TEXTS · EVIDENCE · UNDERSTANDING
Historical atlas: places, texts and witnesses
Locate audience places, archaeological evidence, visionary cities and manuscript custody without confusing their kinds of evidence.
| Place | Evidence type | Reference | What can be established |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patmos | Narrative location | Revelation 1:9 | John names the island as his location. This is a textual statement, not an independently proven travel itinerary. |
| Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira | Named recipients | Revelation 2 | Four of the seven assemblies addressed in the text; the messages retain distinct situations. |
| Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea | Named recipients | Revelation 3 | The remaining three assemblies. The name Asia in this setting refers to the ancient Roman province. |
| Babylon | Archaeological place | British Museum 129397 | The East India House Inscription is an object associated with Nebuchadnezzar II. The museum dates production to 604–562 BCE. |
| Babylon in Revelation | Literary city image | Revelation 17–18 | The city image in a vision must be distinguished from a proven report about an archaeological site. Dale Martin’s historical reading identifies Rome. |
| New Jerusalem | Visionary place | Revelation 21–22 | A city descending from God in the vision. Its measurements do not establish an excavated ancient city plan. |
| Dublin · Chester Beatty | Modern manuscript custody | Papyrus III / P47 | The institution publishes the description and edition of a surviving section of Revelation. Modern custody is distinct from ancient composition. |
| Nippur | Unresolved source label | Two candidate flood tablets | The owner’s label needs identification. Candidate museum numbers and available translations are recorded in the request register; neither candidate is selected as certain. |
Dates need their own labels
604–562 BCE is the British Museum’s production range for the named Nebuchadnezzar object, not a date for Revelation’s composition. A manuscript copy date, a literary setting and an event date answer different questions. No precise composition year is asserted on this map.
Follow one reference outward
Choose a place, open its evidence, record what kind of claim it supports, then follow the related manuscript or chapter page. Add a date only when the source supplies it and keep that source attached. This map can grow without pretending that every literary city is a point on a modern map.