Sibylline Oracles

The Syballine Books were a collection of oracular utterances set out in Greek hexameter from mystical women known as Sibyls. These closely guarded books (or book) were partially destroyed by a fire in 83 BCE and destroyed entirely (burned) in the late 4th or early 5th century CE. The Sibylline Oracles are forgeries of the the Syballine Books and perhaps might be more appropriately titled the Pseudo-Sibylline Oracles. These forgeries appear to have been extensively rewritten by successive authors between the 2nd and 6th centuries CE and contain a pastiche of Pagan, Jewish, and Christian content all expressed in a prophetic poetic form. In the rewriting, reference was made to actual events so as to bolster the power of the prophecy. This means that these books contain ex eventu prophecy - prophecy written "after the fact". As such, the Sibylline Oracles appear to contain some accurate information about natural disasters and historical events. The poem which describes the earthquake in Cyprus was likely written or rewritten by a Jewish or Jewish Christian author(s). The intent of the poem is to predict God's punishment on Rome and Roman Emperor Titus in particular for having been the General who ended the First Jewish War - killing many Jews and destroying the Second Temple. Divine retribution takes the form of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius (79 CE) which destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum and apparently an earthquake in Cyprus.