Posted on 07/22/2025 2:32:54 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The most famous oracle in ancient Greece was undoubtedly the Pythia, the Oracle of Delphi. However, Greek sources also mention another oracle active in the distant past, one who has mostly been forgotten today but was said to have predicted the Trojan War. This was the Erythraean Sibyl. Much confusion surrounds this legendary figure. So what do we know about her?
The source for the Erythraean Sibyl
Information for the Erythraean Sibyl, the oracle who predicted the Trojan War, primarily stems from a single source. This is Pausanias’s Description of Greece 10.12. Pausanias, a second-century AD geographer, offers detailed accounts of Ancient Greek geography, interwoven with valuable insights into the region’s history and legends.
In his description of Delphi, after discussing the Pythia, Pausanias wrote:
“There is a rock rising up above the ground. On it, say the Delphians, there stood and chanted the oracles a woman, by name Herophile and surnamed Sibyl. The former Sibyl I find was as ancient as any; the Greeks say that she was a daughter of Zeus by Lamia, daughter of Poseidon, that she was the first woman to chant oracles, and that the name Sibyl was given her by the Libyans. Herophile was younger than she was, but nevertheless she too was clearly born before the Trojan war.”
Scholars generally agree that the text here is somewhat corrupted. At first, Pausanias appears to be describing a single woman named Herophile Sibyl. However, the following two sentences are clearly about two different woman, one called “the former Sibyl” and the other called “Herophile.”
Grecian Delight supports Greece The rest of Pausanias’ account focuses specifically on Herophile. She was the Erythraean Sibyl, the oracle who, according to tradition, predicted the Trojan War.
The origin of the Erythraean Sibyl From Pausanias’ account, we learn several important facts about the legendary Erythraean Sibyl. First and foremost, what was her origin? Pausanias notes that she explained her own lineage in some of her oracular statements, suggesting he had access to texts attributed to Herophile, the Erythraean Sibyl. Fortunately, Pausanias was considerate enough to quote one such statement directly:
“I am by birth half mortal, half divine; An immortal nymph was my mother, my father an eater of corn; On my mother’s side of Idaean birth, but my fatherland was red Marpessus, sacred to the Mother, and the river Aidoneus.”
According to this oracle, Herophile’s mother was one of the nymphs of Ida, while her father was a human from Marpessus, a city in the Troad. This indicates that the Mount Ida in question must be the famous one near the city of Troy.
Interestingly, Pausanias goes on to explain that the Erythraeans (inhabitants of Erythrae, a Greek city roughly halfway down the western coast of Anatolia) claimed Herophile as their own. According to them, she was born within a cave on Mount Corycus, in their territory. He further adds:
“The surname Idaean was given to the nymph simply because the men of those days called idai places that were thickly wooded. The verse about Marpessus and the river Aidoneus is cut out of the oracles by the Erythraeans.”
Without additional evidence, we cannot determine which claim is more authentic. In any case, it is due to this claim from the Erythraeans that she is commonly known as the Erythraean Sibyl.
When Herophile the Oracle predicted the Trojan War Pausanias does not reveal much on Herophile’s career, but one particularly notable oracle has been preserved. He writes:
“She foretold in her oracles that Helen would be brought up in Sparta to be the ruin of Asia and of Europe, and that for her sake the Greeks would capture Troy.”
According to this, Herophile the Oracle predicted not only the Trojan War itself but also its outcome. She prophesied that the Greeks would ended up victorious, capturing the city of Troy.
Pausanias later adds that this prophesy was made “on the occasion of Hecuba’s dream,” referring to the well-known myth in which Hecuba, queen of Troy, dreams of giving birth to a torch that would destroy the city. This connection suggests that Herophile must have lived shortly before the Torjan War itself—perhaps even close enough in time to witness some of the conflict.
Was the Erythraean Sibyl a historical figure? Was Herophile, the oracle who allegedly predicted the Trojan War, a real historical person? Given the paucity of information on this figure, we cannot definitively say. All surviving information about her comes from centuries after the events she is said to have foretold.
Nevertheless, it is obvious Pausanias did not invent the tradition surrounding her. In fact, her tradition already existed prior to Pausanias’ time to the extent that the figure of Herophile was already well established in local lore, with competing regional claims to her origin, including a longstanding and widespread legend.
The German classical scholar Ernst Maass argued that Herophile was a historical figure who lived in the eighth century BC. This view was noted by the Scottish anthropologist James George Frazer in his commentary on Pausanias, though he did not express an opinion of his own. In fact, few scholars since have taken a definitive stance on the matter.
Didn’t blind Teresius also predict the fall of Troy, but was not believed?
Nerd FYI: Erythraean from the city isn't the same as the Erythraean Sea, which is the Indian Ocean.
Cassandra was not believed about Agamemnon being murdered. She was Trojan, and Agamemnon’s concubine.
Medieval Christians considered the Sibyls prophesiers of Christ.
Dad should’ve used a Trojenz
A gifted faker name Alexander founded an oracle in a backwater on the south shore of the Black Sea. Here, for stiff prices, a talking serpent he had rigged up answered questions for the local hayseeds... (p 135)Travel in the Ancient World
by Lionel Casson
(time index set to the Delphi segment)Mysteries of the Ancient World - Myths and Legends (at 43:15)
March 13, 2016 | Questar Entertainment
Odessey and Oracle | The Zombies
review by Liam Singer | 2004
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/8959-odessey-and-oracle/
Cassandra Sunstein......................
Nobody believes him..................
Meh. The only true prophet I believe in was Tom Clancy!
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tiresias
Take a little trip back with father Tiresias
Listen to the old one speak of all he has lived through
I have crossed between the poles, for me there’s no mystery
Once a man, like the sea I raged
Once a woman, like the earth I gave
But there is in fact more earth than sea
😁 Yeah, I immediately thought of that, and almost posted the vid link. OTOH, I didn’t want to be accused of spreading gender dysphoria propaganda.
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