Editing Sibyl

{{Short description|Oracles in Ancient Greece}}
{{Redirect|Sibyls|the 1514 Italian painting|Sibyls (Raphael)}}
{{Other uses}}
The '''sibyls'''{{refn|group=n|{{langx|grc|Σίβυλλαι|Sibyllai}}, [[plural number|pl]]. of {{langx|grc|Σίβυλλα|Sibylla|label=none}}, {{IPA|el|sí.byl.lai, sí.byl.la|pron}}.}} were prophetesses or [[oracles]] in [[Ancient Greece]].<ref>[https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/sibyls "Sibyls"]. ''Encyclopedia.com''. Accessed 6 January 2021.</ref><ref>{{Britannica}}. Accessed 6 January 2021.</ref>

[[File:Aizanoi Zeus temple 2247.jpg|thumb|Statue in the Temple of Zeus at [[Aizanoi]], believed to depict a sibyl.]]
The sibyls [[prophet|prophesied]] at holy sites.<ref>Burkert 1985 p. 117</ref> 
A sibyl at [[Delphi]] has been dated to as early as the eleventh century BC by [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]]<ref name="Pausanias 10.12.1">Pausanias 10.12.1</ref> when he described local traditions in his writings from the second century AD.
At first, there appears to have been only a single sibyl. By the fourth century BC, there appear to have been at least three more, [[Phrygian Sibyl|Phrygian]], [[Erythraean Sibyl|Erythraean]], and [[Hellespontine Sibyl|Hellespontine]]. By the first century BC, there were at least ten sibyls, located in Greece, [[ancient Italy|Italy]], the [[Levant]], and [[Asia Minor]].

== History ==
[[File:DelphicSibylByMichelangelo.jpg|thumb|[[Michelangelo]]'s ''Delphic Sibyl'', [[Sistine Chapel]] [[Sistine Chapel ceiling|ceiling]]]]
The English word ''sibyl'' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɪ|b|əl}}) is from Middle English, via the [[Old French]] {{lang|fro|sibile}} and the [[Latin]] {{lang|la|sibylla}} from the [[ancient Greek]] {{wikt-lang|grc|Σίβυλλα}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|Sibylla}}).<ref>{{OED|Sibyl}} {{OEtymD|sibyl}}</ref> [[Varro]] derived the name from an [[Aeolic Greek|Aeolic]] ''sioboulla'', the equivalent of Attic ''[[theobule]]'' ("divine counsel").<ref>Tim Denecker, ''Ideas on Language in Early Latin Christianity'' (2017), p. 305.</ref> This etymology is not accepted in modern handbooks, which list the origin as unknown.<ref>Cf. Frisk, ''Griechische eymologisches Wörterbuch'', vol. 2, p. 700; Chantraine, ''Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque'', 2009, p. 966.</ref> There have been alternative proposals in nineteenth-century philology suggesting [[Italic languages|Old Italic]]<ref>"Rheinisches Museum" 1 ({{year needed|date=December 2021}}), 110ff.</ref>{{failed verification|date=December 2021}} or [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] derivation.<ref>{{Cite Jewish Encyclopedia |noicon=1 |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13629-sibyl |title=Sibyl}} "Since Lactantius expressly says (l.c. ["Divinarum Institutionum," i. 6]) that the sibyl is a native of Babylon, the name is probably Semitic in origin. The word may be resolved into the two components "sib" + "il," thus denoting "the ancient of god" (Krauss, in 'Byzantinische Zeit.' xi. 122)"</ref>

The first known Greek writer to mention a sibyl is (based on the testimony of [[Plutarch]]) [[Heraclitus]] (fl. 500 BC):
<blockquote>The Sibyl, with frenzied mouth uttering things not to be laughed at, unadorned and unperfumed, yet reaches to a thousand years with her voice by aid of the god.<ref>Heraclitus, fragment 92, ed. Charles H. Kahn, (1981), p. 125.</ref></blockquote>
[[Walter Burkert]] observes that "frenzied women from whose lips the god speaks" are recorded very much earlier in the Near East, as in [[Mari, Syria|Mari]] in the second millennium and in Assyria in the first millennium".<ref>Burkert 1985, p. 116</ref>

Until the literary elaborations of Roman writers, sibyls were not identified by a personal name, but by names that refer to the location of their ''[[temenos]]'', or shrine.

