Only fragments have survived, the rest being lost ordeliberately destroyed. TheSibylline Books are not the same as theSibylline Oracles, which are fourteen books and eight fragments of prophecies thought to be of Judaeo-Christian origin.
According to the Roman tradition, the oldest collection of Sibylline books appears to have been made about the time ofSolon andCyrus atGergis onMount Ida in theTroad; it was attributed to theHellespontine Sibyl and was preserved in the temple of Apollo at Gergis. From Gergis the collection passed toErythrae, where it became famous as the oracles of theErythraean Sibyl. It would appear to have been this very collection that found its way toCumae (see theCumaean Sibyl) and from Cumae to Rome.
16th-century illustration of theCumaean Sibyl (Amalthea) burning some of the Sibylline books while Tarquin (confused withLucius Tarquinius Priscus) watches.
The story of the acquisition of theSibylline Books by the seventh and last king of Rome,Lucius Tarquinius Superbus ("Tarquinius", ruled 534 to 509 B.C., d. 495 B.C.), is one of the famouslegendary elements of Roman history. An old woman, possibly aCumaean Sibyl, offered to Tarquinius nine books of these prophecies at an exorbitant price; when the king declined to purchase them, she burned three and offered the remaining six to Tarquinius at the same price, which he again refused. Thereupon, she burned three more and repeated her offer, maintaining the same price. Tarquinius then consulted theAugurs whose importance in Roman history is averred byLivy. The Augurs deplored the loss of the six books and urged purchase of the remaining three. Tarquinius then purchased the last three at the full original price, and had them preserved in a sacred vault beneath theCapitoline temple of Jupiter. The story is alluded to inVarro's lost books quoted inLactantiusInstitutiones Divinae (I: 6) and byOrigen, and told byAulus Gellius (Noctes Atticae 1, 19).[1]
TheRoman Senate kept tight control over theSibylline Books,[2] and entrusted them to the care of twopatricians. In 367 BC, the number of custodians was increased to ten, five patricians and fiveplebeians, who were called thedecemviri sacris faciundis. Subsequently, probably in the time ofSulla, their number was increased to fifteen, thequindecimviri sacris faciundis. They were usually ex-consuls or ex-praetors. They held office for life, and were exempt from all other public duties. They had the responsibility of keeping the books in safety and secrecy. The 15 individuals were custodians of the Sibylline Books that were kept on the Palatine. These officials, at the command of the Senate, consulted theSibylline Books in order to discover not exact predictions of definite future events in the form ofprophecy, but the religious observances necessary to avert extraordinary calamities and to expiate ominous prodigies (comets and earthquakes, showers of stones, plague, and the like). It was only the rites of expiation prescribed by theSibylline Books, according to the interpretation of the oracle that were communicated to the public, and not the oracles themselves, which left ample opportunity for abuses.
In particular, the keepers of theSibylline Books had the superintendence of the worship ofApollo, of the "Great Mother"Cybele or Magna Mater, and ofCeres, which had been introduced upon recommendations as interpreted from theSibylline Books. TheSibylline Books motivated the construction of eight temples in ancient Rome, aside from those cults that have been interpreted as mediated by theSibylline Books simply by the Greek nature of the deity.[3] Thus, one important effect of theSibylline Books was their influence on applying Greek cult practice and Greek conceptions of deities to indigenous Roman religion, which was already indirectly influenced throughEtruscan religion. As theSibylline Books had been collected inAnatolia, in the neighborhood ofTroy, they recognized the gods and goddesses and the rites observed there and helped introduce them into Roman state worship, asyncretic amalgamation of national deities with the corresponding deities of Greece, and a general modification of the Roman religion.
Since they were written inhexameter verse and in Greek, the college of curators was always assisted by two Greek interpreters. When theTemple of Jupiter on theCapitol temple burned in 83 BC, the original books were lost.
