The Sibylline Oracles

The Pseudo-Sibylline Oracles (not to be confused with the now lost Sibylline oracles) are a collection of 12 books and additional fragments purporting to be the oracular utterances of the Sibyls of old—ancient Gentile prophetesses, primarily active in ancient Greece. While the extant oracles show extensive Judeo-Christian recension and invention, and are generally considered pseudepigraphal, it should be noted that some portions may reflect the original utterances, particularly portions of Book III attributed to an Erythraean Sibyl (at least one of whom was actually from Chaldea and a daughter of the historian Berossus), as well as portions of Books IV and V. As it was widely believed by writers in the early Church (e.g., Theophilus and Athenagoras) that the Sibyls prophesied of Christ, the extant oracles demonstrate the possibility that as the time of the Messiah drew near, His coming was foretold even among those outside of the Jewish nation. The first Sibyl was active at Delphi as early as the 11th century BC, and at their most active point there may have been as many as 10: a Persian, Libyan, Delphic, Cimmerian, Erythraean, Samian, Cumaean, Hellespontine, Phrygian, Tiburtine, Hebrew, Chaldean, and Egyptian. Unlike the plain language often found in the Bible’s poetry and prophecy, the oracles are often cryptic and unintelligible, requiring speculative interpretation. The books are numbered I–VIII and XI–XIV; Books IX and X are merely duplicated material from I–VIII, thus there are 12 books and not 14.