In [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''[[Description of Greece]]'', the first sibyl at Delphi mentioned ("the former" [earlier]) was of great antiquity, and was thought, according to Pausanias, to have been given the name "sibyl" by the Libyans.<ref name="Pausanias">See Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'', x.12 edited with commentary and translated by Sir [[James Frazer]], 1913 edition. Cf. v. 5, p. 288. Also see [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+10.12.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias, 10.12.1] at the Perseus Project.</ref> Sir [[James Frazer]] calls the text defective.

The second sibyl referred to by Pausanias, and named "Herophile", seems to have been based ultimately in [[Samos Island|Samos]], but visited other shrines, at [[Clarus]], [[Delos]], and [[Delphi]] and sang there, but that at the same time, Delphi had its own sibyl.<ref name="Pausanias"/>

[[James Frazer]] writes, in his translation and commentary on Pausanias,<ref>Frazer quotes Ernst Maass, ''De Sibyllarum Indicibus'' (Berlin, 1879).</ref> that only two of the Greek sibyls were historical: [[Erythraean Sibyl|Herophile of Erythrae]], who is thought to have lived in the eighth century BC, and [[Samian Sibyl|Phyto of Samos]] who lived somewhat later. He observes that the Greeks at first seemed to have known only one sibyl, and instances [[Heraclides Ponticus]]<ref>Heraclides Ponticus, ''On Oracles''.</ref> as the first ancient writer to distinguish several sibyls: Heraclides names at least three sibyls, the [[Phrygian Sibyl|Phrygian]], the [[Erythraean Sibyl|Erythraean]], and the [[Hellespontine Sibyl|Hellespontine]].<ref>[[James Frazer|Frazer, James]], translation and commentary on Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'', v. 5, p. 288, commentary and notes on Book X, Ch. 12, line 1, "Herophile surnamed Sibyl":
<blockquote>Prof. E. Maass (op cit., p.56) holds that two only of the Greek sibyls were historical, namely Herophile of Erythrae and Phyto of Samos; the former he thinks lived in the eighth century BC, the latter somewhat later</blockquote>

Frazer goes on:
<blockquote>At first, the Greeks seemed to have known only one sibyl. (Heraclitus, cited by Plutarch,'' De Pythiae Oraculis ''6; Aristophanes, ''Peace ''1095, 1116; Plato, ''Phaedrus'', p. 244b). The first writer who is known to have distinguished several sibyls is Heraclides Ponticus in his book ''On Oracles'', in which he appears to have enumerated at least three, namely the Phrygian, the Erythraean, and the Hellespontine.</blockquote>
</ref> The scholar David S. Potter writes, "In the late fifth century BC it does appear that 'Sibylla' was the name given to a single inspired prophetess".<ref>David Stone Potter, ''Prophecy and history in the crisis of the Roman Empire: a historical commentary on the Thirteenth Sibylline Oracle'', Cf. Chapter 3, p. 106.</ref>

Like Heraclitus, [[Plato]] speaks of only one sibyl, but in course of time the number increased to nine, with a tenth, the [[Tiburtine Sibyl]], probably [[Etruscan mythology|Etruscan]] in origin, added by the Romans. According to [[Lactantius]]' ''Divine Institutions'' (Book 1, Ch. 6), [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]]  (first century BC) lists these ten: the Persian, the Libyan, the Delphic, the Cimmerian, the Erythræan, the Samian, the Cumæan, the Hellespontine (in Trojan territory), the Phrygian (at Ancyra), and the Tiburtine (named Albunea).

== 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.

