The Sibylline Oracles are a collection of oracular utterances written in Greek hexameters ascribed to the Sibyls, prophetesses who uttered divine revelations in a frenzied state.

5 and 6 ), Josephus ( Antiquities 1. 4. 3 ), and the Sibylline Oracles ( iii.

: Main articles: Sibylline Books and Sibylline Oracles.

The Sibylline Books are not the same as the Sibylline Oracles.

The Roman Sibylline Books were quite different in character from the preserved Sibylline Oracles, which typically predict disasters rather than prescribe solutions.

Post-Exilic Hebrew books of prophecy such as the Book of Daniel and Book of Ezekiel are given new interpretations in this Christian tradition, while apocalyptic forecasts appear in the Judeo-Christian Sibylline Oracles and in the whole field of apocalyptic literature, which includes the Book of Revelation ascribed to John, the apocryphal Apocalypse of Peter, and the Second Book Of Esdras.

* Sibylline Oracles

Around the middle of the 2nd century BC, the Sibylline Oracles mention the " land of Gog and Magog " as " situated in the midst of Aethiopian rivers ", but in a second mention links it with the " Marsians and Dacians ", in eastern Europe ; in both cases they are about to receive " woe ," and according to Boe, " there can be little doubt about the direct use of Ezekiel's oracles " in their composition.

: This article is about the Sibylline Oracles.

The Sibylline Oracles ( sometimes called the " pseudo-Sibylline Oracles ") are a collection of oracular utterances written in Greek hexameters ascribed to the Sibyls, prophetesses who uttered divine revelations in a frenzied state.

Fourteen books and eight fragments of Sibylline Oracles survive.

The Sibylline Oracles are a valuable source for information about Classical mythology and early first millennium Gnostic, Jewish and Christian beliefs.

The Sibylline Oracles in their existing form are a chaotic medley.

That use of the Sibylline Oracles was not always exclusive to Christians is shown by an extract from Book III concerning the Tower of Babel as quoted by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, in the late 1st century AD.

Though there are occasionally verses which are truly poetical and sublime, the general character of the Sibylline Oracles is mediocre.

* J. J. Collins, The Sibylline Oracles of Egyptian Judaism, Missoula 1974.

* R. Buitenwerf, Book III of the Sibylline Oracles and Its Social Setting, Leiden-Boston, Brill, 2003.

* Milton S. Terry, " The Sibylline Oracles " ( complete text, at Elfinspell )

* The Sibylline Oracles.

An apocalyptic pseudo-prophecy exists among the Sibylline Oracles, attributed to the Tiburtine Sibyl, written c. 380 CE, but with revisions and interpolations added at later dates.

* Sibylline Oracles

As the Sibylline Books were housed in the fortress temple of Jupiter, their legend has been associated with him.

They were first appointed in 367 BC in lieu of the patrician duumviri (" Two Men ") who had had responsibility for the care and consultation of the Sibylline books and the celebration of the games of Apollo.

On the charge of maiestas ( high treason ) incurred by having left his province for Egypt without the consent of the senate and in defiance of the Sibylline books, he was acquitted ; it is said that the judges were bribed, and even Cicero, an enemy of Gabinius, was persuaded by Pompey to say as little as he could.

Theophilus regards the Sibylline books that were still in Rome as authentic and inspired productions, quoting the Sibylline oracles ( scholars dispute that these are the same ) largely as declaring the same truths with the prophets.

These are not considered to be identical to the original Sibylline Books of Roman mythology, which have been lost, but a collection of utterances that were composed or edited under various circumstances, between perhaps the middle of the 2nd century BC and the 5th century AD.

The oldest of the surviving Sibylline oracles seem to be books 3-5, which were composed partly by Jews in Alexandria.

The sibyls themselves, and the so-called Sibylline oracles, were often referred to by other early Church fathers ; Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch ( ca.

The Sibylline Books or Libri Sibyllini were a collection of oracular utterances, set out in Greek hexameters, purchased from a sibyl by the last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, and consulted at momentous crises through the history of the Republic and the Empire.

The Roman Senate kept tight control over the Sibylline Books ; Sibylline Books were entrusted to the care of two patricians ; after 367 BC ten custodians were appointed, five patricians and five plebeians, who were called the decemviri sacris faciundis ; subsequently ( probably in the time of Sulla ) their number was increased to fifteen, the quindecimviri sacris faciundis.

It was only the rites of expiation prescribed by the Sibylline 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.

Copies of the actual Sibylline Books ( as reconstituted in 76 BC ) were still in the Roman Temple at this time.

* 405: Stilicho ordered the destruction of the Sibylline Books, possibly because Sibylline prophecies were being used to attack his government in the face of the attack of Alaric I.

Also lost in this fire were the Sibylline Books, which were said to have been written by classical sibyls, and stored in the temple ( to be guarded and consulted by the quindecimviri ( council of fifteen ) on matters of state only on emergencies ).

According to Varro, an antiquarian of the 1st century BC, the Games were introduced after a series of portents led to a consultation of the Sibylline Books by the quindecimviri.

An account written by Aurelius Victor states, Claudius consulted the Sibylline Books prior to his campaigns against the Goths.

According to rumours supported by Dexippus ( a contemporary Greek historian ) and the Thirteenth Sibylline Oracle, Decius ' failure was largely owing to Gallus who had conspired with the invaders.

Graves provides a theme for the story by having the fictionalized Claudius describe a visit to Cumae, where he receives a prophecy in verse from the Sibyl, and an additional prophecy contained in a book of " Sibylline Curiosities ".

His crowning sin, recorded by this poet alone, was the destruction of the Sibylline books.

* The Sibylline oracles, Books III-V, Translated by the Rev.

In 51 BCE he stood for election to the prestigious priestly board of fifteen men in charge of the Sibylline Books (< i > Quindecimviri sacris faciundis </ i >), but was defeated by Publius Cornelius Dolabella ( to the amusement of Cicero's correspondent, Marcus Caelius RufusM.

The story of the acquisition of the Sibylline Books by Tarquinius is one of the famous mythic elements of Roman history.

The Sibylline Books motivated the construction of eight temples in ancient Rome, aside from those cults that have been interpreted as mediated by the Sibylline Books simply by the Greek nature of the deity.

The Oracles are nevertheless thought by modern scholars to be anonymous compilations that assumed their final form in the fifth century, after the Sibylline Books perished.

An incomplete list of consultations of the Sibylline Books recorded by historians:

He also passed a law stipulating that the Sibylline Books should be overseen by decemviri, of whom half would be plebian in order to prevent any falsification in favor of the patricians.

As for Sibylline, the series has been revived in 2006 by André Taymans for new adventures, also under Macherot's supervision.