The Roman Senate sent envoys in 76 BC to replace them with a collection of similar oracular sayings, in particular collected fromIlium, Erythrae,Samos, Sicily, and Africa.[4] This new Sibylline collection was deposited in the restored temple, together with similar sayings of native origin, e.g. those of the Sibyl atTibur (the 'Tiburtine Sibyl') of the brothers Marcius, and others, which had been circulating in private hands but which were called in, to be delivered to the Urban Praetor, private ownership of such works being declared illicit, and to be evaluated by the Quindecimviri, who then sorted them, retaining only those that appeared true to them.[5]
From the Capitol they were transferred by Augustus aspontifex maximus in 12 BC, to theTemple of Apollo Palatinus, after they had been examined and copied; there they remained until about AD 405. According to the poetRutilius Claudius Namatianus, the generalFlavius Stilicho (died AD 408) burned them, as they were being used to attack his government. The last known consultation was in 363 CE.[6]
Some supposedly genuine Sibylline verses are preserved in theBook of Marvels orMemorabilia ofPhlegon of Tralles (2nd century AD). These represent an oracle, or a combination of two oracles, of seventy hexameters in all. They report the birth of anandrogyne, and prescribe a long list of rituals and offerings to the gods.[citation needed] Their authenticity has been questioned.[7]
TheSibylline Oracles were quoted by the Roman-Jewish historianJosephus (late 1st century) as well as by numerous Christian writers of the second century, includingAthenagoras of Athens who, in a letter addressed toMarcus Aurelius in ca. AD 176, quotedverbatim a section of the extantOracles, in the midst of a lengthy series of other classical and pagan references such asHomer andHesiod, stating several times that all these works should already be familiar to the Roman Emperor. Copies of the actualSibylline Books (as reconstituted in 76 BC) were still in the Roman Temple at this time. TheOracles are nevertheless thought by modern scholars to be anonymous compilations that assumed their final form in the fifth century, after theSibylline Books perished. They are a miscellaneous collection of Jewish and Christian portents of future disasters, that may illustrate the confusions about sibyls that were accumulating among Christians oflate antiquity.[8]
An incomplete list of consultations of theSibylline Books recorded by historians:
461 BC: Strange signs, including a rain of meat, caused two officials to consult the books, which warned of a "concourse of alien men", but the tribunes believed it to be a deliberate invention to halt progress on legal reforms. (Livy 3)
399 BC: The books were consulted following a pestilence, resulting in the institution of thelectisternium ceremony. (Livy 5, 13)
348 BC: A plague struck Rome after a brief skirmish with the Gauls and Greeks. Another lectisternium was ordered. (Livy 7, 27)
345 BC: The books were consulted when a "shower of stones rained down and darkness filled the sky during daylight". Publius Valerius Publicola was appointed dictator to arrange a public holiday for religious observances. (Livy 7, 28)
295 BC: They were consulted again following a pestilence, and reports that large numbers ofAppius Claudius' army had been struck by lightning. A Temple was built to Venus near theCircus Maximus. (Livy 10, 31)
293 BC: After yet another plague, the books were consulted, with the prescription being 'thatAesculapius must be brought to Rome fromEpidaurus'; however, the Senate, being preoccupied with theSamnite Wars, took no steps beyond performing one day of public prayers to Aesculapius. (Livy 10, 47)
240/238 BC: TheLudi Florales, or "Flower Games", were instituted after consulting the books.
216 BC: WhenHannibal annihilated the Roman Legions atCannae, the books were consulted, and on their recommendation, two Gauls and two Greeks were buried alive in the city's marketplace.[9]
205–204 BC: During theSecond Punic War, upon consultation of theSibylline Books, an image ofCybele was transferred fromPessinos (Pessinous orPergamon) to Rome. An embassy was sent toAttalus I of Pergamon to negotiate the transfer.Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica andClaudia Quinta were said to have received the image ofCybele atOstia on her arrival in 204 BC.Cybele's image was placed within theTemple of Victory on thePalatine. In honour of Cybele a lectisternium was performed and her games, theMegalesia, were held.[10] The image of Cybele was moved to the Temple of theMagna Mater in 191 BC when the temple was dedicated by Marcus Junius Brutus in the consulship of Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica.[11] A fragment ofValerius Antias fromLivy'sAb Urbe Condita 36.36.4 records that Megalesia were again held in 191 BC and that "[they] were the first to be held with dramatic performances".[12]
143 BC: Frontinus relates a story in which the Decemvirs consulted the books on another matter and found that a proposed project for theAqua Marcia was improper, along with theAnio. After a debate in the Senate the project was resumed, presumably the necessity for water outweighed the oracle. Sextus Julius Frontinus, Aqueducts of Rome, Book I, Ch 7.
