THE SIBYLLINE PROPHECIES: THE CLEAREST EXAMPLE OF CHRISTIAN "SKIN-SUITING" OF PAGANISM

The Libyan Sybil

One of the ways in which Christianity was able impose its proto-totalitarian will on the ancient world was by "skin suiting" itself on paganism.

This term, which means "to cut off and wear another person's skin" comes from the horror movie genre, but is also the perfect description of how a weird monotheistic cult from a rootless people in the Middle East imposed itself on the rich polytheism of Europe and the Mediterranean World.

There are many examples of this process: the rebranding of pagan sites as "churches," the renaming of pagan gods as "saints," and the reimaging and subjugation of pagan cults as subcults of Christianity, as with the transmogrification of Isis into the person of the Virgin Mary.

But perhaps the most elaborate example of this is Christianity's co-option of the Sibylline Prophecies.

Sibyls were prophetesses connected to various oracle sites throughout the pagan world, and, as such, they had great cultural and religious power. The pagan Roman state recognized this early on, and effectively centralised this through the cult of the Sibylline Books. This was a systemised collection of prophecies, which were traditionally represented as being purchased from a Sibyl by the last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus. What this effectively did was to place the powers of pagan prophecy under the control of Roman senators, while also masculinising something originally feminine.

The prophecies were then consulted during various crises and emergencies, when the Roman state needed to add extra authority for often radical or unconventional solutions.

For example in 426 BC, the Roman Republic was engaged in war with the Etruscan city of Veii and was suffering from repeated raids by the Etruscan fleet, particularly from the city of Cumae. In order to garner support for building a fleet the Senate "consulted" the Sibylline Books, which "advised" the Romans to construct a fleet to counter the Etruscan naval threat.

A more disturbing use of the Sibylline Books was leading up to the Third Punic War (149–146 BC). Rome was concerned by the rising strength of Carthage, which they had defeated in two previous wars. Wishing to justify a third, pre-emptive war to crush Carthage before it became any stronger, the Books were pressed into service again and accordingly produced a prophecy that Carthage would rise again and become a threat to Rome unless completely destroyed. This led to the subsequent war with its slogan of "Carthago delenda est" (Carthage must be destroyed). In 146 BC Carthage was destroyed and the site ploughed with salt.

When the Roman state was finally taken over by Christianity in the 4th century, the tradition of the Sibylline Books was not simply discarded in the religious dustbin of history, as you might expect from a religion that claimed all previous and competing religions were false. Instead, the Books became just one more example of something that the ascendent but insecure new religion felt it had to "skin suit" in order to augment its religious power.

The Delphic Sybil

Accordingly the cult and tradition of the Sibylline Books was maintained but gutted of all pagan content and then backfilled with blatant Christian "prophecies." This is why the Sibyls are such a prominent feature in Michelangelo's painting of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, now regarded as his greatest work.

In fact, there are supposed to be twelve Sibyls, to each of whom the Christians attached a prophetic piece of propaganda for their own dark, twisted faith. Here are the prophecies according to a 1974 edition of Brewer's "Dictionary of Phrase and Fable":

(1) Libyan Sibyl (North Africa)

Prophecy: "The day shall come when men shall see the King of all living things."

(2) Samian Sibyl (Greece, Samos)

Prophecy: " The Rich One shall be born of a pure virgin."

(3) Cimmerian Sibyl (Italy or Black Sea region)

Prophecy: "Jesus Christ shall come from heaven, and live and reign in poverty on earth."

(4) Cumaean Sibyl (Italy, Cumae near Naples)

Prophecy: "God shall be born of a pure virgin, and hold converse with sinner."

(5) Erythraean Sibyl (Asia Minor, Erythrae)

Prophecy: "Jesus Christ, Son of God, the Saviour."

(6) Persian Sibyl (Persia or Chaldea)

Prophecy: "Satan shall be overcome by a true prophet."

(7) Tiburtine Sibyl (Italy, Tibur/Tivoli)

Prophecy: "The Highest shall descend from heaven, and a virgin be shown in the valleys of the deserts."

(8) Delphic Sibyl (Greece, Delphi)

Prophecy: "The Prophet born of the Virgin shall be crowned by thorns."

(9) Phrygian Sibyl (Asia Minor, Phrygia)

Prophecy: " Our Lord shall rise again."

(10) European Sibyl (Unspecified European location)

Prophecy: " A virgin and her Son shall flee into Egypt."

(11) Agrippine Sibyl (Egypt or Judea, sometimes called Egyptian or Hebrew Sibyl)

Prophecy: " Jesus Christ shall be outraged and scourged."

(12) Hellespontine Sibyl (Troy/Hellespont region)

Prophecy: " Jesus Christ shall suffer shame upon the cross."

It's kind of surprising that the Romans who frequently consulted these pagan books for hundreds of years before the advent of Christianity and for around 300 years after, had missed all these pointers towards the "true faith"!

Of these 12 symbolic figures of co-opted pagan soft power, five are represented in Michelangelo's masterpiece: the Libyan, the Persian, the Cumaean, the Erythraean, and the Delphic.

Yes, the Sistine Chapel, one of the wonders of Christianity, is also the site of the greatest and most elaborate "skin suiting" of paganism.