The Voice in the Sibyl's Cave
In a long stone passage on the coast near Naples, a prophetess was said to sing the future from the dark, through a hundred openings.
What was reported
Cumae was the oldest Greek colony in Italy, and its Sibyl was the most famous prophetess of the Roman world. In Virgil's telling, her cave had a hundred mouths, and her answers came rushing out of all of them at once. Legend said she had been granted as many years as grains of sand she could hold, but forgot to ask for youth, and shrank until only her voice remained.
Another story says she sold the Roman king Tarquin the Sibylline Books of prophecy, which the Romans consulted in times of crisis for centuries.
Explanations offered
In 1932 archaeologists uncovered a long, trapezoid-shaped passage cut into the rock at Cumae, with side openings to the sea, and named it the Sibyl's Cave. Many now think it was built for defence or other purposes, but its echoing gallery fits Virgil's description strikingly well.
- When
- Legend from about 600 BC
- Where
- Cumae, near Naples, Italy
- Witnesses
- Roman tradition
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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