Editing Sibyl (section)

== Specific sibyls ==

=== Cimmerian Sibyl ===
{{Main|Cimmerian Sibyl}}
[[Gnaeus Naevius|Naevius]] names the Cimmerian Sibyl in his books of the [[Punic War]] and [[Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi (consul 133 BC)|Piso]] in his annals.

Evander, the son of Sibyl, founded in [[Rome]] the shrine of [[Pan (mythology)|Pan]] that is called the [[Lupercal]].

=== Cumaean Sibyl ===
{{Main|Cumaean Sibyl}}
[[File:INC-1813-r Ауреус ок. 43 г. до н. э. Монетарии Октавиан Люций Цестий и Гай Норбан (реверс).png|thumb|[[Cumaean Sibyl]] on a coin of 43 BC, shown riding in a [[biga (chariot)|''biga'']] drawn by lions with a [[patera]] in her hand.]]
[[File:Louis Hector Leroux--Sibylle.webp|thumb|The Sibyl of Cumae, by [[Hector Leroux]].]]
The sibyl who most concerned the Romans was the [[Cumaean Sibyl]], located near the Greek city of [[Naples]], whom [[Virgil]]'s Aeneas consults before his descent to the lower world (''[[Aeneid]]'' book VI: 10). Burkert notes (1985, p.&nbsp;117) that the conquest of Cumae by the [[Oscans]] in the fifth century destroyed the tradition, but provides a ''[[terminus ante quem]]'' for a Cumaean sibyl. She is said to have sold the original [[Sibylline books]] to [[Tarquinius Superbus]], the last king of Rome. In Virgil's Fourth [[Eclogues|Eclogue]], the Cumaean sibyl foretells the coming of a savior—possibly a flattering reference to the poet's patron, [[Augustus]]. Christians later identified this saviour as Jesus.<ref>Pelikan, Jaroslav Jan, [https://books.google.com/books?id=lFKhtOt1qK0C ''The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine''], University of Chicago Press, 1989. {{ISBN|0-226-65371-4}}. Cf. p. 64</ref><ref>Kiefer, Frederick, [https://books.google.com/books?id=wekDP160ZKIC ''Writing on the Renaissance Stage: Written Words, Printed Pages, Metaphoric Books''], University of Delaware Press, 1996. {{ISBN|0-87413-595-8}}. Cf. p. 223.</ref><ref>Eliot, T. S.; Rainey, Lawrence S., [https://archive.org/details/annotatedwastela0000elio ''The Annotated Waste Land with Eliot's Contemporary Prose: Second Edition''], Yale University Press, 2006
{{ISBN|0-300-11994-1}}. Cf. p. 75</ref>

=== Delphic Sibyl ===
{{Main|Delphic Sibyl}}
The Delphic Sibyl was a woman who prophesied before the Trojan Wars (c. eleventh century BC). She was noted by Pausanias<ref name="Pausanias 10.12.1"/> in his writing during the second century AD about local traditions in Greece. This earliest documented Delphic Sibyl would have predated by hundreds of years the priestess of Apollo active at the oracle from around the eighth century BC who was known as [[Pythia]].<ref>Bowden, Hugh, [https://archive.org/details/classicalathensd0000bowd ''Classical Athens and the Delphic Oracle. Divination and Democracy'']. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. {{ISBN|0-521-53081-4}}. Cf. p. 14. "They may learn about the mysterious Delphic Sibyl, a mythical prophetess unrelated to the traditions of the oracle itself."</ref> As Greek religion passed through transitions to the pantheon of the Classical Greeks that is most familiar to modern readers, Apollo had become the deity represented by Pythia and those who then officiated at the already ancient oracle.

=== Erythraean Sibyl ===
{{Main|Erythraean Sibyl}}
The Erythraean Sibyl was sited at [[Erythrae]], a town in [[Ionia]] opposite [[Chios]].

[[Apollodorus of Erythrae]] affirms the Erythraean Sibyl to have been his own countrywoman and to have predicted the [[Trojan War]] and prophesied to the Greeks who were moving against [[Troy|Ilium]] both that Troy would be destroyed and that [[Homer]] would write falsehoods.

The word ''acrostic'' was first applied to the prophecies of the Erythraean Sibyl, which were written on leaves and arranged so that the initial letters of the leaves always formed a word.

=== Hellespontine Sibyl ===
{{Main|Hellespontine Sibyl}}
The Hellespontine, or Trojan Sibyl, presided over the [[Apollo]]nian [[oracle]] at [[Dardanus (city)|Dardania]].

The Hellespontian Sibyl was born in the village of [[Marpessus]] near the small town of Gergitha, during the lifetimes of [[Solon]] and [[Cyrus the Great]]. Marpessus, according to [[Heraclides of Pontus]], was formerly within the boundaries of the [[Troad]]. The [[sibylline books|sibylline collection]] at [[Gergis (Troad)|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.

