The Women of Enlightenment: 7 Facts about the Fabled Sibyls of Ancient Greece and Rome
68Tantalizingly Little Remains of the Sibyls
- Whatever we might pre-suppose about the Sibyls in Modern times, they were very highly regarded seers and prophetesses in Ancient times, born out by the fact that Augustus Caesar, second Emperor of Rome, kept their Sibylilline books safely within the precincts of Rome, moving them to the Temple of Apollo, when the Temple of Jupiter burned to the ground on Capitoline Hill. There they remained for the greater part of the reign of the Caesars.
- Rarely were Sibyls known by any personal name, but rather by where their shrine, or (temenos) resided.
- Homer, who described, in heart-breaking detail, the deforestation of his land, seemed innocent of the existance of Sibyls. The first Greek writer to speak clearly of the Sibyls was Heraclitus, or Heraclitus Ponticus, in his book, "On Oracles", and moreover, he spoke of not one, but three Sibyls, the Hellespontine, the Phrygian, and the Erythraean.
- Many other Greeks,and Romans spoke of the Sibyls:Virgil, Ovid, Aristophanes, Plato, even Plutarch, a pre-Christian Hermit, spoke of them in such flowery language as to make one wish his writings, (at least his poetry) might have been lost, like the Sybilline verses themselves.
- Early on, many writers described only one Sibyl, (other than Heraclitus), but it is a widely accepted fact that there were a number of Sibyls, the best known being the Cumaean, the Delphic, (not to be confused with the Oracle of Delphi, who sat over a sulphurous pit to prophesy), the Phrygian, the Samian, Hellespontine, Tiburtine, Cimmerian, and Erythraean.
- The Siblys seemed to be a proud lot, and like many women, when scorned, did something about it. For instance, a fascinating account is written in Virgil's AEnied, where the Sibyl of Cumae sang the Fates, and left her prophesy on oak leaves, the first letter of each collected leaf, spelling a word. If the wind happened to scatter the leaves, her prophesy was lost to all future generations. Another account tells of a prophetess who went to Tarquin, the supposed last Emperor of Rome., offering to sell him nine Sibylline books for nine bags of gold. Tarquin, not unlike some men. laughed at her in derision.. She then burned three of the books. The next year, she came back with six books, demanding the previous price of nine bags of gold. Tarquin was not ready to relent, so the Sibyl burned three more books. The next year she came back with three books, asking, again, for the original price of nine bags of gold. It is said, that at this time, she recieved nine bags of gold, for three books, from a very angry Tarquin.
- There is only one authentic piece of Sibylline verse known to exist in the world , appearing in "The Book of Marvels", by Phlegon of Tralles.
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I love this! Are they related in any way to the Norns of Yggdrassil legends, who determined fate? Or so goes my interpretation, lol.
Loved your comment on my hub about unsupportive husbands.
Storytellersus, I've never even heard of the Norns! My next project in learning! At least, my interpretation is this;(concerning fate, and the Fates), that if the woman, or person was worthy, he or she would be able to access what the Gods and Goddesses foretold, a type of universal knowledge just hanging about for those able to recieve it. Oh, my God. When my boyfriend makes me mad, which will be in a few minutes, I'll just say... and fight scenes are real! Ha ha! Little in joke for us...Just wait til he reads my parodic love quiz I wrote today.Yes. He likes Shakira. OOOOHHH.Isn't life fun, when you can write about them? Maybe it's a good thing your husband doesn't read "em... Be well, be happy, I'll be reading you...lily
Meryl Steppenfield 16 months ago
I have enjoyed this, thanks for the posting!