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But how would Peter know that since Revelations was not written until 96 AD. No writer, secular or religious, ever referred to Rome as Babylon until after John's Revelation began to circulate.

But this reasoning is circular. You can't assert "no writer ever referred to Babylon until after John's Revelation" and then use that to argue against any previous instance. If this is Rome that Peter is talking about, then that is your earlier reference right there. John could well have gotten it from Peter.

But this reasoning is circular. You can't assert "no writer ever referred to Babylon until after John's Revelation" and then use that to argue against any previous instance.

Okay then list all the writers, theologians, poets, philosophers after Peter but prior to John who referred to Rome as Babylon??? You won't find any even prior to Peter.

If this is Rome that Peter is talking about, then that is your earlier reference right there.

Where in the text of that letter would anyone get the remotest idea that he is in Rome? The letter is written to the Jews dispersed in Asia Minor and to those Jews of the dispersion the word "Babylon" meant only one place: Babylon on the Euphrates.

He could have gotten it from Peter

But how??? The Book of Revelation was given directly to John on Patmos circa 96 AD by revelation from Jesus directly --- not from Peter or anyone else or from previous knowledge or experience. He wrote what he saw and was told at that time. And let's see what he says in that famous Chapter 17:

"1And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters ..... And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH....and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou wonder?"

Why is he wondering??? Why does he not know that he is looking at the city of Rome personified as Mystery Babylon??? Is he dense??? Clearly even though John sees the words "BABYLON THE GREAT" on her forehead, he is still clueless as to her identity --- until the angel reveals it to him:

"I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns..... The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.... And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth."

John clearly had not associated Babylon with Rome until the angel told him here at the end of the chapter. And all writers after this never associate Rome with Babylon by citing Peter's Epistle. They do so by citing John's chapter 17, particularly this last sentence.