G897 — Βαβυλών (Babylṓn)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: G897
Original: Βαβυλών
Transliteration: Babylṓn
Pronunciation: bab-oo-lone'
Part of Speech: Proper locative noun (n-pr-loc) — feminine
Root: Of Hebrew origin — from H894 בָּבֶל (Bâbel), from בָּלַל (balal, H1101) "to confuse" (cf. Gen 11:9)
Occurrences: 11 unique verses, 12 tokens in NT
Books: 4 (Matthew, Acts, 1 Peter, Revelation)
First Occurrence: Matt 1:11 — "the time they were carried away to Babylon"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

Of Hebrew origin (H894); Babylon, the capital of Chaldaea (literally or figuratively, as a type of tyranny). In the NT the name designates (a) the historical Mesopotamian city of the Jewish exile, (b) a symbolic/prophetic city-entity in the apocalyptic visions of Revelation, and (c) a probable cipher for Rome in apostolic usage (1 Pet 5:13).

UBS Semantic Domains¶

[093] Names of Persons and Places — search_relationships.py classifies Βαβυλών as a place-name entry rather than a content word in a broader semantic field.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
Babylon	7	63.6%
to Babylon	2	18.2%
BABYLON (capitalized — Rev 17:5 titulus)	1	9.1%
into Babylon	1	9.1%

The KJV keeps the name as a straight transliteration; variation is purely prepositional or typographic.

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Revelation	6	1.5
1 Peter	1	1.0
Matthew	3	0.3
Acts	1	0.1

Pattern: More than half of NT usage (6 of 11 verses) concentrates in Revelation 14–18, where Babylon functions as a prophetic-symbolic entity. Matthew's three uses are historical-genealogical (the Exile), Acts 7:43 is an OT citation (Amos 5:27 with "Damascus" replaced by "Babylon"), and 1 Peter 5:13 is a greeting datum whose referent has been debated since antiquity. The word never appears in the Gospels of Mark, Luke, or John, nor in any Pauline epistle.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Historical Mesopotamian City — Place of Exile¶

Matt 1:11 — "carried away to Babylon" (μετοικεσίας Βαβυλῶνος)
Matt 1:12 — "after they were brought to Babylon"
Matt 1:17 — "from David until the carrying away into Babylon... from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ"

Here the word denotes the literal sixth-century-BC destination of the Judean deportation, used as a genealogical landmark.

2. OT Citation Extending the Exile Motif¶

Acts 7:43 — "I will carry you away beyond Babylon" (Stephen quoting Amos 5:27 LXX, which reads "beyond Damascus"; Stephen updates the name to the more famous exile-city)

3. Apostolic Greeting — Place of Writing (Debated Referent)¶

1 Pet 5:13 — "The [church that is] at Babylon, elected together with [you], saluteth you"

Could designate literal Babylon on the Euphrates, the Egyptian Babylon (a Roman fort), or — following the later Jewish and Patristic reading — Rome as a cipher. The word itself is neutral; context decides.

4. Apocalyptic City — Fallen Harlot¶

Rev 14:8 — "Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication"
Rev 18:2 — "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils"

The doubled "fallen, fallen" cry echoes Isa 21:9 LXX and announces a coming judgment.

5. Apocalyptic City — Cup-Bearer of Wrath¶

Rev 16:19 — "great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath"
Rev 17:5 — "upon her forehead [was] a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH"

Babylon both gives a cup to the nations (14:8) and receives one from God (16:19). The name stands as a titulus on the harlot's forehead, marking her as a μυστήριον (mystery, G3466).

6. Apocalyptic City — Object of Final Destruction¶

Rev 18:10 — "Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come"
Rev 18:21 — "Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all"

The millstone-into-sea image draws directly on Jer 51:63–64 LXX, cementing the literary dependence on OT Babylon oracles.

