Affiliation:
1. Department of Ancient Mediterranean Studies , Rhodes College , 2000 North Parkway, Memphis, Tennessee 38112, USA United States of America
Abstract
Abstract
Many scholars have suggested that Augustus and Tiberius were afraid of prodigies and the Sibylline Books. Not only, they claim, did these emperors suppress prodigy reports, they also destroyed parts of the official Sibylline collection. This paper argues that the early emperors were not afraid of state divination. Rather than being a threat to their power, prodigies, expiations, and the Sibylline Books were used to confirm their position and to counter the authority of competing forms of divination.
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