Empires:Rome- The Sybil's Prophecies & The East

The prophecies of the Sibyl were a carefully guarded state secret in Rome, kept in the Temple of Jupiter. However, the Romans were not the only people in the world to receive a visit from her-perhaps multitudes of 'hers' (likely a lot of hims using the name, Sibyl as a pseudo-both for anonymity and their own personal safety). The prophecies she had given the Greeks and the Jews had been told far and wide. In a very sinister prophecy, she had told of a time when Roman would take up arms against Roman, and in these prognostications the violence would not be confined to the capital: "Not foreign invaders, Italy, but your own sons will rape you, a brutal interminable gang-rape, punishing you, famous country, for all your many depravities, leaving you prostrated, stretched out among the burning ashes. Self-slaughterer! No longer the mother of upstanding men, but rather the nurse of savage, ravening beasts!"

Scholars and historians have dated this and other prophecies to times near the 140s BC. An interesting sidebar to these prophecies is that the ones kept by the Romans seemed to suggest the future could be altered if certain actions were taken, while the prophetic books in the East appeared to have had a very deterministic view of the future. Everything was set in stone and nothing could be changed. Of course, with the times that these prophecies of Rome's destruction were dated, it would not have taken a true prophetess to describe Rome's hegemony over the world of the time. Also, the way some of these prophecies were worded seemed to have been written by someone who could only imagine Rome being brought down by internal strife-as her power in regards to other nations seemed invincible.

Before the catastrophes for the cities of Carthage and Corinth in 146BC; the Greeks had been somewhat confused by Rome's guarantees of freedom. The Greeks tended to think of the Romans as barbarians (behind their backs) and the Romans thought of the Greeks as contentious children who needed a strong hand to keep them in line. Until the destruction of Corinth, the Greeks had interpreted Roman guarantees of 'freedom' in a much larger sense than the Republic had intended. No reading between the lines of diplomatic language was needed after 146 BC. The treaties of friendship between Rome and her allies were now as sharply defined as a razor blade's edge, and as ill-advised to play with. The lessons Rome had so brutally taught had not been lost on anybody throughout the Meditteranean and to the east, far beyond the Greek kingdoms into Asia Minor. Monarchies throughout the region were always trying to ponder what Rome's true intentions were and made sure they were in perfect harmony with the tune the Republic was singing. The last king of Pergamum, Attalos III, who ruled over a Greek city controlling most of what is modern western Turkey, went as far as one could go in this new era of 'friendship' and 'cooperation'. In 133BC he left his entire kingdom to Rome in his will! As obsequious and benevolent an act as this may have seemed, it started a chain of events rolling (some involving the Gracchi brothers) that were to have some very horrific consequences for Rome.

Empires: Rome -The Background History Part Four

In order to do just this, Hannibal in 218 BC led a Carthaginian army from Spain, through southern Gaul and over the Alps. This in itself was an incredible feat and perhaps worth a post or two in this blog later on. Hannibal demonstrated a brilliance in military tactics and strategy that was far greater than his opponents. He brought three Roman armies to a stunning and horrific defeat. In the third of his victories, at Cannae, Hannibal completely wiped out eight Roman legions. This was the worst military defeat, by far, in the Republic's history. In the world of the time, by every expectation and custom of contemporary warfare, Rome at this point should have accepted Hannibal's victory and attempted to sue for peace. However, showing true Roman grit and absolute refusal to lose face with an enemy-even in the face of this utter catastrophe, the Republic refused to surrender or accept defeat.

In times of great crises, the Romans always looked for guidance in the prophecies of the Sibyl. The story of the Sybilline prophecies goes back in time before the Republic when Rome was ruled by kings. The story begins with the visit by an old woman to the tyrannical Tarquin, the last king of Rome. The great polymath of the late Republic, Varro, stated that the Tarquin visited by the Sibyl was Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king of Rome, instead of the Tarquin mentioned here, who would be the seventh king of Rome and also the last. I thought this should be mentioned although it is not a crucial detail to the story here. The woman carried nine books with her. When she offered to sell these to Tarquin, he laughed in her face, as the price she was asking for them was so high. Making no attempt to offer a lesser price, the old woman simply left without a word. She burned three of the volumes and returned to the king, offering the rest at the same price as before. The king refused her offer once again, although this time with less assurance than before, and once again the old woman left without a word. The legend has it that by this time Tarquin was becoming anxious, as to what might be in the books. When the mysterious old woman came back a third time with only three books, the king bought them, even though he had to pay the same price she had asked for the original nine books. The old woman took her money and disappeared, never to be seen again.

Who was this woman? We will never know. Because of the accuracy of the prophecies in the three books, Romans thought she could have been only one person-the Sibyl. The legends of the Sibyl are not very helpful. Going by the belief that the Sibyl had foretold the Trojan War people thought that maybe she was made up of ten prophetesses, immortal and some doubted she existed at all. One thing we do know is that her books, inscribed with an antique Greek style of writing definitely existed. We also know that the Romans felt that the prophecies in them were so accurate that they consulted them in times of great distress and with the utmost respect. The prophecies of the Sibyl, at least the way the Romans read them, described a very curious 'solution' to the problem of Hannibal and Carthage. Two Gauls and two Greeks were to be buried alive in the cities marketplace. This act of barbarism affirmed that there was no length the Romans would not go to, to preserved Rome's freedom. To the Romans of this era the only alternative to liberty was indeed death.

I hope to have the next post for this blog here pretty soon-the next couple of days are going to be tough schedule wise and I am not feeling so great, but I am determined, as long as I have a net connection to never get so behind with this blog again-although I am not making any promises. Peace and be well to anyone stopping by!