Hellespontic Sibyl
The Hellespontic sibyl is one of the ten sibyls that are provided with a geographical epithet . These additional names are based on Laktanz on Varro , a Roman writer of the 1st century BC. Chr., Traced back.
According to ancient legend, the place of the oracle of a Hellespontic Sibyl was on the Hellespont on the coast of Asia Minor. Among other things, the town of Marpessos claimed to have one of the oldest sibyl sanctuaries ( Temenos ). However, there is hardly any direct reference to a sibyl especially at this location in preserved sources from Greek and Roman antiquity .
Based on lactance, the Christian Middle Ages and the Renaissance understood the Hellespontic sibyl as a pagan herald of an expectation of God, almost on a par with the prophets . At that time two more from Asia Minor were listed among the sibyls , the Sami Sibyl and the Sibyl of Erythrai . Because of their geographical proximity, the three sibyls who, according to legend, prophesy in this region are often exchanged or equated with one another.
A separate Hellespontic sibyl is usually represented in Gothic and Renaissance art based on the Varro listing as one in a series of sibyls, often in contrast to an often equal number of prophets from the Old Testament. In the probably best-known pictorial representation of five Sibyls by Michelangelo in the fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel , however, no 'Hellespontica' is contained, it is an 'Erithrea'.
In numerous other groups of sibyls, however, there is now and then a 'Hellespontica' identified by name, e.g. B. in the following locations:
- Ulm , Gothic half-sculpture in the choir stalls of the Ulm Minster , as one of ten Sibyls, in the total work of art with numerous ancient scholars and prophets
- Trescore, Lombardy , Renaissance fresco in the Oratorio Suardi, in a series of seventeen medallions with sibyls and prophets by Lorenzo Lotto
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Des Lucius Caelius Firmianus Lactantius writings . Translated from Latin by Aloys Hartl. (Library of the Church Fathers, 1st row, Volume 36) Munich 1919. Chapter 5.
- ↑ See e.g. BF Härle: The choir stalls in Ulm Minster - history of faith carved in oak. Ulm 2000, ISBN 3-88360-115-2 .
- ↑ See especially W. Stumpfe: Sibyl representation in Italy in the early modern period. About the identity and meaning of a pagan Christian figure. Diss. University of Trier 2005.