The Forbidden, Secret Ancient Roman Scrolls That Shaped History

Added: 2026-05-15

[00:00:00]When we think of the most influential books in history, we often think of books that have a wide readership.

[00:00:04]Something that if not most literal 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 related to a mysterious prophetus 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 cyoline books. The books not even the Roman Senate were allowed to read. The Cibeline books were three volumes of Greek hexata poems. The same meter used in the Greek epics of Homer.

[00:00:41]We don't actually know where the Cibiline 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 BC, 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.

[00:01:05]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 the same price again. It was at this point that Tquinius approached his priests to figure out if any of this was a sign from the gods. The priest 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 Cibiline refers to the woman in question as she is thought of as a civil or a prophetus in Greek tradition.

[00:01:29]Naturally, it isn't clear if any of this is true. And unlike in other religions where textual analysis can potentially help clarify the text's origins, nothing of the civilian book survives to analyze and eyewitness accounts are almost non-existent. What we do know is this story is somewhat unique in the helenic world. Where syibles have been active in the Greek imagination, Greek sibles tend to be associated with Apollo, the god of prophecy. Yet in this case, there is no connection to Apollo in their origins.

[00:01:55]In fact, the association between the civiline books and Apollo were absent until Emperor Augustus moved the location of the civiline books to the temple of Apollo. However, the Romans got the books. So, what did they do with them? A special college of priests were set up to deal exclusively with these prophecies. The priests in charge of the civil line books were the dumbi sacris fascis and later when the office expanded from two to 10 priests they became known as the deseveri and again the quindes when they expanded to 15.

[00:02:24]The name means the board of two for ritual action or 10 and 15 depending on the period. The fact that the books were in Greek meant that the priests had to know Greek well enough to decipher esoterically written oracles in verse making them highly learned. The books were kept underground in the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the capital line hill built by Tquinius superbus and a procedure controlled by the Senate was put in place to access them. The priests couldn't just read them at will.

[00:02:50]Specifically, consultations of the books were ordered by the Senate after reports of unusual happenings called prodigies.

[00:02:55]Prodigies could be natural, such as plagues, with the first recorded consultation happening in 436 B.CE. They could also be supernatural, such as a reign of stones recorded first in 295 B.CE. In addition, consultation could take place as a response to military defeat, such as one when the Gauls sacked Rome in 390 B.CE. Prodigies were seen as a breach of the peace of the gods and were the god's way of getting the attention of the people. Although only the Roman senate had the authority to recognize an event as a prodigy and authorize a consultation of the civiline books. In turn, the civil books were used to decipher what the gods wanted and suggest a course of action for the Senate to take. Usually the books recommended a ritual, a sacrifice, a period observance, a feast, or in some occasions, the adoption of a cult or god. As for the nuts and bolts, there is much we don't know. For example, we don't actually know how the priests consulted the books, and it is likewise unclear how they went about their job.

[00:03:47]We don't know if the books came with an index, if there was a guide to the books priests could train with, if the priests had to rely on oral knowledge or much else. It is very possible that the priests had to read through all three books for every consultation. What we do know is that the priests had access to slaves that helped in their duties.

