End of time, confines of the seas and sibylline verses

Abstract

The Sibylline Oracles are a collection of Greek oracles in hexameter verses attributed to the pagan Sibyl. Their composition is scattered in time and space and links them to Jewish and Christian literary circles of Egypt and Asia Minor. In this context, seas and rivers appear as structuring elements of the Mediterranean topography: they draw the lines of a space that is not only physical or political, but also poetic or metapoetic, in which aquatic elements, already found in the Greek poetic tradition, fit into the eschatological framework of prophecies. This article analyzes the Sib. Or. as an example of Greek hexametrical poetry from the Hellenistic and Byzantine times. The examination of the role of the marine element and aquatic discourse aims to illustrate the hybrid nature of these texts, in which biblical imagery and post-classical aesthetics contribute to the narrative unfolding of prophecy, between didactic, epic and religious poetry.