RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Sibel Sibyl
Sabbe. But of all those mentioned in these lists, most of whom are hardly anything more than literary fictions, the oldest and best attested is the Erythrean, for whose existence Varro cites the testimony of the chronographer Apollodorus. The grotto of the sibyl mentioned by Pausanias was rediscovered in 1891, in which an inscription dealing with the sibyl tells of her wonderful birth, of her delivery of oracles immediately thereafter, and of her age as already 900 years. Eusebius in his Chronicle places her appearance in the ninth olympiad; an old tradition is known which places her origin in the eighth pre-Christian century. Next to her the sibyl of Samos is best attested, according to Varro, by Eratosthenes, who found mention of her in the Samian annals, while Eusebius places her in the first year of the seventeenth olympiad (711 B.C.). According to early testimony the Cumaean sibyl was, so to speak, a branch of the Erythrean; and this is supported by the name given in the Varro-Lactantius list (ut sup.). Belief in the Cumaean sibyl at Rome goes back to the end of the kingly period, when her oracles had importance for the State. After the destruction of the collection of oracles by the burning of the temple of Jupiter in 83 B.C., a new collection was sought, particularly from Erythrea. The author of the Pseudo-Justinian Cohortatio (chap, xxxvii.) has left an interesting description of the grotto of the Cumsean sibyl, who was identified with the river and oracle deity Carmenta. Another sibyl had her sanctuary near the Tiber on the Anio, and under her proper name of Albunea was called the Tiburtine sibyl. Concerning the Babylonian sibyl Pausanias reports (X., xii.) that there was a "Hebrew" sibyl named Sabbe, daughter of Berosus and Erymanthe. The Cohortatio (x.) identifies her with the Cumsean prophetess. Moses of Chorene (q.v. ; in Histories Armeniacce, i. 5) speaks of a more highly credited Berosian sibyl; the Verronian catalogue mentions a Persian prophetess of whom Nicanor, Alexander's biographer, speaks; later reports seem to regard these as the same, and the original source of Varro probably rightly brought together the three — Babylonian, Persian, and the Hebrew, the last the daughter of Noah — and the process of shortening the list went on in the anonymous introduction to the Sibylline Books already named and in the "Tubingen Theosophy." The age of the foundation of these reports is not sure, but they may go back to Alexander Polyhistor (early in the first century B.C.). The so-called Babylonian sibyl in these notices is no other than the assumed Hebrew sibyl; but this does not account for her name, Sambethe or Sabbe, nor for the report that she was the daughter of Berosus, nor for her designation as Babylonian. An inscription (in CIG, 3509) seems to refer to an oracle-sanctuary of the Chaldean Sambethe. If a Chaldean (Babylonian) Sambethe-sanctuary is proved, the tradition of such a sibyl seems to have history behind it; such a prophetess would naturally be Hellenistic and would write in Greek, and would not unnaturally be connected with Berosus the historian.
This was the ground in which grew the crop of Jewish sibylline poetry. In Egypt began the great Jewish diaspora mission; there the Jews appro-
priated Greek culture, philosophy, and the forms of Greek literature, and sought through them to recommend Jewish culture to the Greeks. Jewish chronographers attempted to show a 3. Jewish- greater antiquity for their race; Jews Christian first sought and then fabricated testi- Sibylline mony of Greeks to prove the latter in- Writings. debted to Moses for the best of their wisdom, and used the sibylline literature as a means, putting in the sibyl's mouth utterances regarding the Jewish people, the Jewish deity, the conversion of the gentiles, and the coming golden age. And the Christians imitated them, but with less success. The Church Fathers accepted these writings at their face value (so Justin, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria, Lactantius, and Augustine) . With the downfall of heathendom, these were less used, but were still employed till late in the Middle Ages. The most of this literature was collected by diligent hands and has survived, and into it a sort of unity has been worked. Two or three groups of collections stand out, presenting types of text. One group (designated as $) consists of books i.-viii. 485; a second ("f) has viii. and i.-vii.; a third (S2) has vi., vii. 1, viii. 218-428 numbered ix., iv. numbered x., and then xi.-xiv., the whole a continuation of the existing collection of eight books. The date of these collections is probably between the beginning of the fourth and the middle of the fifth century. Of printed editions the older ones may be mentioned — Xystus Betuleius (1545), S. Castalio (1555), Opsopoeus (1599), Gallaeus (1689), Gallandi (Bibliotheca veterum patrum, vol. i., Venice, 1788), and Friedlieb (Leipsic, 1852). Of abiding value is the great edition of C. Alexandre (Oracula sibyllina, 2 vols., Paris, 1841-56); A. Rzach's Oracula sibyllina (Vienna, 1891) uses the manuscripts for a modern reconstruction of the text ; but much better is J. Geffcken's edition (Leipsic, 1902).
Of all these writings the oldest, most important, and richest in contents is iii. 97-829, falling into three divisions, 97-294, 295-488, 489-795 (796-829 being merely concluding remarks) . The first deals with the building of the tower of Babel, the wars of the sons of Saturn and the Titans, a brief review of world history, prediction of the Solomonic 4. Book iii. realm till the emergence of the Romans, and the seventh king of Egypt, and a noteworthy description of Israel from Moses till the return from exile. The second part is a series of oracles on the nations: Babylon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, the West, a number of cities, Macedonia, Asia, Phrygia, Ilium (and a polemic against Homer) ; then a cento of mingled predictions. The third contains a preaching of repentance to the Greeks humiliated by the Romans, the story of the coming fortunes of the Jews, judgment to come on the outer world, the Messianic kingdom and the vain war against it, preaching of repentance again, and a picture of the future blessedness. Three times the seventh kingdom (king) of Egypt appears (192-193, 314-318, 608-615), construed as referring to Ptolemy VII. Physcon, and doubt is expressed whether this is to be dated 170-164 or 145-117; many date the book c. 140 B.C. But account must be taken of the
Sibyl