The descriptive term “great” links this passage to Daniel 4:30, when King Nebuchadnezzar boasted of “this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power.” Babylon was “great” (in people’s minds) because she was independent and self-sufficient and so did not need the Creator. In the context of Daniel 4, what made Babylon “great” was the comparison to the tree visible to the whole world which supplied food for all (Daniel 4:11–12). That great tree, though, would be chopped down. That promise was fulfilled with the king losing his mind. Hidden in the opaque outline of this revelation was the destruction of the city (and empire) itself.
5 And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.”