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
μέγας (megas) — great	G3173	6x (55%)	"Babylon the great" / "that great city Babylon" — the standing epithet in Revelation
λέγω (legō) — say	G3004	4x (36%)	Spoken announcement ("saying, Babylon...") — judgment is proclaimed
πόλις (polis) — city	G4172	4x (36%)	"that great city Babylon" — always cast as an urban, civic entity
μετοικεσία (metoikesía) — deportation	G3350	3x (27%)	"the carrying away to Babylon" — Matthew's exile formula
πᾶς (pas) — all	G3956	3x (27%)	"all nations drink," universal reach of her influence
πίπτω (piptō) — fall	G4098	3x (27%)	"is fallen, is fallen" — her signature verdict
θυμός (thymos) — wrath/fury	G2372	2x (18%)	Cup of the wine of wrath — her cup and God's cup
οἶνος (oinos) — wine	G3631	2x (18%)	Wine of fornication / wine of wrath — the shared liquid metaphor
ἔθνος (ethnos) — nations	G1484	2x (18%)	Made all nations drink; cities of the nations fell with her
ἰσχυρός (ischyros) — mighty	G2478	2x (18%)	"mighty city" / "mighty angel" — pairing of strength in the oracle

Word Family / Cognates¶

H894 בָּבֶל (Bâbel) — Hebrew source; the OT name of the city, etymologized in Gen 11:9 from בָּלַל balal, "confuse." G897 is a straight Greek transliteration of this form.
H895 בַּבֶל (Babel, Aramaic) — Aramaic equivalent used in Ezra, Daniel; same consonantal form.
No Greek cognates — the word is a loan-proper-noun and has no Greek derivatives or compounds in the NT.

Synonyms¶

No direct synonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for G897.

Antonyms¶

No antonyms were returned by search_relationships.py for G897.

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
בָּבֶל (Bâbel)	H894	"Babylon"	OT Hebrew source term; 197 LXX co-occurrences align it with G897 — same referent, different language
בַּבֶל (Babel) Aramaic	H895	"Babylon"	Aramaic counterpart used in Ezra/Daniel passages; identical referent

There are no other Greek proper nouns translated "Babylon." Within the NT the word has no ambiguity — every occurrence renders this one lemma.

Hebrew Source¶

Hebrew Source	Strong's	Co-occ (LXX)	PMI	Notes
בָּבֶל (Bâbel)	H894	197	6.55	Overwhelming primary source — the standard LXX rendering
נְבוּכַדְנֶאצַּר (Nebuchadnezzar)	H5019	40	6.30	Co-textual: "king of Babylon" formula
בַּבֶל (Babel, Aram.)	H895	17	6.38	Aramaic source (Daniel, Ezra)
כַּשְׂדִּי (Kasdîy, Chaldean)	H3778	24	4.98	Ethnic designation — "Chaldeans of Babylon"
צִדְקִיָּה (Zedekiah)	H6667	20	5.17	Last king of Judah taken to Babylon
רִבְלָה (Riblah)	H7247	7	6.32	Nebuchadnezzar's Syrian headquarters
מֶלֶךְ (melek, king)	H4428	119	2.70	Formulaic "king of Babylon" collocation
נְבוּזַרְאֲדָן (Nebuzaradan)	H5018	6	6.10	Babylonian captain of the guard

G897 is not a semantic rendering but a one-to-one transliteration of H894/H895. The rich co-occurrence profile reflects the historical material surrounding OT Babylon rather than any semantic breadth in the Greek word itself.

Notes on Usage¶

Proper noun, not Louw-Nida–classified. Louw-Nida does not index proper names as semantic-domain items; G897 has no domain entry.
All 11 NT occurrences are nominative/genitive/accusative of the same feminine singular lemma — Βαβυλών / Βαβυλῶνος / Βαβυλῶνα / Βαβυλῶνι. There is no morphological variation of theological interest.
Literary dependencies. Revelation's Babylon oracles draw heavily on Isa 13, Isa 21, Isa 47, Jer 50–51, and Ezek 26–27. The doubled "fallen, fallen" comes from Isa 21:9 LXX; the millstone-cast-into-sea from Jer 51:63–64; the cup imagery from Jer 25:15–17 and Jer 51:7; the harlot/mother motif partially from Jer 51:13 and Isa 47:5–9.
Rev 17:5 titulus is the only place in the NT the word is written as a formal inscription ("a name written... BABYLON THE GREAT"), marking it as a symbolic/cryptic designation (μυστήριον).