She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, greets you; and so does Mark, my son.
"Babylon" may refer to Babylon on the Euphrates River. [Note: McGee, 5:714; E. Schuyler English, "Was St. Peter Ever in Rome?" Bibliotheca Sacra 124:496 (October-December 1967):317.] However this seems more likely to be a veiled, metaphorical reference to Rome where Peter spent the last years of his life. [Note: Kelly, pp. 218-19; Blum, p. 212; Goppelt, pp. 373-75; Michaels, p. 311; Robertson, 6:135; et al.] The technical name for this figure of speech (i.e., a code name) is atbash. We know that John "Mark" was in Rome (Colossians 4:10). But why would Peter have called Rome Babylon? Probably he did so because Rome was the capitol of the pagan world. The Christians had come to think of Rome as Babylon. Babylon on the Euphrates was then in decline, but it was formerly the world center of godlessness. The Bible uses Babylon as a symbol of ungodliness as well as the name of a real town (cf. Revelation 17-18). Similarly the name Hollywood is both a literal town name and the symbol of the industry for which the town is famous.