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Rome's Own Sibyl: the Sibylline Books in the Roman Republic And

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Rome's Own Sibyl: the Sibylline Books in the Roman Republic And Rome’s Own Sibyl: The Sibylline Books in the Roman Republic and Early Empire Susan Satterfield A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY RECOMMENDED FOR ACCEPTANCE BY THE DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICS ADVISER: HARRIET FLOWER November, 2008 3332416 Copyright 2008 by Satterfield, Susan All rights reserved 3332416 2008 © Copyright by Susan Satterfield, 2008. All rights reserved. Dissertation Abstract My dissertation, entitled Rome’s Own Sibyl: The Sibylline Books in the Roman Republic and Early Empire, examines the role of the Sibylline Books in Roman society and politics. It explores thereby key issues in Roman republican history, such as the complex relationship between religion and politics, the interaction between Roman and non-Roman, and the nature of Roman republican religion itself. The Sibylline Books, composed in Greek hexameter, provided ritual instructions for appeasing the gods after a prodigy – a sign conveying their anger – had occurred. In the Republic, prodigies were a matter of official concern, discussed not only among whispering flocks of superstitious old women, but also on the floor of the Roman Senate itself. This body solicited and enforced the advice of the duumviri sacris faciundis (later the decemviri, then the quindecimviri), elite Roman priests who had the exclusive right and duty to interpret the Sibylline Books, whose content was a “state secret.” The text of the Books themselves is, except for one oracle preserved by Phlegon, and another by Phlegon and Zosimus, entirely lost. My dissertation focuses not on the content of the oracles, but on their context: prodigy reporting and expiation as we see it at work in the lists compiled by antiquarians and historians, in particular Livy. By recording prodigies and ritual responses in a specific historical context, these reports allow us to see the Books “in action,” as they reflected and effected changes in Roman society and politics. My dissertation comprises an introduction and six chapters. The introduction lays out the most important sources, both ancient and modern, for my dissertation. The first chapter examines the Roman context of the Sibylline Books, looking at the location of the Books, the composition of the priesthood that read them, and the timing of expiation in Rome. The goal of this chapter is to show that the Sibylline Books, though written in Greek, operated in a very Roman world. The second chapter examines the Books as text, and the ways in which this text was applied in Roman expiation. This chapter demystifies the Books’ nature and origins. It shows that they were not a fixed collection dating back to the late regal period, but an assembly of oracles gathered and revised over time. Priestly reinterpretation and the timely addition of new oracles granted the Books a flexibility that enabled them to adapt to a changing world. In addition, this chapter examines the secrecy that surrounded the texts, and questions whether the oracles offered prophetic or ritual responses. Finally, it looks at the ways in which these oracles were applied, with rituals being repeated, discarded, and modified over time. The third chapter explores the foreign nature of the Sibylline Books and the expiatory rituals that they advised. It investigates the alleged origins of the Books, recorded in Roman tradition. It also explores the character of the rituals advised by the Satterfield, i Books, and asks to what extent the ceremonies recommended by these Greek oracles were truly Greek. The last three chapters explore the political and social applications of the Sibylline Books as they evolved over time. In Chapter 4, I look at the application of the Sibylline Books to issues of Roman politics and community until the destruction of the Books in the Capitoline fire of 83 BC. The next chapter examines the use of the Sibylline oracles in the late Republic, after the assembly of a new collection in 76 BC. The crisis of the republican system of government produced great changes in the expiation of prodigies and the use of the Sibylline Books. My study of this crisis shows that Sibylline expiation was an integral part of the republican system of government and could not survive unaltered when that system came under threat from “big men” who overshadowed their contemporaries. In the final chapter, I will explore Augustus’ treatment of the Sibylline Books. He edited the texts, moved them to the Palatine Temple of Apollo, and used them to enact one of his most dramatic religious performances, the Ludi Saeculares of 17 BC. This chapter examines how Augustus adapted the Sibylline Books to his own broader religious program of “restoration.” I am writing under the direction of Professor Harriet Flower, Princeton University; Professor Denis Feeney, Princeton