The Legend of the Sibylline Books
Legend has it that an unknown old woman came to the Roman king Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquinius the Proud) and offered to sell him nine sacred prophetic books. The king asked the price, but considered it far too high and laughed at her offer. The old woman then burned three of the nine books and offered Tarquinius the remaining six for the same price. The king refused again, so she burned another three books. She then offered the final three books at the original price. This time, Tarquinius realized that the offer was unusual and purchased the remaining books for the price originally requested for all nine. The old woman then disappeared and was never seen again.
These books became known as the “Sibylline Books” (Libri Sibyllini) and were placed in a temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill. According to ancient tradition, they were kept by a special priestly college and consulted by the Roman authorities during important religious and political crises. The original books, however, were destroyed when the Capitoline Temple burned in 83 BC. New prophetic texts were subsequently collected in an attempt to restore the collection.
After Augustus became pontifex maximus (chief pontiff) in 12 BC, he ordered various prophetic texts circulating in Rome to be collected. More than 2,000 such books were burned, while the Sibylline Books were selected and preserved. Augustus placed them in two gilded chests at the base of the statue of Apollo in his temple on the Palatine Hill. Their care was entrusted to the college of fifteen priests known as the Quindecemviri sacris faciundis.
According to legend, the old woman who offered the books to Tarquinius was the Sibyl of Cumae, a prophetess associated with the ancient city of Cumae, located in the region of present-day Campania, not far from Naples. However, the identity of the old woman and the origin of the books remain part of the legendary tradition surrounding the Sibylline Books.
