Concept
Sibyl
Overview
The sibyls were prophetesses or oracles in Ancient Greece.
The sibyls prophesied at holy sites.
A sibyl at Delphi has been dated to as early as the eleventh century BC by Pausanias when he described local traditions in his writings from the second century AD.
At first, there appears to have been only a single sibyl. By the fourth century BC, there appear to have been at least three more, Phrygian, Erythraean, and Hellespontine. By the first century BC, there were at least ten sibyls, located in Greece, Italy, North Africa, and Asia Minor.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.
THEON asked that the question might be reserved, and the round continued. 8. Instances from Hiero’s statue, and others, of the jealous care of Providence for human affairs. BOETHUS thought Chance, or Spontaneity, sufficient to account for all, and was answered by PHILINUS, who continued, 9. And referred to the history of the first Sibyl. BOETHUS mocked, and was met by DIOGENIANUS with instances of prophecies…
Plutarch, Selected Essays of Plutarch, Vol. II.
The author is tied to Sibyl in the knowledge graph; names Sibyl twice.
_Fourth Imposture_ The boldest, perhaps, and clumsiest of these forgeries is that of the prophecies attributed to the Sibyls, foretelling the incarnation, miracles, and death of Jesus, in acrostic verse. This piece of folly, unknown to the Romans, fed the belief of the catechumens.
Voltaire, Toleration and other essays
Names Sibyl twice; opens on Sibyl.
Such were the sad predictions uttered by the Pythian priestess, and this old oracle cited out of the Sibyl's verses: The battle on Thermodon that shall be Safe at a distance I desire to see, Far, like an eagle, watching in the air. Conquered shall weep, and conqueror perish there. This Thermodon, they say, is a little rivulet here in our country in Chaeronea, running into the Cephisus.
Plutarch, The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch
The author is tied to Sibyl in the knowledge graph; names Sibyl.
Philosophers who discussed Sibyl
Related ideas
- Homer
- Hildegard of Bingen
- Heraclitus
- Ancient Greek
- Chios
- Heraclides Ponticus
- Latin
- Lactantius
- Gargantua and Pantagruel
- Michelangelo
- Noah
- North Africa
- Oracle
- Poseidon
- Plato
- Plutarch
- Rome
- Semitic languages
- Troy
- Achaemenid Empire
- Old French
- Xenophon
- Zeus
- Aeneid
Place in the tradition
Part of German philosophy.