Vanderhoven7:
The "Woman" of Revelation, who is the "Great City" that "reigns over the Kings of the Earth" can only be Jerusalem.
Entirely wrong. Despite all of the tedious cherry picking and wishy thinking, Babylon the Great definitely referred to 1st century Rome, 'a city with a kingdom over other kings' that 'sits on 7 hills'. Additionally, Jerusalem didn't have any remarkable status with the 'merchants'.
There are two 'women' and two 'great cities' in Revelation. The 'great city'/'woman' in chapters 11 and 12 (Jerusalem, where Jesus was executed, and which purportedly 'gave birth' to the 'kingdom') parallels the other 'great city'/'woman' (Rome) in chapters 16-18. In the story, it was expected that retribution would be brought against the latter great city (Rome) after the destruction of Jerusalem (i.e. the 'great tribulation', which explicitly happens prior to Jesus' 'presence', whereas the destruction of 'Babylon the Great' was expected to happen after Jesus' 'presence' began).
Despite the intentional ambiguity of apocalyptic literature, this isn't really that complicated. It is essentially because the superstitions of 1st-century Christians were simply wrong that people are so desperate to make up alternatives.