63 BC: Believing in a prediction of the books that 'three Cornelii' would dominate Rome,Publius Cornelius Lentulus Sura took part in the conspiracy ofCatiline (Plutarch,Life of Cicero, XVII)
56 BC: As Romans deliberated sending a force to restorePtolemy XII to the throne of Egypt, lightning struck the statue ofJupiter on theAlban Mount; the oracles were consulted, and one was found to read "If the King of Egypt comes to you asking for assistance, refuse him not your friendship, yet do not grant him any army, or else you will have toil and danger". This considerably delayed Ptolemy's return. (Dio CassiusHistory of Rome 39:15)
44 BC: According toSuetonius, a sibylline prediction that only a king could triumph overParthia fueled rumors thatCaesar, leader of the then republic, was aspiring to kingship. (Caesar, 79)
15 AD: When theTiber River flooded the lower parts of Rome, one of the priests suggested consulting the books, but EmperorTiberius refused, preferring to keep the divine things secret. (Tacitus,Annales I, 76)
64 AD: The EmperorNero consulted them following theGreat Fire of Rome. (Tacitus,Annales XV, 44)
271 AD: The books were consulted following the Roman defeat atPlacentia by theAlamanni.
312 AD:Maxentius consulted theSibylline Books in preparation for combat withConstantine, who had just taken all of Maxentius' northern Italian cities and was marching on Rome.
363 AD:Julian the Apostate consulted the books in preparation for marching against theSassanids. The response mailed from Rome "in plain terms warned him not to quit his own territories that year". (Ammianus Marcellinus,History of Rome, XXIII 1, 7)
405 AD:Stilicho ordered the destruction of theSibylline Books,[13] possibly because Sibylline prophecies were being used to attack his government in the face of the attack ofAlaric I.
^"after the burning of the Capitol during the Social War... the verses of the Sibyl, or Sibyls, as the case may be, were collected from Samos, Ilium, and Erythrae, and even in Africa, Sicily, and the Graeco-Italian colonies; the priests being entrusted with the task of sifting out the genuine specimens, so far as should have been possible by human means. " (Tacitus,Annals, VI.12.
^For attestations see: CiceroDe Haruspicum Responsis 24–28; VarroLingua Latina 6.15; Diodorus Siculus 34.33.1–6; Livy 29.10.4–11.8, 29.14.1–14; [Verrius Flaccus]Fasti Praenestini April 4; StraboGeography 12.5.3; OvidFasti 4.180–372; Valerius Maximus 8.15.3; PlinyNatural History 7.120; Silius ItalicusPunica 17.1–45; AppianThe Hannibalic War 56; FestusDe verborum significatu S. 51–52 M, P. 237 M; Dio Cassius 17.61; Herodian 1.11.1–5; ArnobiusAdversus Nationes 7.49–50; LactantiusDivinae institutiones 2.7.12; JulianHymn to the Mother of the Gods (Oration V) 159c–161b; Ammianus Marcellinus 22.9.5; AugustineDe civitate Dei 2.5, 10.16. Other minor sources exist but these are the major attestations.
^For attestations see: Livy 36.36.3; TacitusAnnales 4.65; Valerius Maximus 1.8.11.
^Livy 36.36.3, trans. Sage, E. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1935)
Jens Fischer (2020). Q. Fabius Pictor, das Orakel von Delphi und die sibyllinischen Bücher Roms – Zur Rolle von Orakeln in Rom und Griechenland, Gymnasium 127 (2020) 535–567
Jens Fischer (2022). Folia ventis turbata – Sibyllinische Orakel und der Gott Apollon zwischen später Republik und augusteischem Principat (Studien zur Alten Geschichte 33), Göttingen 2022
Eric M. Orlin (2002).Temples, Religion, and Politics in the Roman Republic ch. 3 "The Sibylline Books".[ISBN missing]
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Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906)."Sibyl".The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.