Citation with stable link: Philip A. Harland, 'Egyptian and Babylonian wisdom: Lactantius on the authority of Hermes Trismegistos and the Sibyls (early fourth century CE),' Ethnic Relations and Migration in the Ancient World, last modified August 26, 2026, https://philipharland.com/Blog/?p=23306.

Ancient author: Lactantius, Divine Institutes 1.6 (link; link to Latin).

Comments: Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius (early fourth century CE) was a rhetorician from North Africa who later relocated to engage in rhetoric in Nikomedia in Bithynia under emperor Diocletian and, at some point, may have been a tutor to one of the emperor Constantine’s sons (according to Jerome, On Illustrious Men 80). The work cited below on Divine Institutes, which is dedicated to emperor Constantine (reigning 306-337 CE), aims to dismiss traditional Roman customary obligations (religiones) related to the gods (plural) as false and to defend and “honour the greatness of the one true God”, as he puts it (1.1.13). By this he means the God that Christians worshipped.

In the first section of his work, Lactantius seeks to establish his main authorities for rejecting the many gods of the peoples and establishing the true form of worshipping that one God. Instead of citing scripture, which he admits would not convince his opponents, he turns to other evidence. The result is that “wise barbarians” come to play a critical role in the argument of Lactantius’ entire work, but not expressly Israelite or Judean ones (although some of the Sibylline Oracles he cites are in fact Judean), since the Hebrew scriptures are at the outset left to the side.

The passage below appears in the first book when Lactantius is merely introducing some of these foreign sources of wisdom that he thinks at least some of his Roman readers will accept as authorities as well. So he is anticipating Romans who would accept the notion that there are some wise barbarians. Primarily, he focusses on the Egyptian figure of Hermes Trismegistos and the various Sibyls, including the Persian Sibyl and the Erythraian Sibyl who is pictured as originally being Babylonian. Sometimes the Sibylline Oracles he will cite later on are, in fact, those produced by Judeans and other Jesus adherents (rather than those in the official Roman collection kept by the official Roman college of fifteen men). The Judean or Christian authors of the other Sibylline Oracles were likewise attempting to build up a foreign source of wisdom to support their own Judean positions (so there is some hidden circular reasoning). But Lactantius does not reveal that Judean background, if he knows about it. So all of this is an excellent dive into the notion of barbarian wisdom via a fourth century Jesus adherent from northern Africa addressing Romans generally.

Lactantius’ entire book is ostensibly based on carefully selected foreign wisdom, then. In other parts of his work, for instance, he will also cite positively the oracles of Hystaspes, a Median or Persian figure (link), while rejecting Persian Magian wisdom entirely (link). So things can get complicated.

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[Egyptian wisdom from Hermes Trismegistos = Thoth]

Now let us pass over to divine evidence. However, first I will present evidence which resembles divine evidence, both because it is very old and because the person I will name was taken from humans and placed among the gods. According to Cicero [On the Nature of the Gods 3.56], Caius Cotta the high priest – while disputing against the Stoics concerning superstitions and the variety of opinions which prevail regarding the gods with the aim of making everything uncertain following the custom of the Academics – says that there were five Mercuries. After enumerating four in order, Cotta says that the fifth was the one who killed Argus and that, for this reason, that person fled into Egypt and gave laws and letters to the Egyptians. The Egyptians call him Thoth. The Egyptians first month of their year, that is, September, is named after him. He also built a town, which is even now called in Greek Hermopolis [i.e. Hermes’ / Mercury’s city], and the Phenians [in Arkadia, Greece] worship him honour him with reverence. Even though he was a man [Lactantius adopts Euhemeros’ theory of the gods’ origins], he was nonethless from very long ago and most fully imbued with every kind of learning. He acquired the name of Trismegistos (“Triply-great”) because of his knowledge of many subjects and skills.

Hermes Trismegistos wrote many books relating to the knowledge of divine things. In them he asserts the majesty of the supreme and only God and makes mention of that God by the same names which we [i.e. Romans, but also Jesus adherents] use: “God and Father” (dominus et pater). In case anyone would ask his name, Hermes said that he was without name, and because of his uniqueness he does not require the peculiarity of a name. These are his own words: “God is one, but only he who is one does not need a name. For he who is self-existent is without a name.” God, therefore, has no name, because he is unique. Nor is there any need of a proper name, except in cases where a multitude of persons requires a distinguishing mark, so that you may designate each person by his own mark and appellation. But God, because he is always one, has no peculiar name.

[Wisdom of the Sibyls, including the Persian and Babylonian Sibyls]

I still need to bring forward evidence regarding the sacred responses and oracles, which are much more reliable [i.e. than Hermes Trismegistos’ works]. For perhaps the people against whom we are arguing may think that no credence is to be given to poets, as though they invented fictions, nor to philosophers, inasmuch as they were liable to make mistakes since they were human. Marcus Varro had greater learning than any man who ever lived, even among Greeks. In his books on divine subjects which he addressed to Gaius Caesar the supreme high priest, when he was speaking about the college of fifteen men [in charge of the Roman Sibylline books] (quindecemviri), says that the Sibylline books were not produced by just one Sibyl. Rather, they were labelled using the one designation “Sibylline” because people in ancient times called all prophetesses “Sibyls”, either after the name of a specific one, the priestess at Delphi, or after their proclaiming the counsels of the gods. For in the Aeolic dialect, the word for “gods” is “Sioi,” not “Theoi“, and the word for “advice” is boulia, not boulē. So the Sibyl received her name from “god’s advice.”

