Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

SIBYLLINE ORACLES

A collection of oracles included among the Pseudepigrapha. Ancient Greek tradition, later accepted by the Romans and Jews, viewed the Sibyl as an old woman to whom ecstatic predictions were attributed. She was thought to have been a wanderer, and by the 1st century b.c. 10 Sibyls were mentioned by Varro in association with 10 geographic locales. Few people claimed to have actually seen a Sibyl, and the Oracles were known primarily through various collections that circulated. From the earliest days, the Sibylline Oracles were written down in hexameter form while the use of the acrostic was viewed as a mark of authenticity. The most famous collection was to be found in Rome. These books were only consulted in times of crisis and by the order of the senate. When the temple of Jupiter burned down in 83 b.c. this collection was lost to fire. A commission was formed to collect “new” oracles. This second Roman collection remained important until they were destroyed in the reign of the Christian emperor Theodosios in a.d. 408. Only fragments survived.

Jews and Christians wrote their own oracles attributed to the Sibyls. Jews explained that the Sibyl was one of the daughters-in-law of Noah (Sib. Or. 3:827), while Christians explicitly stated that the Sibyl was pagan yet prophesied the coming of Jesus Christ. Some of the pagan fragments which remained may be found in the present 14-book collection of the Jews and Christians, the books ranging in date from ca. 250 b.c. until ca. a.d. 550. Christians accepted the Jewish oracles and occasionally added their own interpolations. These Oracles enjoyed great popularity among Patristic, medieval, and Renaissance writers and artists.

Bibliography. J. J. Collins, “Sibylline Oracles,” OTP 1:317-472.

James V. Smith

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

SIBYLLINE ORACLES

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)