Anthropology

but I wonder why somebody who was writing to early Christians, who were primarily from Jewish backgrounds in the first century, would use Roman curses in the book. Some early Christians were Gentile converts and many Jews were at least partially Hellenized, but both Jews and Christians of the first century CE considered Rome their enemy. The author of Revelation was writing to Christian communities.

For a really good secular historical take on Revelation, there is an informative Zoom session on You Tube with Professor Bart Ehrman of UNC at Chapel Hill. (Linked below) He is a leading secular Biblical historian. He was raised in a fundamentalist Christian church but doubts led him to leave it and devote his studies to researching historical, factual backgrounds and documents on the development of Christianity and Judaism. He identifies as an atheist.

While researching a paper on Judaism for a history of religions course, I contacted a rabbi who let me use the library in his office. I found an article in the Encyclopedia Judaica about the first appearance of apocalyptic End Times concepts in Judaism. It began after Persia defeated Babylon and the Jewish captives in Babylon returned to Israel to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem. Israel was a client kingdom under Persia then.

Persian Zoroastrianism has a belief in a final battle between good and evil, led by two opposing gods. Good wins out and the evil god (similar to Satan) and his followers are destroyed. But it is necessary for everyone before and during that time to weigh the balance in favor of good by the way they live their lives in order to be included among the good who will live under the good god's rule on earth. Judaism was influenced by this Persian belief, but tweaked it to fit a Jewish perspective. In the Jewish view, God would send a messiah (anointed one) to do either spiritual or physical battle (some thought both) on Israel's behalf. The outcome of the End Times battle would be the destruction of evil in the world and the restoration of Israel as an independent nation with the respect and recognition by other nations of the superiority of the One God.

During the time of Jesus, there was a messianic fervor due to hardships in Judea under the rule of Pagan Rome, and prior to that, of Pagan Greece. There were several interpretations and expectations of what the Messiah would be like.

In the linked video below, Ehrman does not mention the influence of Zoroastrianism on the apocalyptic book of Revelation, but he explains the symbolism in the book that contemporaries of the author would have understood.

Because it's a Zoom session, there is a lot of introductory
material in the first 18 to 20 minutes. The actual discussion of Revelation does not begin until around 18:33 minutes into the video.