Now Varro says that the Sibyls were ten in number, and he enumerated them all under the authors who wrote about each of them:

• the first Sibyl was from the Persians, and Nikanor, who wrote on accomplishments of Alexander of Macedon, mentions her;
• the second is from Libya, and Euripides mentions her in the prologue of the Lamia;
• the third is from Delphi, about whom Chrysippos speaks in that book which he composed on divination;
• the fourth was a Cimmerian in Italy, whom Naevius mentions in his books on the Punic War, and Piso mentions in his Annals;
• the fifth is from Erythrai [but ultimately Babylonian as explained below], whom Apollodoros of Erythrai affirms to have been his own fellow-citizen and states that she foretold to the Greeks (when they were setting out for Ilion) that Troy was doomed to destruction and that Homer would write falsehoods;
• the sixth was from Samos island, respecting whom Eratosthenes writes that he had found a written note in the ancient records of the Samians;
• the seventh was from Cumae [in Italy], named Amalthaea, who is called Herophile by some people or Demophile by others: they say that she brought nine books to the king Tarquinius Priscus and asked for three hundred coins associated with Philip of Macedon for them, and that the king refused such a high price and derided the madness of the woman; that she, in the sight of the king, burnt three of the books and demanded the same price for those which were left; that Tarquinias much more considered the woman to be crazy; that when she again, having burned three other books, persisted in asking the same price, the king was convinced and bought the remaining books for the three hundred pieces of gold (and the number of these books was afterwards increased, after the rebuilding of the Capitol, because they were collected from all cities of Italy and Greece, and especially from those of Erythrai, and were brought to Rome, under the name of whatever Sibyl they were).
• in addition, the eighth Sibyl was from the Hellespont, born in the Trojan territory, in the village of Marpessos around town of Gergithos, and Heraklides of Pontos writes that she lived in the times of Solon and Cyrus;
• the ninth was from Phrygia, who gave oracles at Ankyra;
• the tenth was from Tibur, by name Albunea, who is worshipped at Tibur as a goddess, near the banks of the river Anio, in the depths of which her statue is said to have been found, holding in her hand a book. (The senate transferred her oracles into the Capitol).

[Shared message of the Sibyls and superiority of the Erythraian / Babylonian Sibyl] 

The oracles of all these Sibyls are both read and kept, except those of the Cumaean Sibyl, whose books are concealed by the Romans. Nor do the Romans consider it lawful for the oracles to be inspected by any one but one of the college of fifteen men. Each Sibyl has a separate book, but because these are labelled “Sibylline,” people believe the oracles are the work of one Sibyl. But they [the oracles] are confused, and the book produced by each Sibyl cannot be distinguished and assigned to its own author, except in the case of the Erythraian Sibyl. That SIbyl inserted her own true name in her verse and predicted that she would be called Erythraian, even though she was born at Babylon. But we will also talk about the Sibyl without any distinction, wherever we have occasion to use them as evidence.

All these Sibyls, then, proclaim one God, and especially the Erythraian, who is regarded among the others as more celebrated and noble. Fenestella [the Roman historian, first centuries BCE-CE], a very careful writer, speaking of the college of fifteen men [who protect the oracles], says the following: After the rebuilding of the Capitol, Caius Curio the consul proposed to the senate that ambassadors should be sent to Erythrai to search out and bring to Rome the writings of the Sibyl. Accordingly, Publius Gabinius, Marcus Otacilius, and Lucius Valerius were sent as ambassadors. They conveyed to Rome about a thousand verses written out by private persons. We have shown before that Varro made the same statement. Now in these verses which the ambassadors brought to Rome, is this evidence regarding the one God:

“One God, who is alone, most mighty, uncreated.”

This is the only supreme God, who made the heaven, and decked it with lights.

“But there is one only God of pre-eminent power, who made the heaven, sun, stars, moon, fruitful earth, and waves of the water of the sea.”

Since he alone is the framer of the universe, and the creator of all things of which it consists or which are contained in it, it testifies that he alone should be worshipped: “Worship him who is alone the ruler of the world, who alone was and is from age to age.”

Also another Sibyl, whoever she is, when she said that she conveyed the voice of God to men, spoke like this: “I am the one only God, and there is no other God.”

I would now follow up the testimonies of the others, were it not that these are sufficient, and that I reserve others for more appropriate opportunities. But since we are defending the cause of truth before those who stray from the truth and participate in false forms of worship, what kind of proof should we to bring forward against them, rather than to refute them by the testimonies of their own gods?

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Source of translation: W. Fletcher, The Works of Lactantius, Ante-Nicene Christian Library 21–22 (T&T Clark, 1871), public doman, adapted by Harland.