ABSTRACT
The prophecies written on the sibyls’ leaves that fl oated about Anne Boleyn’s head during her coronation progress through London promised a new “son” who would bring about the long-awaited golden age. This prophecy did not, of course, manifest itself in quite the way the audience expected. Instead, the verses would be reinterpreted and reinvigorated to promote her daughter. Elizabeth I came to be fi gured as a new “Sun”1 in many prophetic interpretations. In her reign Sibylline prophecy and imagery were appropriated as part of a strategy through which Elizabeth was positioned as the Last World Emperor, so long the subject of Sibylline discourse. However, during Elizabeth’s reign Sibylline imagery was not simply harnessed to religious or political exigencies. The richness of both medieval and classical Sibylline imagery was drawn upon by poets and artists who appropriated it to serve their artistic goals. In the later half of the sixteenth century Sibylline imagery was to emerge as varied and evocative, ripe for inclusion in the many cultural discourses of the period.