== In Renaissance art and literature ==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="220px">
File:Filippino Lippi--Five Sibyls--Samian, Cumean, Hellespontic, Phrygian and Tiburtine (cropped).jpg|[[Filippino Lippi]], ''Five Sibyls Seated in Niches: the Samian, Cumean, Hellespontic, Phrygian and Tiburtine'', c. 1465–1470, [[Christ Church, Oxford]].
</gallery>
In [[Medieval Latin]], ''sibylla'' simply became the term for "prophetess". It became used commonly in Late Gothic and Renaissance art to depict female ''Sibyllae'' alongside male prophets.
<ref>See e.g. {{cite web |url=http://www.lancs.ac.uk/depts/english/courses/214/sibyls/sibyls.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050329184954/http://www.lancs.ac.uk/depts/english/courses/214/sibyls/sibyls.htm |archive-date=2005-03-29 |title=Sibyls |publisher=[[Lancaster University]]}}</ref>

The number of sibyls so depicted could vary, sometimes they were twelve (See, for example, the [[Apennine Sibyl]]), sometimes ten, e.g. for [[François Rabelais]], "How know we but that she may be an eleventh sibyl or a second Cassandra?" ''[[Gargantua and Pantagruel]]'', iii. 16, noted in ''Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable'', 1897.<ref>[http://www.bootlegbooks.com/Reference/PhraseAndFable/data/1137.html ''Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable'', 1897] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050405195944/http://www.bootlegbooks.com/Reference/PhraseAndFable/data/1137.html |date=2005-04-05 }}</ref>

[[File:Bacchiacca - Sibyl.jpg|thumb|''Sibyl'' by [[Francesco Bacchiacca|Francesco Ubertini]], c. 1525]]
The best known depiction is that of [[Michelangelo]] who shows five sibyls in the frescoes of  the [[Sistine Chapel ceiling]]; the Delphic Sibyl, Libyan Sibyl, Persian Sibyl, Cumaean Sibyl, and the Erythraean Sibyl. 
The library of [[Pope Julius II]] in the [[Palace of the Vatican|Vatican]] has images of sibyls and they are in the pavement of the [[Duomo di Siena|Siena Cathedral]]. The Basilica of [[Santa Maria in Aracoeli]] crowning the [[Campidoglio]], Rome, is particularly associated with the Sibyl, because a medieval tradition referred the origin of its name to an otherwise unattested altar, ''Ara Primogeniti Dei'', said to have been raised to the "firstborn of God" by the emperor Augustus, who had been warned of his advent by the sibylline books: in the church the figures of Augustus and of the Tiburtine Sibyl are painted on either side of the arch above the high altar. In the nineteenth century, [[Rodolfo Lanciani]] recalled that at Christmastime the {{lang|la|[[presepio]]}} included a carved and painted figure of the sibyl pointing out to Augustus the Virgin and Child, who appeared in the sky in a halo of light. "The two figures, carved in wood, have now [1896] disappeared; they were given away or sold thirty years ago, when a new set of images was offered to the Presepio by prince Alexander Torlonia." (Lanciani, 1896 ch 1) Like prophets, Renaissance sibyls forecasting the advent of Christ appear in monuments: modelled by [[Giacomo della Porta]] in the Santa Casa at [[Loreto (AN)|Loreto]], painted by Raphael in [[Santa Maria della Pace]], by Pinturicchio in the [[Borgia apartments]] of the Vatican, engraved by Baccio Baldini, a contemporary of Botticelli, and graffites by Matteo di Giovanni in the pavement of the Duomo of Siena.
<!-- the statement misrepresents the content of the source cited. 
The 19th-century French historian [[Jules Michelet]] attributed the origins of [[European witchcraft]] to a "religion of the sibyls". In his introduction to ''La Sorcière'' (1862), Michelet wrote:
<blockquote>A powerful, tenacious religion, as Greek paganism was, begins with the sibyl, ends with the witch. The former, a beautiful virgin, in the full light of day, rocked its cradle, gave it its charm and glory. Later, fallen, ill, in the darkness of the Middle Ages, on heaths and in forests, it was hidden by the witch&nbsp;...<ref>Translated by Mark K. Jensen</ref></blockquote>
-->

[[Shakespeare]] references the sibyls in his plays, including ''[[Othello]]'', ''[[Titus Andronicus]]'', ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'', and especially ''[[Troilus and Cressida]]''. In the latter, Shakespeare employed the common Renaissance comparison of [[Cassandra]] to a sibyl.<ref>{{cite book|last=Malay|first=Jessica|title=Prophecy and Sibylline Imagery in the Renaissance: Shakespeare's Sibyls|year=2010|publisher=routledge|pages=115–120|isbn=9781136961076|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N48vCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA115}}</ref>

