The Sibylline Oracles

The term Sibylline Oracles refers to a collection of 12 apocalyptic books in verse format originally produced in Jewish circles but edited, expanded and eventually transmitted, and later used extensively solely in Christian circles. They do not constitute a coherent collection, being dated variously from the second century BCE to the seventh century CE, and originating in diverse contexts. Books 3, 5, and 11 to 14 are ascribed to Egypt as context of origin, while books 4, 6 and 7 are usually identified with Syria, books 1 and 2 with Asia Minor and book 8 vaguely with the larger area of the Near East.

The title Sibylline Oracles refers to an ancient tradition in the classical world of prophecies purportedly uttered by a prophetess called the Sibyll. The origins of this name are obscure. Such traditions of prophetic utterances circulated widely in the classical world.

These oracles were characterised by graphic and picturesque depictions of a cataclysmic end to the world through conflagration (‘fire’) or water flood. They functioned as pronouncements of judgement aimed mainly at the Greek (‘Macedonian’) and Roman political leaderships and empires. The view of the Sibylline Oracles on eschatology, especially the original Jewish texts underlying the present Christian forms, is chiefly political in nature. They imagine the resurgence of a glorious kingdom and a transformation of the earth into an ideal kingdom under the rule of an ideal king. In the Christian redactions of these oracles one finds evidence of a belief and interest in the fate of individuals after death and eschatological judgement, as well as descriptions of the sufferings of the damned and the resurrection of the saints in an earthly paradise.

Although a number of historical allusions and references are made in these texts, they provide evidence not so much of historical events as of popular attitudes and beliefs in the Graeco-Roman world, of the fears and struggles and world outlook of peoples in the Near Eastern world. They show how pervasive the general ideology of resistance to the imperial ideologies was, first of the Hellenistic empires and then that of Rome.