Babylon the Great, commonly known as the Whore of Babylon, refers to both a symbolic female figure and a place of evil as mentioned in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament. Her full title is stated in Revelation 17:5 as "Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth".
Colored version of the Whore of Babylon illustration from Martin Luther's 1534 translation of the Bible
The whore of Babylon as illustrated in Hortus deliciarum by Herrad of Landsberg, 1180
The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem, by David Roberts (1850)
For medieval Spanish Catholics, the Whore of Babylon (Revelation, 17.4–5) (a Christian allegory of evil) was incarnated by the Emirate of Córdoba.
Revelation 17 is the seventeenth chapter of the Book of Revelation or the Apocalypse to John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is traditionally attributed to John the Apostle, but the precise identity of the author remains a point of academic debate. This chapter describes the judgment of the Whore of Babylon.
Revelation 13:16-14:4 on Papyrus 47 from the third century.
A 1523 woodcut by Hans Burgkmair, for Martin Luther's translation of the New Testament, depicting the Whore of Babylon riding the seven-headed Beast (a hand-coloured copy)
