Except that Babylon itself was still a functioning city, with Babylonia one of the most civilized and prosperous areas of the world, as it was till the Mongol invasions.
The Jews, shortly after Peter wrote, produced the Babylonian Talmud. Oddly enough, in Babylonia, not in Rome.
For a variety of reasons, we focus so much on the Roman Empire that we forget Judea was a frontier province. Babylon, in the Parthian Empire, was a great deal closer to Jerusalem than Rome. The Christians preached in both empires.
**Peter writes from “Babylon” which was a code name for Rome during these days of persecution.**
Correct.