[[File:LibyanSibyl SistineChapel.jpg|thumb|right|[[Michelangelo]]'s ''Libyan Sibyl'', [[Sistine Chapel]] [[Sistine Chapel ceiling|ceiling]]]]

=== Libyan Sibyl ===
{{Main|Libyan Sibyl}}

The Libyan Sibyl was identified with prophetic priestesses presiding over the ancient [[Zeus]]-[[Amun|Amon]] (Zeus represented with the horns of Amon) [[oracle]] at the [[Siwa Oasis]] in the Western Desert of [[Egypt]]. The oracle here was consulted by Alexander after his conquest of Egypt. The mother of the Libyan Sibyl was [[Lamia (daughter of Poseidon)|Lamia]], the daughter of [[Poseidon]]. [[Euripides]] mentions the Libyan Sibyl in the prologue to his tragedy ''Lamia''.

=== Persian Sibyl ===
{{Main|Persian Sibyl|Hebrew Sibyl}}
The Persian Sibyl was said to be a prophetic priestess presiding over the [[Apollo]]nian [[Oracle]]; although her location remained vague enough so that she might be called the "Babylonian Sibyl", the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persia]]n Sibyl is said to have foretold the exploits of [[Alexander the Great]].<ref name=Sambetheshadeth/> Also named ''Sambethe'', she was reported to be of the family of [[Noah]].<ref name=Sambetheshadeth>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/sib/sib15.htm Fragments of the Sibylline Oracles]. sacred-texts.com. Retrieved on June 20, 2008.</ref> The second-century AD traveller [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], pausing at [[Delphi]] to enumerate four sibyls, mentions the "Hebrew Sibyl" who was<blockquote> brought up in Palestine named Sabbe, whose father was Berosus and her mother Erymanthe. Some say she was a Babylonian, while others call her an Egyptian Sibyl.<ref>Pausanias, x.12</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QL0OAAAAQAAJ&q=sabbe+sibyl&pg=PA41 |title=Sibyls and sibylline prophecy in classical antiquity, Herbert William Parke |date= January 1988|isbn=9780415003438 |access-date=2013-06-26|last1=Parke |first1=Herbert William |publisher=Routledge }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M8s3cp97b-AC&q=sabbe+sibyl&pg=PA185 |title=Seers, sibyls, and sages in Hellenistic-Roman Judaism, John Joseph Collins |isbn=9780391041103 |access-date=2013-06-26|last1=Collins |first1=John Joseph |year=2001 |publisher=BRILL }}</ref> </blockquote>

The medieval Byzantine encyclopedia, the ''[[Suda]]'', credits the Hebrew Sibyl as author of the [[Sibylline oracles]].

=== Phrygian Sibyl ===
{{Main|Phrygian Sibyl}}
The Phrygian Sibyl is most well known for being conflated with [[Cassandra]], [[Priam|Priam's]] daughter in [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Guidacci|first=Margaret|title=Landscape with Ruins: Selected Poetry of Margherita Guidacci|year=1992|publisher=Wayne State University Press|pages=121|isbn=0814323529|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I-xNZi88FUQC&pg=PA121}}</ref>
The Phrygian Sibyl appears to be a doublet of the Hellespontine Sibyl.

=== Samian Sibyl ===
{{Main|Samian Sibyl}}
The Samian sibyl's oracular site was at [[Samos Island|Samos]].

=== Tiburtine Sibyl ===
{{Main|Tiburtine Sibyl}}
To the classical sibyls of the Greeks, the Romans added a tenth, the Tiburtine Sibyl, whose seat was the ancient [[Sabins|Sabino]]–[[Latins (Italic tribe)|Latin]] town of [[Tibur]] (modern [[Tivoli, Italy|Tivoli]]). The mythic meeting of [[Augustus]] with the Sibyl, of whom he inquired whether he should be worshiped as a god, was a favored [[wiktionary:motif|motif]] of Christian artists. Whether the sibyl in question was the [[Etruscan Sibyl]] of Tibur or the [[Cumaean Sibyl|Greek Sibyl]] of [[Cumae]] is not always clear. The Christian author [[Lactantius]] had no hesitation in identifying the sibyl in question as the Tiburtine Sibyl, nevertheless. He gave a circumstantial account of the pagan sibyls that is useful mostly as a guide to their identifications, as seen by fourth-century Christians:
<blockquote>The Tiburtine Sibyl, by name ''Albunea'', is worshiped at Tibur as a goddess, near the banks of the [[Anio River|Anio]], in which stream her image is said to have been found, holding a book in her hand. Her [[oracle|oracular]] responses the Senate transferred into the capitol. (''Divine Institutes'' I.vi)   </blockquote>

An apocalyptic pseudo-prophecy exists, attributed to the Tiburtine Sibyl, written c. AD&nbsp;380, but with revisions and interpolations added at later dates.<ref>[https://carleton.ca/~jopp/3850/1-1.htm The Latin Tiburtine Sibyl] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050407215602/http://www.carleton.ca/~jopp/3850/1-1.htm |date=2005-04-07 }}. History 3850 Readings. Retrieved on June 20, 2008.</ref> It purports to prophesy the advent of a final emperor named Constans, vanquishing the foes of Christianity, bringing about a period of great wealth and peace, ending paganism, and converting the Jews. After vanquishing [[Gog and Magog]], the emperor is said to resign his crown to God. This would give way to the [[Antichrist]]. Ippolito d'Este rebuilt the [[Villa d'Este]] at Tibur, the modern [[Tivoli, Italy|Tivoli]], from 1550 onward, and commissioned elaborate fresco murals in the Villa that celebrate the Tiburtine Sibyl, as prophesying the birth of Christ to the classical world.