The Pagan Reception of Judaism from the Sibylline Oracles: Insights from Pseudo-Seneca’s Octavia Regarding the Creation and Circulation of Oral Sibylline Oracles by the Plebs

According to tradition, the original collection of Sibylline Books ac­quired by the Roman monarch Tarquinius Priscus, which were kept in the Temple of Jupiter in the capital, were lost in the fire of 83 BCE. In 76 BCE, the Senate ordered the college of the quindecimviri to travel to the traditional centers of Sibylline activity in the East to find Sibylline Oracles to replace those destroyed in the fire. According to Lactantius, these officials collected many Oracles from private individuals. This reference suggests that Sibylline Oracles circulated widely. However, based on the witnesses regarding their consultation, it appears that the original Libri Sibyllini were more ritually prescriptive and less predic­tive than our extant Sibylline Oracles. Because our surviving collec­tion bears little resemblance to the few fragments of pagan Sibylline prophecies, we should not assume that our present corpus of Sibylline Oracles reflects the type of Sibylline Oracles that circulated during the periods of the Late Republic and the early Principate. This is especially true regarding the apparent uses of the Sibylline Oracles before their compilation in our present corpus. This study seeks to shed light on the historical development and transmission of our extant collection of Sibylline Oracles by focusing on traces of their oral transmission among pagans. It also seeks to highlight the likely pagan reception of Judaism from the Sibylline Oracles.