A collection of twelve [[motet]]s by [[Orlande de Lassus]] entitled {{lang|la|[[Prophetiae Sibyllarum]]}} (pub. 1600) draw inspiration from the sibyl figures of antiquity. The work—for four voices a cappella—consists of a prologue and twelve prophecies, each once corresponding to an individual Sibyl. While the text speaks of the coming of Jesus Christ, the composer reflects the mystical aura of the prophecies by using [[chromaticism]] in an extreme manner, a compositional technique that became very fashionable at the time. It is possible that Lassus not only viewed Michelangelo's depictions, but also drew the chromatic manière from a number of Italian composers, who experimented at the time.
<gallery mode="packed" heights="220px">
File:Filippino Lippi--Five Sibyls--Persian, Libyan, Delphic, Cimmerian and Erythraean (cropped).jpg|[[Filippino Lippi]], ''Five Sibyls Seated in Niches: The Persian, Libyan, Delphic, Cimmerian and Erythraean, c. 1465–1470, [[Christ Church, Oxford]].
</gallery>

== 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’.

== See also ==
* [[Pythia]], the Oracle of Delphi
* [[Temple of the Sibyl]]: 18th-century fanciful naming
* [[The Golden Bough (mythology)]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=n}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
* Beyer, Jürgen, 'Sibyllen', "Enzyklopädie des Märchens. Handwörterbuch zur historischen und vergleichenden Erzählforschung", vol. 12 (Berlin & New York, Walter de Gruyter 2007), coll. 625–30
* [[Auguste Bouché-Leclercq|Bouché-Leclercq, Auguste]], ''Histoire de la divination dans l'Antiquité'', I–IV volumes, Paris, 1879–1882.
* Broad, William J., ''The Oracle: the Lost Secrets and Hidden Message of Ancient Delphi'' (Penguin Press, 2006).
* [[Walter Burkert|Burkert, Walter]], ''Greek Religion'' (Harvard University Press, 1985) esp. pp.&nbsp;116–18.
* Delcourt, M. ''L'oracle  de Delphes'', 1955.
* ''Encyclopædia Britannica,'' 1911.
* Fischer, Jens, ''Folia ventis turbata – Sibyllinische Orakel und der Gott Apollon zwischen später Republik und augusteischem Principat (Studien zur Alten Geschichte 33)'', Göttingen 2022.
* Fox, Robin Lane, ''Alexander the Great'' 1973. Chapter 14 gives the best modern account of Alexander's visit to the oasis at Siwah, with some background material on the Greek conception of Sibyls.
* Goodrich, Norma Lorre, ''Priestesses'', 1990.
* Hale, John R. and others (2003). [http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=0009BD34-398C-1F0A-97AE80A84189EEDF Questioning the Delphic Oracle]. Retrieved Jan. 7, 2005.
* Hindrew, Vivian, ''The Sibyls: The First Prophetess of Mami (Wata)'' MWHS, 2007
* Jeanmaire, H. ''La Sibylle et la retour de l'âge d'or'', 1939.
* Lanciani, Rofolfo, ''Pagan and Christian Rome,'' 1896, ch. 1 [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/_Texts/Lanciani/LANPAC/1*.html on-line]
* Lactantius, ''Divine Institutions'' Book I, ch. vi [http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-07/anf07-04.htm#P192_35160 (e-text, in English)]
* Maass, E., ''De Sibyllarum Indicibus'', Berlin, 1879.
* Parke, Herbert William, ''History of the Delphic Oracle'', 1939.
* Parke, Herbert William, ''Sibyls and Sibylline Prophecy'', 1988.
* Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'', ed. and translated by [[James Frazer|Sir James Frazer]], 1913 edition. Cf. v. 5
* Peck, Harry Thurston, ''Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquity'', 1898. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999%2e04%2e0062&query=id%3dsibyllae#id,sibyllae]
* Pitt-Kethley, Fiona, ''Journeys to the Underworld'', 1988
* Potter, David Stone, [https://web.archive.org/web/20090213120221/http://www.umich.edu/~classics/directories/faculty.html#Potter], ''Prophecy and history in the crisis of the Roman Empire: a historical commentary on the Thirteenth Sibylline Oracle'', 1990. Cf. Chapter 3. [http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/1991/02.04.14.html review of book] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990427103733/http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/1991/02.04.14.html |date=1999-04-27 }}
* Potter, David Stone, ''Prophets and Emperors. Human and Divine Authority from Augustus to Theodosius'', Cambridge, MA:  Harvard University Press, 1994. [http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/1999/1999-03-11.html review of book]
* Reyniers, Jeroen, ''The Iconography of Emperor Augustus with the Tiburtine Sibyl in the Low Countries. An Overview'', in: Marco Cavalieri, Pierre Assenmaker, Mattia Cavagna, David Engels (ed.), Augustus Through the Ages: Receptions, Readings and Appropriations of the Historical Figure of the First Roman Emperor, Collection Latomus, Brussels, 2022, p. 209-236. [https://www.academia.edu/66692493/The_Iconography_of_Emperor_Augustus_with_the_Tiburtine_Sibyl_in_the_Low_Countries_An_Overview]
* [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith, William]], ''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'', 1870, article on Sibylla, {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20060824065619/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/3147.html]}}
* [[Martin Litchfield West|West, Martin Litchfield]], ''The Orphic Poems'', Oxford, 1983.

