“Light-bearing shore” or “light-bearing ray”: what was the last word of the N-verse of the alphabetical oracle from Hierapolis?

In 1963, during excavations of Temple A in the Sanctuary of Apollo in Hierapolis, Phrygia, an inscription featuring an alphabetical oracle was discovered. The inscription had been carved onto the side of a rectangular marble column, which was used as a block in the fl oor’s foundation during a reconstruction of the temple. G. Carettoni photographed the column and made a copy of the inscription before re-burying it for preservation. Based on Carettoni’s documentation, the inscription was published in 1965 by G. Pugliese Carratelli. Some verses of this inscription sparked intense scholarly debate, particularly regarding the fi nal word of the N-verse, which remains unresolved to this day. Pugliese Carratelli read it as: Νυκτὸς ἀπὸ ζοφερῆς ἐφάνη ποτὲ φωσφόρος ἀκτή, – “From the gloomy night at last a light-bearing shore appeared”. However, I. Cazzaniga and M. West independently emended the fi nal word to ἀκτίς (ray), yielding: “From the gloomy night at last a light-bearing ray appeared”. The initial reading was supported by M. Guarducci, G. Nenci, and M. Gigante, while J. Nollé endorsed the second. T. Ritti remained undecided, oscillating between the two interpretations. To clarify the correct reading, the author of the article compares the N-verse from the Hierapolis oracle with the N-verse from the Timbriada oracle. It has been previously established that the oracle from Timbriada, composed in iambic trimeter, served as the model for the hexameter oracle from Hierapolis. The N-verse of the Timbriada oracle promised the supplicant: Νυκτὸς κελαινῆς ἐκ μέσης ἔσται φάος, – “From the midst of black night, there will be light”. In the Hierapolis oracle, the expression φωσφόρος ἀκτή/ἀκτίς replaced the word “light” (φάος), and for this substitution the word “ray” (ἀκτίς) is more appropriate. Furthermore, the author argues that the principles governing the use of the adjective φωσφόρος would not have permitted a native speaker to use it as an epithet for “shore” (ἀκτή). Analysis of this adjective’s usage shows that φωσφόρος always qualifi es a subject or object that emits its own light – a category to which a shore decidedly does not belong. Therefore, the most accurate reading of the inscription is φωσφόρος ἀκτίς (light-bearing ray).