Sib'raim [ many Sibra'mi ] ( Heb. Sihra'yim, D"^"i-D, tiuofold hope [ Gesenius ] , or double hill [Fiirst] ; Sept. "Eafiapiix v. r. [c]'E/SpajU»7 or 'EcppdjJ, [r/X£ia/i]; Vulg. Sabai-im), one of the landmarks on the northern boundary of the Holy Land, between Be- rothah and Hazar-hatticon, and between the boundary of Damascus and that of Hamath (Ezek. xlvii, IG). Keil {Coimnent. ad loc.) suggests that it may be identi- cal with the ZiPHRON (q. v.) of the parallel passage (Numb, xxxiv, 9).
Sibyl ( 2[/3i)\Xa, commonly derived from Aioq fiovXi], Doric Sioc (ioWa, will of Jupiter'), in Grecian and Roman mj'thology, etc., one of a class of inspired virgins who were believed to reveal the decrees of the gods, and to whom altars were not unfrecpicntly erected.
The earliest sibyl was reared by the Muses themselves, and her verses were composed in hexameters, probably by the priests, who at a later period sold collections of such oracles. The number of sibyls is sometimes fixed at four, and again at ten. The former list includes the Erythniean, the Samian, the Egyptian, and the Sardian (iElian, Var. Hist, xii, 35) sibyls; the latter embraces, 1, the Babylonian, named Sabba or Sambethe, living in the days of Noah, and married to one of his sons (she foretold the Tower of Babel, Alexander's march of con- quest, the advent of Christ, etc.) ; 2, the Libyan, a daugh- ter of Jupiter and Lamia, the original sibyl, from whom all the others obtained the title; 3, the Delphian, born in the Temple of Apollo, and living long anterior to the Trojan war, which site foretold (there was an elder Del- phian, who was a daughter of Zeus and Lamia, and also a younger Delphian [Pausan. x, 12, 1]); 4, the Italian or Cimmerian, soon after the Trojan war; 5, the Ery- thriBan, before the fall of Troy (here, too, we tind an elder and a younger one, who is called Herophile [Strabo, xiv, (545]); G, the Samian, belonging to the time of Numa ; 7, the Cumiean, who was the most noted of them all (she was consulted by ^Eneas before he de- scended into the lower world [Ovid, Metam. xiv, 104; XV, 712, etc. ; Virgil, ^f^neid, vi, 10] ; she wrote her pre- dictions on leaves, which she arranged in the morning, but then left exposed to the winds; she is stated to have attained to the age of a thousand years) ; 8, the Hellespontian or Trojan, who lived in the Gth century B.C., and was buried in a temjile of Apollo at Gergi- thum ; 9, the Plirygian ; and, 10, the Tiburtine, whose name was Albunea. Pausanias also mentions a Hebrew sibyl of the name of Sabbe, who is called a daughter of Berosus and Erymanthe. All these sibyls are more or less identified with each other, and their respective ora- cles cannot be determined. Modern researches have shown that the belief in sibyls cannot well be traced back to historical personages, but must instead be as- sumed to have sprung from the observation of natural phenomena, such as sounds heard in caverns, forests, etc. The belief was afterwards employed to serve the purposes of deceivers, statesmen, etc. See Bernhardy, Griech. Lit. ii, 249 sq.; Herrmann, Gottesdiemtl. Alier- thuiner d. Griechen, § 37; Klausen, uEneas, i, 201 sq. ; Miiller [Otfried], Dorier, i, 339 ; and Fabricii Bibl. Gr. tom. i. See Sibylline Oracles.
Sibylline Oracles. The ancient sibyls were, according to the popular belief, female soothsayers or prophetesses, who frequently delivered vaticinations, especially of a threatening character, and sometimes showed how to propitiate the wrath of the gods. The most celebrated of the number was the Cumaean, con- cerning whom there is the following fable : Apollo, hav- ing been enamoured of her, offered to give her what she should ask. She demanded to live as many years as she had grains of sand in her hand, but unfortunately forgot .to ask for continued enjoyment of health and bloom. The god granted her request, but she refused in return to listen to his suit, and her longevity, without fresh- ness and beauty, proved rather a burden than a benefit. It was supposed that she was to live about 1300 years, and at the expiration of this period she was to wither quite away, and be converted into a mere voice (Ovid, Metam. 14, 104; Serv. ad Virg. .««. vi, 321). She is variously called Herophile, Demo, Phenomonoe, Dei- phobe, Demophile, and Amalthea. She is said to have come to Italy from the East (Livy, i, 7), and she is the one who, according to most traditions, appeared before king Tarqiiinius, offering him the Sibylline Books for sale (Pliny, //. A', xiii, 28 ; Gelliiis, i, 19).
According to an ancient legend, the emperor Augus- tus Cajsar repaired to the Tiburtine sibyl, to inquire whether he should consent to allow himself to be wor- shipped with divine honors, which the senate had de- creed to him. The sibyl, after some days of medita- tion, took the emperor apart and showed him an altar ; and above the altar, in the opening heavens, and in a
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