since, all the kings of the empire have been under the jurisdiction of Rome Papal.

It was formerly called Urbs Regum, a "city of kings" ^F26 , either for the reason in the text, or because its inhabitants looked like kings.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F26: Justin. l. 18. c. 2.