Between Material Philology and Reception History: Patristic and Papyrological Evidence for the Sibylline Oracles

Abstract

Abstract This article adapts insights from Material Philology to rethink the reception of the Sibylline Oracles by looking at the full range of evidence for the collection’s early development and circulation. Since the “rediscovery” of the Oracles in 1545, the Renaissance-era manuscripts and modern critical editions have been privileged as if equivalent to the “original,” ancient text. To move away from mediating our knowledge of the Oracles solely through later interpreters, this article brings materials from the margins – papyrological fragments from the second centuries BCE and CE and quotations in Josephus, Justin Martyr, Athenagoras, and Theophilus – to the very center of the discussion. Increased attention to Jewish and Christian witnesses provides a snapshot of how the Sibylline Oracles were read, received, and redacted over time. Comparing the material evidence with the manuscript tradition yields startingly different concerns regarding the Oracles’ textual fluidity, Book 3’s Jewish origins, and the Sibyl’s prophetic authority.