WHAT METER WAS PRIMARY FOR ALPHABETICAL ORACLES: IAMBIC TRIMETER OR HEXAMETER?
Prikhodko Elena V. · Вестник Московского университета. Серия 9. Филология · 2024
Alphabetical oracles are a collection of one-line prophecies organized in alphabetical order. Their existence is known solely through epigraphic evidence. Twelve inscriptions were discovered in southwestern Asia Minor, dating back to the 2 nd century AD. Among these, ten oracles were composed in iambic trimeter, while only two were in hexameter. The question arises: what meter was primarily employed for this form of divination? Inscriptions containing alphabetical oracles in hexameter were revealed in the Phrygian city of Hierapolis. Almost two-thirds of the hexametric oracle’s prophecies coincide in content with the prophecies of the oracle originating from the region of the Pisidian city of Timbriada. Nollé argues that the oracle from Timbriada might have served as a prototype for the Hierapolis oracle, for several reasons: 1. The majority of alphabetical oracles are composed in iambic meter; 2. In the Σ - and Ω -verses, the name of the widely venerated god Serapis, prominent across the region, is substituted with Apollo Kareios, who was revered in Hierapolis; 3. The K- and M-verses remain in iambic meter, yet they are not bor-rowed from the Timbriada oracle but from a more prevalent version. The author of the article aims to validate Nollé’s conclusion by comparing the text of prophecies that share identical content. The investigation relies not on the overall meaning of the prophecies, but on a comparative analysis of their linguistic structure. To achieve this, the author selects Γ -, Ν - and Ψ -verses. The research confirms the supremacy of the iambic oracle. The verses of the Timbriada oracle employ traditional linguistic elements, characterized by coherence and logic. In contrast, the verses of the Hier-apolis oracle appear more artificial, incorporating uncommon vocabulary and syntactic neologisms, along with extra words inserted to fill the longer hexametric lines. All this indicates the dependence of the content of these verses on the shorter original.