A sibyl is a figure from ancient mythology (first mentioned about 500 B.C.E. by Heraclitus), endowed with the gift of prophecy. The writings of the sibyls were expressed in hexameter verse. Christians in the late middle ages believed that the writings of the sibyls foretold the coming of Jesus Christ. During the 16th century, Benito Arias Montano composed Latin verses based on the prophecies written in the "Oracula Sibyllina":
The Persian Sibyl
You will be trampled by a powerful foot, o crafty serpert,
Mighty God will be born in the humble world.
This word which no-one now sees, which no-one now can touch,
Behold a human hand will attack.