University; and Professor Andreas Bendlin, University of Toronto at Mississauga. Satterfield, ii Acknowledgements I have so many people to thank for their help and support throughout my time at Princeton. I could fill pages by singling out each member of the faculty for the help that he/she has given me, and the kindnesses shown. In particular, I would like to thank Professor Robert Kaster and Professor Brent Shaw for their guidance as I taught my first Latin classes; I am certainly a better teacher for having learned from them. And I could never forget our graduate administrator Stephanie Lewandowski, who saw me at my most frantic, and was always able to solve every problem. I consider myself particularly fortunate to have had such an incredible group of scholars to help me with my dissertation. Professor Denis Feeney, with his impressive depth of knowledge and understanding, always provided insightful advice and timely encouragement. Professor Andreas Bendlin of the University of Toronto at Mississauga kindly agreed to read my dissertation before even meeting me, and his advice and insights into Roman religion have helped me a great deal. I am especially grateful to my adviser, Professor Harriet Flower, for her guidance and support throughout this project. This dissertation began in her Roman Republic seminar, when I wrote a paper on Magna Mater. Through this work I developed an interest in Rome’s religious response to crisis, and Harriet led me from this broader topic to the Sibylline Books. I could not have begun this project, therefore, without her guidance, and I certainly could never have finished it. Her ability to clear up complicated issues, and complicate simple ones – to solve over lunch questions that had been consuming me for days – is astounding. I never left one of our lunches without feeling enlightened and energized about my work. Her advice and support on other matters – publication, jobs, and more – has proved invaluable. I would like to thank my colleagues, fellow graduate students and bowling partners; I am tremendously blessed to have had such great companions with whom to face the obstacles of graduate school. I am especially thankful to have had one friend, Jessica Clark, who was not only a member of my cohort, but also an advisee of Harriet Flower and a student of the Roman Republic. In graduate school it is a rare joy, I think, to have one person with whom to share interests and experiences – digging in Polis, Cyprus; organizing a conference; and precepting together. My family has been a tremendous support not only while I have written my dissertation, but long before. It was my parents who taught me to value learning. Every time I needed encouragement, I always found my mom on the other end of the phone. My dad helped me keep everything in perspective, reminding me so often that “all history is in the past.” Finally, I would like to thank my fiancé, Ariel. His encouragement, advice, and proofreading can be seen in every page of this dissertation. He has shown me that love truly endures all things, even the dissertation process. Satterfield, iii Table of Contents Dissertation Abstract . i Acknowledgements . iii Table of Contents . iv Introduction – The Sibylline Books: Sources . 1 Chapter 1 – The Roman Context of the Sibylline Books . 15 Chapter 2 – The Nature of the Oracles . 51 Chapter 3 – The Sibylline Books as Greek Oracles . 88 Chapter 4 – Practical Matters: The Sibylline Books in Roman Society and Politics After 83 BC . 126 Chapter 5 – A New Life for Ancient Oracles . 169 Chapter 6 – The Sibylline Books Under Augustus . 205 Epilogue . 240 Appendix: Phlegon’s Oracles . 242 Bibliography . 245 Satterfield, iv Introduction The Sibylline Books: The Sources ANCIENT SOURCES This dissertation concerns the Sibylline Books in Rome, a collection of Greek oracles controlled by the Roman State and used to expiate prodigies, signs of the gods’ anger. The Roman prodigy and expiation system – the means by which the Romans determined and carried out rituals intended to appease the gods – is the single aspect of Roman religion about which we are best informed. The use of the Sibylline Books, the primary means of expiation in Rome, is particularly well-documented. However, because the oracles were rarely published (as I will show in Chapter 2 below, the Senate kept close guard over the texts), we have very little evidence of the actual contents of the Books. Fragments of only two oracles, one dating from the Republic and the other from the time of Augustus, survive.1 The Republican oracle is recorded only by Phlegon of Tralles, a freedman of Hadrian who wrote a Book of Wonders containing all sorts of fantastic tales and strange things. Phlegon dates this oracle, which describes among other rituals a hymn to be sung to expiate the birth of a hermaphrodite, to 125 BC. Seventy lines of the Greek hexameter of the oracle are preserved, but there are three lacunae, and approximately thirty lines are missing at the end.
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