[00:04:04]These were literate slaves who could read and write and they helped keep records of the consultations. However, it's very unlikely that the slaves were allowed to read the books. Whatever the exact process, it appears that the priests consulted the books alone and would afterward put forth a suggestion to the Senate as to what the gods wanted. From here only the Senate decided on the course of action with the Senate further making the proclamation to the people about what the civil line book suggested. In all of this making sure never directly to cite any line from the books. On this note, the contents of the books were heavily guarded by the priests. In fact, one of the few things we do know is the priests were forbidden from quoting or reproducing the books. If a priest was caught doing this, the penalty was death via getting sewn into a sack and thrown in the sea. As to whether this actually ever happens, we do have one recorded case to a priest being punished for this crime. But scholars argue to this day whether or not it was invented to keep the other priests in line. Either way, with the Senate and the priests keeping the contents of the books hidden, we don't have any reliable surviving examples from the civil line books. That said, Fleon of Triles claimed to preserve a passage from the books in his writings during the 2nd century CE. But how Fleon got a hold of these fragments is unknown. And we further know he did not get sewn into a sack and thrown into the water to drown. So what did the Senate do once the recommendation by the priests was given? Well, basically whatever they wanted. They had the power to completely reject the findings if they conflicted with the senator's agenda. For example, in one case in 143 B.CE, the books were consulted for an issue around the time the Senate was busy approving the construction of an aqueduct by Julius Caesar's great-grandfather, Marcus Rex. Even though it wasn't the purpose of its consultation, the books advised against building the aqueduct. The Senate was called to debate the aqueduct in light of the book's warnings twice three years apart. However, it seems Marcus Rex's influence was great enough to stump supporters of the books both times, and the aqueduct was still built. The aqueduct in question, the Aquamaria, can be seen in parts that still stand to this day around the city of Rome. That said, it wasn't as if they didn't take them seriously. After all, the books and the recommendations from them were sort of a communication bridge between the gods and man. On this note, it appears their power was not so much based on the specific text, but the sibilic source of the books. For example, when these specific books were completely destroyed in 83 B.C.E. after a conflict burned down the temple of the capital line Jupiter, instead of shuttering the college, the Senate had cylic verses collected from areas assorted with syibles in both the Greek and Roman traditions. The priests then collected the verses and edited them into a new collection, which we likewise know little about. And from here, they used these new books the same way as the old.

[00:06:35]It was the divine origin of the books that gave them power, not the specific collection of the books that were lost in 83 B.CE. It was important for them to find a different source. And it seemed that they did not lose too much faith in the new book's authority. Of course, the books provided a convenient way for the senators and priests, who were often senators themselves, to justify whatever they wanted to do based on citing that it was the will of the gods. So, there's that. Further, for those who truly believed in their divine origin, it was a mechanism for calming things down in difficult times. As Zibby says, the civilian books lightened men's minds concerning their relations with the gods. And as to doing what they wanted, for example, the civilian book's most famous recommendation to adopt the Asian deity Magnuma might have been to affirm a decision the Senate already committed to. Magnum was the Anatolian mountain goddess Sabil. The Friians were allies of Rome through the Punic Wars in 205 BC. The Senate recognized a shower of stones as a prodigy and used the consultation as an opportunity to import the goddess and her cult to Rome, an act the Senate already wanted to do. This was to strengthen Rome's claims that they and the Fragians were descendants of the Trojans. They sent a delegation to Friia to bring back the cult object of the Magnumator and installed it in Rome. The introduction of the cult was seemingly engineered by the Senate to signal the Roman people their expansion on the world stage. The cult was unlike Roman cults before it. was initiary and priests of the cult were castrated, sought alms in the streets and danced around. In another instance, in 114 B.CE, the daughter of attrition was struck by lightning while on horseback.

[00:08:10]The harispaces, a collection of divinatory priests, investigated the lightning strike and came to the conclusion that the gods were unhappy because of unchastity among the petricians and the vestal virgins.

[00:08:20]Because of this incident, it came to light that three vestal virgins were having affairs with some petitions. This was a major scandal and the whole affair was considered a prodigy by the Senate.

[00:08:28]They ordered a consultation of the books. The books ordered the founding of a new cult and a temple to Venus vers Accordia. She was the aspect of Venus that turned lustful hearts towards Chastity. The books also suggested burying two Gauls and two Greeks into the walls of Rome to fulfill a prophecy that the Gauls and Greeks would occupy Rome's walls, a repeat of a previous grizzly prophecy. It seems the civil line books were consulted less and less over time, particularly after the conclusion of the Punic Wars in 146 B.CE. They were still consulted, but once Rome became an empire with the emperor acting as a chief priest to the Roman religion, the civilian books were more subject to a specific emperor's win. For example, Augustus moved the books to Apollo's temple, solidifying their link to Apollo in later times.

[00:09:09]Tiberius vetoed a Senate consultation with the books in 15 CE. The books even survived the conversion of the empire and were used by the last pagan emperor Julian who consulted them while on campaign in 363. But everything that has a beginning has an end. And finally, a Christian general, Stelicho, ordered the books destroyed in 405, ending their influence on world events and placing them firmly in the dust bin of history.