(μύλος; in Revelation 18:21 Textus Receptus , following B, has μύλον; L WH [Note: H Westcott-Hort’s Greek Testament.] , following A, have μύλινον; C has μυλικόν; Lat. mola)
The mill of the ancients (as of many Syrians to-day) was a quern-two circular stones, of which the upper and smaller rotated upon the other. The hard and monotonous labour of grinding was imposed on women; in wealthier houses, on female slaves (Exodus 11:5, Matthew 24:41). If the upper stone was small, it was turned by one person; if it was of greater size, two, three, or even four slaves required to work together at the task. The heavy toil was often somewhat lightened with a song. The writer of the Revelation alludes to these things in two successive verses. A great millstone flung impetuously (ὁρμήματι, ‘with a rush,’ or ‘indignantly’; see Septuagint Hosea 5:10) into the sea, to rise no more, is his image of the overthrow of Imperial Rome (Revelation 18:21). So complete is the desolation he foresees, that the sound of the mill (φωνὴ μύλου, the ᾠδὴ ἐπιμύλιος of the classics; cf. Septuagint φωνὴ τῆς ἀληθούσης in Ecclesiastes 12:4), the familiar murmur of domestic life, will never be heard again in the ruined city, which will have become a city of death (Revelation 18:22).
Literature.-J. Yates, article ‘Mola’ in Smith’s DGRA [Note: GRA Dict. of Greek and Roman Antiquities.] 2; G. M. Mackie, Bible Manners and Customs2, 1903; W. Carslaw, article ‘Mill, Millstone’ in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) ; A. R. S. Kennedy, article ‘Mill, Millstones’ in Encyclopaedia Biblica ; C. M. Doughty, Travels in Arabia Deserta, 1888, ii. 179.
James Strahan.