 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Persian Sibyl" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(January 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
_-_Persian_Sibyl.jpg)
ThePersian Sibyl – also known as theBabylonian,Chaldaean,Hebrew orEgyptian Sibyl – was the prophetic priestess presiding over theApollonianoracle.
The word"Sibyl" comes (viaLatin) from theancient Greek wordsibylla, meaning "prophetess". There were many Sibyls in the ancient world, but the Persian Sibyl allegedly foretold the exploits ofAlexander of Macedon. Nicanor, who wrote a life of Alexander, mentions her.[1]
The Persian Sibyl has had at least three names: Sambethe, Helrea[2] and Sabbe.[3]
Sambethe was said to be of the family ofNoah.[4]The Persian Sibyl byGuercino hangs in the Capitoline Museum in Rome.
Pausanias, pausing atDelphi to enumerate four sibyls, mentions a "Hebrew sibyl":
there grew up among the Hebrews above Palestine, a woman who gave oracles named Sabbe, whose father was Berosus and her mother Erymanthe. Some say she was a Babylonian, while others call her an Egyptian Sibyl.[5][6][7]
The medieval Byzantine encyclopedia, theSuda, credits the Hebrew Sibyl as the author of theSibylline oracles, a collection of texts of c. the 2nd to 4th century which were collected in the 6th century.
Media related toSibyl of Persia at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
