June 04, 2026

The Forbidden Ancient Roman Scrolls That Shaped History

13 minutes

When we think of the most influential books in history, we often think of books that have a wide readership. Something that if not most literate people read, surely, many of the elite did. But it turns out, some of the most influential books in ancient history were only read by, quite literally, a handful of people. You see, Rome had a set of holy books, divinely revealed to a mysterious prophetess, that were kept under lock and key by a college of Roman priests never numbering more than 15 at a time. These books were only read by this select few, and were used by the Roman Senate to help decide all manner of things important to the management of Rome. This is the story of the mysterious Sibylline Books, the books not even the Roman senate were allowed to read.

The Sibylline Books were three volumes of Greek hexameter poems, the same meter used in the Greek epics of Homer. We don’t actually know where the Sibylline Books came from other than the Romans' own mythology about them. The story goes that the last of Rome’s seven kings, Tarquinius Superbus who died in 495 BCE, was approached by an old woman with nine books written in Greek that told Rome’s future. She offered these books at an exorbitant price, so Tarquinius refused. The old woman then burned three of the books and offered the remaining books at the same price. Tarquinius, who is portrayed as arrogant in Roman literature, refused her a second time. The old woman burned three more books and offered the remaining three at again the same price. It was at this point that Tarquinius approached his priests to figure out if any of this was a sign from the gods. The priests advised him to buy the remaining books at whatever price the old woman named. Upon purchasing the books from the woman, she disappeared, never to be seen again. The name Sibylline refers to the woman in question, as she is thought of as a Sibyl, or a prophetess in the Greek tradition.

Author: Yehia Amen

Editor: Daven Hiskey

Host: Simon Whistler

Producer: Samuel Avila

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