THE SIBYL’S PROPHECY OF THE NINE SUNS: The Tiburtine Sibyl in Translation
edited by Jason Colavito
The Jason Colavito Library, 2026
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A Forgotten Prophecy
For more than a millennium, a mysterious prophecy attributed to the Tiburtine Sibyl circulated across Europe and the Near East, shaping apocalyptic imagination, royal ideology, and popular visions of the end of history. In this landmark volume, Jason Colavito gathers the most important surviving versions of The Sibyl’s Prophecy of the Nine Suns—presented together for the first time in English—from Arabic, Garshuni, Ethiopic, Greek, Latin, Welsh, and Slavonic traditions.
Originating in Late Antiquity and continually revised to reflect the fears and hopes of successive ages, the prophecy tells of one hundred Roman senators who dream of nine suns blazing in the sky. Summoned to interpret this vision, the Sibyl reveals a sweeping panorama of world history, from primordial ages to the rise of empires, the coming of Christ, the trials of nations, and the final confrontation with the Antichrist. Each culture that preserved the text reshaped it, inserting its own rulers, enemies, and expectations into the unfolding drama of sacred history. Combining fresh translations with classic scholarship and explanatory introductions, this anthology allows readers to trace the evolution of one of the most influential yet least accessible apocalyptic texts of the medieval world. Both a sourcebook and a historical investigation, The Sibyl’s Prophecy of the Nine Suns opens a window onto the shared prophetic imagination of East and West—and the enduring human desire to read the future in the signs of the heavens. |
