Sibyls

sib'ilz, in ancient mythology, certain women credited with powers of divination and prophecy. They are popularly reputed to have gone into what now would be called most likely an epileptic fit, during which their ravings and mutterings were recorded carefully and changed into Greek hexameter verse. Homer and Herodotus make no mention of any sibyl, while Plato, Aristophanes, and Heraclitus speak of only one. Others mention ten or twelve different sibyls, the Persian, the Libyan, the Delphic, etc. According to Plutarch the sibyl of Delphi was the first. The most celebrated sibyl was the sibyl of Cumae in Italy. According to tradition she appeared before Tarquin the Proud and offered to sell him nine books which she alleged were of importance to the infant Roman nation. On his refusal to buy, she burned three and offered the remaining six at the same price. Being again refused, she burned three more and offered to sell the remaining three at the price asked originally for the nine. Tarquin's curiosity was aroused by this extraordinary behavior. He purchased the books and found that they were filled with directions to the Romans in time of national emergency. The care of the Sibylline Books, as they were now called, was intrusted to a college of fifteen Romans. The college was assisted by two Greek clerks, able to read the language in which the books were written. In time of war or other national peril the Sibylline Books were consulted for guidance. They were kept in the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill and shared in its destruction by fire, 83 B. C. A second collection of articles extending to about one thousand verses was made for Rome in Greece, Sicily, Troy, and Africa. This collection was reputed to have been destroyed by the orders of Stilicho about 400 A. D. It was the Cumaean sibyl who conducted Aeneas to the infernal regions, as recounted by Virgil in the sixth book of the Aenead. See Oracle

Sicily,sis'i-li, an island in the Mediterranean. It lies directly west of the "toe" of Italy. The conformation and organization of the rocks indicate that it is a prolongation of the Apennines of Italy. It is separated from the mainland by the Strait of Messina, which, at its narrowest point, is only a mile in width. While not quite so large as Sardinia, Sicily is the most important island in the Mediterranean. It exceeds Massachusetts slightly in size, also in population. The island has a reputation for fertility. It was one of the sources from which ancient Rome drew a large part of its food supply. The principal productions are wheat, oranges, citrons, olives, lemons, sulphur, silk, and salt. Sicily is a sunny, picturesque country of rustics and ruins. The markets, puppet shows, lotteries, olives, wines, flowers, goat-herds, water-carriers, green-grocers, street musicians, street bread venders, brigands, and beggars are of untiring interest to the traveler.

Sicily has a peculiar history. Its situation made it a disputed ground between conflicting races and religions. The original inhabitants were no doubt akin to those found on the Italian mainland. The island was colonized by the Greeks, the Carthaginians, and the Romans. Later it was overrun by the Goths and the Saracens. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries it was an independent kingdom under the Normans. It was long a bone of contention between Spain, France, and Germany. During the eighteenth century it was united with Naples under a Bourbon dynasty. The kingdom thus formed was known as the "Two Sicilies." In 1860 the island became a part of the kingdom of Italy. As might be expected, the inhabitants are a mixture of Phoenicians, Greeks, Arabs, Spaniards, French, and Italians. The various elements have fused into a dark-haired, dark-eyed people. They speak a peculiar dialect of the Italian language and are devoted to the Church of Rome.

One of the most noted events in the history of the island is known as the Sicilian Vespers. A French prince, a brother of the king of France, had become master of Naples and Sicily. He treated the inhabitants as a conquered people. The inhabitants of Palermo, smarting under a long series of wrongs, and enraged, it is said, by an insult offered by one of Charles' soldiers to a beautiful bride, rose in arms March 30, 1282, and massacred 8,000 Frenchmen and their adherents. The signal for the uprising was the first stroke of the vesper bell, whence the name.

See Dionysius; Etna; Mafia; Vendetta; Scylla And Charybdis