The
Cumaean Sibyl was the priestess presiding over the
Apollonian oracle at
Cumae, a
Greek colony located near
Naples, Italy. The word
sibyl comes (via
Latin) from the
ancient Greek word
sibylla, meaning
prophetess. There were many sibyls in different locations throughout the ancient world. Because of the importance of the Cumaean Sibyl in the legends of
early Rome as codified in
Virgil's
Aeneid VI, and because of her proximity to Rome, the Cumaean Sibyl became the most famous among the Romans. The
Erythraean Sibyl from modern-day Turkey was famed among Greeks, as was the oldest Hellenic oracle, the Sibyl of
Dodona, possibly dating to the second millennium BC according to Herodotus, favored in the east.