In this important new study, Thompson examines the literary and linguistic characteristics of the Book of Revelation and analyses their relationship to the situation of the Asian Christians to whom the Book is addressed. Using both literary and archaeological sources, he reconstructs the social and political conditions of life in the province of Asia under the emperor Domitian at the end of the first century AD and attempts to determine the place of Christians and Jews in that social setting. In this way he is able to situate the text in its true context and shed new light upon its intended meaning.