FIRST, go for the most literal logical interpretation that is available from the story itself. In other words we do not worry about what woman or purple or land might mean symbolicly, we just accept the story itself.
Unless Jerusalem becomes a city like Babylon and Rome that rules over all the earth then it cannot be Babylon. I believe it is a city that has not yet been recognized and it will be as Babylon and Rome, a city that rules over the other countries of the world.
Two things:
First of all, in order for your second point (above) to be true, you have to violate your first point (also above), because whatever this "unrecognized city" is, it is clearly symbolized by Babylon!
Therefore, even though you claim we don't need to "symbolize" the woman of Revelation 17, that's exactly what you do to arrive at your "unrecognized city" symbolized by Babylon!
But more importantly, "other countries of the world" is NOT how Rev. 17:18 reads!
Here, again, is the text from Young's Literal Translation:
"and the woman that thou didst see is the great city that is having reign over the kings of the land.' Revelation 17:18 (YLT)
Here is a list of verses referring to "the land" in the OT:
Gen. 13:15, Gen. 15:17-18, Gen. 17:18, Gen. 26:3,12,22, Gen. 28:4, 13, Gen.35:12, Ex. 6:4, Lev. 19:29, Lev. 20:2,4,22,24, Lev. 23:10, 39, Lev.25: 2,4,19,23-24, Lev. 26:6.
And there are many, many more (too tired to post them all.)
Getting the picture yet?
"The Land" was all you had to say to a Jew and they would've immediately known what you were talking about: the land given to Abraham as part of the covenant between he and God.
But what did God say would happen if they disobeyed?
14 'But if you do not obey Me and do not carry out all these commandments, 15 if, instead, you reject My statutes, and if your soul abhors My ordinances so as not to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant, 16 I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the soul to pine away; also, you will sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies will eat it up.
17 ~'I will set My face against you so that you will be struck down before your enemies; and those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one is pursuing you.
18 ~'If also after these things you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. 19 ~'I will also break down your pride of power; I will also make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze. 20 ~'Your strength will be spent uselessly, for your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit.
21 'If then, you act with hostility against Me and are unwilling to obey Me, I will increase the plague on you seven times according to your sins.
22 ~'I will let loose among you the beasts of the field, which will bereave you of your children and destroy your cattle and reduce your number so that your roads lie deserted.
23 'And if by these things you are not turned to Me, but act with hostility against Me, 24 then I will act with hostility against you; and I, even I, will strike you seven times for your sins.
25 ~'I will also bring upon you a sword which will execute vengeance for the covenant; and when you gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you, so that you shall be delivered into enemy hands. 26 ~'When I break your staff of bread, ten women will bake your bread in one oven, and they will bring back your bread in rationed amounts, so that you will eat and not be satisfied.
27 'Yet if in spite of this you do not obey Me, but act with hostility against Me, 28 then I will act with wrathful hostility against you, and I, even I, will punish you seven times for your sins. 29 ~'Further, you will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters you will eat. 30 ~'I then will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and heap your remains on the remains of your idols, for My soul shall abhor you.
31 ~'I will lay waste your cities as well and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your soothing aromas. 32 ~'I will make the land desolate so that your enemies who settle in it will be appalled over it. 33 ~'You, however, I will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste. 34 'Then the land will enjoy its sabbaths all the days of the desolation, while you are in your enemies' land; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. 35 ~'All the days of its desolation it will observe the rest which it did not observe on your sabbaths, while you were living on it. Leviticus 26:14-35 (NASB)
The "great city" of "the land" was Jerusalem.