The Delphic Sibyl (est1200-800B.C.)

The Delphic Sibyl made her prophecies at Delphi (Greece), there are many various stories about this Sibyl but not all of them agree. For example, one source lists her as a daughter of Queen Lamia which would make her a sister or half-sister of The Libyan Sibyl. However, it is said that she came from Troad before the Trojan War (1200B.C.) with her brother (Apollo) to Delphi, then later stopped at Samos (Greek island) Claros (Greek city) and Delos (Greek island where Apollo was born) before eventually dying in Troad (Turkey) after living nine generations(which is about 300-400years).

The Sibyl is mentioned by various sources, most noticeably by Pausanias in his description of Greece, and later she was also one of the Sibyls that was painted by Michelangelo. There are claims that she gave a prophecy about the coming of Christ.

The Erythraean Sibyls (est1300-150 B.C.?)

The first Erythraean Sibyl is said to have been the daughter of a sheperd. She lived in Erythrae, Ionia (Asia Minor), on the Aegean Sea, and is often confused with the Cumaean Sibyl (St. Augustine, in his "City of God," speaks of this).

What makes this woman important to Christians is her prediction of Christ, given in the form of an acrostic poem which formed the words, 'Ihsous Xristos Qeou uios spthr, which means, "Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Saviour." And in some ways she was remembered through her dipiction in a floor mosaic in the Cathedral of Siena and in a painting by Michelangelo. It is said that she also predicted the Trojan War (est1200 B.C.) saying that Troy would be destroyed and that Homer (est 850 B.C) would write falsely. It is also said that she prophesied Alexander the Great's(est 300 B.C.) divine parentage.

However it seems that Erthrae may have become a permanent base for a succession of Sibyls, as the daughter of Berossus (est 300 B.C.) became one, Berossus was a scholar and an astrologist who, according to Vitruvius de Architectura, is said to have moved in later like to the island of Kos to set up a school of Astrology. Further evidence to this idea is that Appollodorus (est180 B.C.) still references a Sibyl of Erthrae many years later. Therefore I am referencing to them here in the plural and to have existed from 1300-150 B.C.

Upon further examination of other documents(incl the Suidas), it appears that the Erythraean Sibyl (the original) spent the greater part of her life on the Greek Island of Samos and became known as the Samian Sibyl, or Phyto (meaning 'wandering'). It is possible that she originally settled in Erthrae and set up a base for other sibyls before moving to Samos to spend the rest of her life there, or maybe she originated from the island itself and just traveled to Erthrae at some point in her life. The Samian Sibyl is recorded as existing during the building of the city of Byzantium (around 600B.C.??)