Sibyl

The sibyls (Ancient Greek: Σίβυλλαι, romanizedSibyllai, pl. of Σίβυλλα, Sibylla, pronounced [sí.byl.lai, sí.byl.la]) were prophetesses or oracles in Ancient Greece.[1][2]

Statue in the Temple of Zeus at Aizanoi, believed to depict a sibyl.

The sibyls prophesied at holy sites.[3] A sibyl at Delphi has been dated to as early as the eleventh century BC by Pausanias[4] 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, the Levant, and Asia Minor.

  1. ^ "Sibyls". Encyclopedia.com. Accessed 6 January 2021.
  2. ^ Sibyl at the Encyclopædia Britannica. Accessed 6 January 2021.
  3. ^ Burkert 1985 p. 117
  4. ^ Pausanias 10.12.1

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