Editing Sibyl (section)

== Sibylline books ==
{{Main|Sibylline Books}}
The sayings of sibyls and [[oracle]]s were notoriously open to interpretation (compare [[Nostradamus]]) and were constantly used for both civil and cult propaganda. These sayings and sibyls should not be confused with the extant sixth-century collection of ''[[Sibylline Oracles]]'', which typically predict disasters rather than prescribe solutions.

Some genuine Sibylline verses are preserved in the second-century ''Book of Marvels'' of [[Phlegon of Tralles]].
The oldest collection of written Sibylline Books appears to have been made about the time of [[Solon]] and Cyrus at [[Gergis, Troad|Gergis]] on [[Mount Ida (Turkey)|Mount Ida]] in the [[Troad]]. The sibyl, who was born near there, at Marpessus, and whose tomb was later marked by the temple of Apollo built upon the archaic site, appears on the coins of Gergis, {{circa}} 400&ndash;350 BCE. (cf. Phlegon, quoted in the fifth-century geographical dictionary of [[Stephanus of Byzantium]], under 'Gergis'). Other places claimed to have been her home. The sibylline collection at Gergis was attributed to the [[Hellespontine Sibyl]] and was preserved in the temple of Apollo at Gergis. Thence it passed to [[Erythrae]], where it became famous. It was this very collection, it would appear, which found its way to [[Cumae]] and from Cumae to Rome. Gergis, a city of [[Dardanus (city)|Dardania]] in the Troad, a settlement of the ancient [[Teucer|Teucri]], and, consequently, a town of very great antiquity.<ref>Herodotus iv: 122</ref> Gergis, according to [[Xenophon]], was a place of much strength. It had a temple sacred to Apollo Gergithius, and was said to have given birth to the sibyl, who is sometimes called [[Erythraean Sibyl|''Erythraea'']], ‘from Erythrae,’ a small place on [[Mount Ida (Turkey)|Mount Ida]],<ref>[[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] i. 55</ref> and at others ''Gergithia'' ‘of Gergis’.