12. SEG XXVI 524 Boeotia. Hyettus. Rule For An Oracle. Late Hellenistic Period

A limestone cippus roughly hewn, discovered by Etienne and Knoepfler in November 1972 and examined again by them in June 1975. Etienne and Knoepfler's dating of the inscription to the late Hellenistic period is based on letter forms. It is impossible to say exactly to which oracle this inscription refers. Etienne and Knoepfler's tentative suggestion that this was an oracle of Heracles is, however, worth considering: Pausanias mentions a healing sanctuary of Heracles in Hyettus where the cult image was an unwrought stone. The oracle referred to in this inscription would, accordingly, be some sort of a healing oracle and this cippus, resembling a boundary stone, would have been placed at the entrance to the sanctuary of Heracles.Keywords: Etienne; Boeotia; Hyettus; Knoepfler; late Hellenistic period; SEG XXVI 524