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Sibyls}}
{{EB1911 poster|Sibyls}}

=== Classic sibyls ===
* [https://archive.today/19990209155138/http://plato.evansville.edu/public/burnet/ch3.htm John Burnet ''Early Greek Philosophy'', 63., 64. brief analysis, 65. the fragments]
* [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=680&letter=S&search=sibyl ''Jewish Encyclopedia'']: Sibyl.

=== Music ===
* [http://www.classicalacarte.net/Fiches/9806.htm  El Cant de la Sibil-la / Mallorca / València (1400–1560) – Montserrat Figueras, Jordi Savall – La Capella Reial de Catalunya – Alia Vox 9806]
* [http://www.classicalacarte.net/Fiches/9879.htm  El Cant de la Sibil-la / Catalunya – Montserrat Figueras, Jordi Savall – La Capella Reial de Catalunya – Alia Vox AVSA9879]
* [http://www.deadcandance.com/main/albums/aion-1990/ The Song of the Sybil – Track 4 – 3:45 – Aion (1990) – Dead Can Dance] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151027083345/http://www.deadcandance.com/main/albums/aion-1990/ |date=2015-10-27 }}

=== Medieval Christianizing sibyls ===
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050329184954/http://www.lancs.ac.uk/depts/english/courses/214/sibyls/sibyls.htm Late Gothic illustrations of twelve sibyls]

=== Modern sibyl imagery ===
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090716151632/http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth01K23Q441812620571 A sardonic sequence of 'Twelve Sibyls', accompanied by the artist Leonard Baskin's woodcuts, revisits Sibyls and Others (1980)]. [[Ruth Fainlight]] has written dozens of poems about these ambiguous figures, bridging religion, classical and Biblical settings, femininity and modernity. One of them concludes: 'I am no more conscious of the prophecies / than I can understand the language of birds /…let the simple folk praise you, / keep you safe as a caged bird, / and call you a sibyl'.
* [http://www.albanianliterature.com/html/authors/poetry/bogdani.html Pjetër Bogdani, "The Songs of the Ten Sibyls"] modern poetry, translated from Albanian
* [http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/eliot01.html T.S. Eliot's ''The Waste Land''] is prefaced by a quote from Petronius' ''Satyricon'' (1st century AD) The passage translates roughly as "I saw with my own eyes the Sibyl at Cumae hanging in a jar, and when the boys said to her 'Sibyl, what do you want?' that one replied 'I want to die'.
* The [http://bl1231.als.lbl.gov SIBYLS] beamline at the [http://www-als.lbl.gov Advanced Light Source] in Berkeley, CA.

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Sibyls| ]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek titles]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman titles]]
[[Category:Classical oracles]]
[[Category:Mythological Greek seers]]