Sibyl in the context of "Albunea"

The Sibylline Books (Latin: Libri Sibyllini) were a collection of oracular utterances, set out in Greek hexameter verses, that, according to tradition, were purchased from a sibyl by the last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, and consulted at momentous crises through the history of the Roman Republic and the Empire.

Only fragments have survived, the rest being lost or deliberately destroyed. The Sibylline Books are not the same as the Sibylline Oracles, which are fourteen books and eight fragments of prophecies thought to be of Judaeo-Christian origin.

The Erythraean Sibyl was the prophetess of classical antiquity presiding over the Apollonian oracle at Erythrae, a town in Ionia opposite Chios, which was built by Neleus, the son of Codrus.

The word Sibyl comes (via Latin) from the ancient Greek word sibylla, meaning prophetess. Sibyls would give answers whose value depended upon good questions — unlike prophets, who typically answered with responses indirectly related to questions asked.

In Greek mythology, the name Theobule (Ancient Greek: Θεοβούλη from θεός + βούλλα 'divine will' or 'divine counsel') refers to:

• Theobule, mother of Myrtilus by Hermes.
• Theobula, mother of Arcesilaus and Prothoenor by Areilycus (Archilycus). Their son was one of the Boeotian leaders in the Trojan War. In one account, Alector was the father of Arcesilaus by Cleobule and Prothoenor by Arteis.

This name was also thought to have given rise to Sibyl by Varro, a Roman man of letters. The historian Jerome similarly explained Theobule as the Attic form of the Doric Σιοβόλλα (Siobolla), a variant of Sibulla (Sibyl in Greek)