This is the extended and annotated edition including * an extensive annotation of almost 10.000 words about the oracles in religion * an interactive table-of-contents * perfect formatting for electronic reading devices THE Sibyls occupy a conspicuous place in the traditions and history of ancient Greece and Rome. Their fame was spread abroad long before the beginning of the Christian era. Heraclitus of Ephesus, five centuries before Christ, compared himself to the Sibyl "who, speaking with inspired mouth, without a smile, without ornament, and without perfume, penetrates through centuries by the power of the gods." The ancient traditions vary in reporting the number and the names of these weird prophetesses, and much of what has been handed down to us is legendary. But whatever opinion one may hold respecting the various legends, there can be little doubt that a collection of Sibylline Oracles was at one time preserved at Rome. There are, moreover, various oracles, purporting to have been written by ancient Sibyls, found in the writings of Pausanias, Plutarch, Livy, and in other Greek and Latin authors. Whether any of these citations formed a portion of the Sibylline books once kept in Rome we cannot now determine; but the Roman capitol was destroyed by fire in the time of Sulla (B. C. 84), and again in the time of Vespasian (A. D. 69), and whatever books were at those dates kept therein doubtless perished in the flames. It is said by some of the ancients that a subsequent collection of oracles was made, but, if so, there is now no certainty that any fragments of them remain.

In Uncovering Jewish Creativity in Book III of the Sibylline oracles, Ashley L. Bacchi reclaims the importance of the Sibyl as a female voice of prophecy and reveals new layers of intertextual references that address political, cultural, and religious dialogue in second-century Ptolemaic Egypt. This investigation stands apart from prior examinations by reorienting the discussion around the desirability of the pseudonym to an issue of gender. It questions the impact of identifying the author’s message with a female prophetic figure and challenges the previous identification of paraphrased Greek oracles and their function within the text. Verses previously seen as anomalous are transferred from the role of Greek subterfuge of Jewish identity to offering nuanced support of monotheistic themes.

This volume contains a thorough study of the third book of the Sibylline Oracles. This Jewish work was written in the Roman province of Asia sometime between 80 and 40 BCE. It offers insights into the political views of the author and his perception of the relation between Jews and non-Jews, especially in the field of religion and ethics. The present study consists of three parts: 1. introductory questions; 2. a literary analysis of the book, translation, and commentary; 3. the social setting of the book. It aims to further the scholarly use of the third Sibylline book and to improve our knowledge of early Judaism in its Graeco-Roman environment.

The Sibyl was a legendary figure in Greco-Roman antiquity. J. L. Lightfoot describes how the verse prophecies attributed to her were taken over by Hellenistic Jews, and later by Christians, as a vehicle for their own understandings of prophecy, and provides an edition, translation, and commentary on the first and second books of extant oracles.

Olivia Stewart Lester examines true and false prophecy at the intersections of interpretation, gender, and economics in Revelation, Sibylline Oracles 4-5, and contemporary ancient Mediterranean texts. With respect to gender, these texts construct a discourse of divine violence against prophets, in which masculine divine domination of both male and female prophets reinforces the authenticity of the prophetic message. Regarding economics, John and the Jewish sibyllists resist the economic actions of political groups around them, especially Rome, by imagining an alternate universe with a new prophetic economy. In this economy, God requires restitution from human beings, whose evil behavior incurs debt. The ongoing appeal of prophecy as a rhetorical strategy in Revelation and Sibylline Oracles 4-5, and the ongoing rivalries in which these texts engage, argue for prophecy's continuing significance in a larger ancient Mediterranean religious context.

What is now currently the 'holy seat of the Vatican' in Italy, was originally the sacerdotal seat of these ancient black Sibyl Queen Mothers. Centuries before for Christ, they were known to heal the sick, restore dignity and strength to the weak, and restore sight to the blind. They were famous for curing lameness, epileptics, deaf mutes and lepers. They were said to 'cast out demons' and even to 'raise-up the dead' Their prophecies are the oldest and most authentic in the world. They were the basis for Greek and Roman tragedies and plays. More astonishing, their prophetic books were later collected by the Roman authorities, who needed a 'western theological' foundation in order to compete with the powerful levitical Jews. These Sibyl prophecies soon became the sole and undisputed precursor to the western, Christian Bible. .

The Sybylline Oracles that provide narratives of Roman history are our best sources for popular understanding of contemporary events, since they were written by those with no obvious connection with the government. The Thirteenth Oracle is particularly interesting as it remains the only first-hand narrative of the critical years of the mid-third century AD, when the empire stood on the brink of political collapse. This book contains the first new edition of the text of the Thirteenth Oracle since 1902, an extensive historical introduction, and a detailed commentary that discusses disputed points of chronology, and how the authors, living in Roman Syria, viewed both the great rival powers of Roman and Persia, and the war that ensued. This work should be of particular value to scholars, graduate students, advanced undergraduates, and historians interested in the history of the late Roman empire.