“Historians describe the ecological devastation that accompanied the [Roman] empire’s economic and military practices. Some of its effects would be familiar to those who study the ecological dimensions of colonialism: ‘deforestation for new crops, water and air pollution from mining, habitat destruction,’ territorial expansion once the soil is depleted, and so on. Perhaps the community of the Apocalypse of John had already experienced a similar devastation and projected it into the future as the agency of extraordinary beings.
“From this perspective, the Apocalypse of John shows the hidden side of the Roman Empire and reveals what had been happening. Revelation expresses a desire to bring it all to an end—the imports, the merchants, and even the sea by which they all arrived.”
Source: Mayra Rivera, “Iconographies of Catastrophe and Lament,” Harvard Divinity School Bulletin, Autum/Winter 2024.