Michelangelo's rendering of the Delphic Sibyl

The Delphic Sibyl was a legendary figure who made prophecies in the sacred precinct of Apollo at Delphi, located on the slopes of Mount Parnassus. According to a late source, her mother was Lamia, daughter of Poseidon[1]. The Delphic Sibyl was not involved in the operation of the Delphic Oracle and should be considered distinct from the Pythia, the priestess of Apollo. Download high resolution version (942x960, 147 KB)Delphic Sibyl by Michelangelo Image comments: The Delphic Sibyl by Michelangelo. ... Download high resolution version (942x960, 147 KB)Delphic Sibyl by Michelangelo Image comments: The Delphic Sibyl by Michelangelo. ... Lycian Apollo, early Imperial Roman copy of a fourth century Greek original (Louvre Museum) In Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo (Ancient Greek , Apóllōn; or , Apellōn), the ideal of the kouros, was the archer-god of medicine and healing, light, truth, archery and also a bringer of death... The amphitheatre, seen from above. ... Mount Parnassus is a mountain of barren limestone in central Greece that towers above Delphi, north of the Gulf of Corinth, and offers scenic views of the surrounding olive groves and countryside. ... Look up lamia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The amphitheatre, seen from above. ... Aegeus, a mythical king of Athens, consults the Pythia, who sits on a tripod. ...

There were several prophetic figures called Sibyls in the Graeco-Roman world. The most famous Sibyl was located at Cumae. The word sibyl comes (via Latin) from the Greek word sibylla, meaning prophetess. ... Cumae (Cuma, in Italian) is an ancient Greek settlement lying to the northwest of Naples in the Italian region of Campania. ...

Legends

There are several, not necessarily consistent, legends about the Delphic Sibyl, one claims that her last prophecy was said to be the birth of Jesus Christ. *Pausanias claimed (10.14.1) that the Sibyl was "born between man and goddess, daughter of sea monsters and an immortal nymph". Others said she was the sister or daughter of Apollo. Pausanias (Greek: ) was a Greek traveller and geographer of the 2nd century A.D., who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. ... In Greek mythology, a nymph is any member of a large class of female nature entities, either bound to a particular location or landform or joining the retinue of a god or goddess. ...

• The Sibyl came from the Troad to Delphi before the Trojan War, "in wrath with her brother Apollo", lingered for a time at Samos, visited Claros and Delos, and died in the Troad, after surviving nine generations of men. After her death, it was said that she became a wandering voice that still brought to the ears of men tidings of the future wrapped in dark riddles.

Map of the Troas The Troas (Troad) is an ancient region in the northwestern part of Anatolia, bounded by the Hellespont to the northwest, the Aegean Sea to the west, and separated from the rest of Anatolia by the massif that forms Mount Ida. ... The amphitheatre, seen from above. ... The fall of Troy by Johann Georg Trautmann (1713–1769) From the collections of the granddukes of Baden, Karlsruhe The Trojan War was waged, according to legend, against the city of Troy in Asia Minor, by the armies of the Achaeans (Mycenaean Greeks), after Paris of Troy stole Helen from... Samos (Greek Σάμος) is a Greek island in the Eastern Aegean Sea, located between the island of Chios to the North and the archipelagic complex of the Dodecanese islands to the South and in particular the island of Patmos and off the coast of Turkey, on what was formely known as... Claros is a prophecy center of Colophon, one of the twelve Ionic cities. ... The island of Delos, Carl Anton Joseph Rottmann, 1847 The island of Delos (Greek: Δήλος, Dhilos), isolated in the centre of the roughly circular ring of islands called the Cyclades, near Mykonos, had a position as a holy sanctuary for a millennium before Olympian Greek mythology made it the birthplace of...

References

• Goodrich, Norma Lorre, Priestesses, 1990.
• Hamilton, Edith (1942). Mythology. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0-316-34114-2. 
• Mitford, William, The History of Greece, 1784. Cf. Chapter II, Religion of the Early Greeks.
• Parke, Herbert William, History of the Delphic Oracle, 1939.
• Parke, Herbert William, Sibyls and Sibylline Prophecy, 1988.
• Pausanias, Description of Greece, (ed. and translated with commentary by Sir James Frazer), 1913 edition. Cf. v.5
• Potter, David Stone, [2], Prophecy and history in the crisis of the Roman Empire: a historical commentary on the Thirteenth Sibylline Oracle, 1990. Cf. Chapter 3.
• West, Martin Litchfield, The Orphic Poems, 1983. Cf. especially p.147.

Edith Hamilton (August 12, 1867 - May 31, 1963) was a classicist and educator before she became a writer on mythology. ... Pausanias (Greek: ) was a Greek traveller and geographer of the 2nd century A.D., who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. ... Sir James George Frazer (January 1, 1854, Glasgow, Scotland – May 7, 1941), was a Scottish social anthropologist influential in the early stages of the modern studies of mythology and comparative religion. ... Martin Litchfield West (b. ...

External links

• Suda: Delphic Sibyl from Suda On-Line. The Suda is a 10th century Byzantine encyclopedia, incorporating earlier material.
• Tim Spalding, "The Oracle of Delphi and ancient oracles" An annotated guide.

Suda (Σουδα or alternatively Suidas) is a massive 10th century Byzantine Greek historical encyclopædia of the ancient Mediterranean world. ...

Coordinates: 38°28′58″N, 22°30′22″E Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...