What was the name of the priestly college that oversaw the Sibylline Books?

The priestly college that oversaw the Sibylline Books was the Quindecimviri. More fully called the quindecimviri sacris faciundis, its name means “the fifteen men responsible for sacred rites.”

The college guarded the Sibylline Books, a collection of prophetic texts believed to contain divine guidance for Rome. The priests consulted them when the Senate requested advice, especially during crises such as prodigies, wars, epidemics, or other threats to the state. They also helped supervise the worship of foreign deities officially introduced into Roman religion.

The college developed from an older board of two patrician priests, the duumviri sacris faciundis. The number was increased to ten in 367 BC, and Sulla later expanded it to fifteen. Despite the name, the membership could change as Rome’s political institutions evolved, and Julius Caesar eventually increased the number further.

The other options held different roles: flamines served individual gods, pontifices managed broad religious law and ritual, and augurs interpreted signs from the gods. The Sibylline Books themselves were traditionally destroyed in the late fourth century AD.