Two thousand years before the birth of Christ, a Mycenaean shepherd named Kouretas who lived on the slopes of Mount Parnassus, near the Gulf of Corinth in Greece, noticed his goats behaving very strangely near a large opening in the ground. He told all of his neighbors, who out of curiosity investigated the fumes wafting up from the fissure. They were overcome by the vapors, and began falling into trances, babbling incoherently. The Mycenaeans were convinced these utterances were prophesies from the Earth Mother, Gaea, and soon everyone wanted to take part in this mystical experience. Carried away with their fervor and probably temporarily insane, several of these settlers killed themselves by hurling their bodies into the pit (Morgana).

Recognizing both the need to control this phenomena and the potential wealth harnessing this gold mine could produce, the High Priestesses of the Earth Goddess religion stepped in and took control. A tripod was rigged over this fissure for security, and the priestesses appointed the first official sibyl, a virgin nun, to be the Oracle [seer] of the goddess. Later, a shrine was built in a nearby cave that was guarded, according to legend, by Gaea’s son, the serpent god Python. This region called “Pytho” [later renamed “Delphi”], for some 500 years, was the center of goddess worship and a prosperous shrine, where pilgrims of many neighboring settlements came to pay homage to the goddess and seek out advice from the holy women who channeled her spirit (Morgana).

According to Greek mythology, the god Zeus charged two eagles with finding the energy center of the earth, a sacred and mystical place. One eagle was released to the East, one to the West; the pair met at Pytho. Zeus was said to have thrown down a sacred stone, a cone-shaped rock called the ‘omphalos,’ to mark the navel of the Earth (Morgana). At some point in time, Zeus fell deeply in love with a beautiful young goddess, Leto. He impregnated her, much to the displeasure of his wife, Hera, who sent the serpent god Python to harass and molest Leto (“Apollo”). No city dared to offer the pregnant goddess sanctuary because Hera had proclaimed that she would not allow this woman to give birth on either terra firma or on any island at sea. The only safe place for the twin babies to be delivered was the island of Delos, a small isle that was believed to be free-floating. After the birth of the divine twins, Apollo and his sister Artemis [gods of the Sun and Moon], Leto was so grateful to the island and its people, she anchored it to the Aegean with four columns, stabilizing it permanently (Leadbetter).

Apollo, as an infant, learned that the serpent god Python had harassed his mother during her pregnancy, and took his revenge; he traveled to the cave where Gaea’s shrine was located, shot several arrows through the heart of Python, buried the serpent under the omphalos (Bernard), and claimed the Oracle for himself (“Apollo”).

Zeus was furious and demanded that his son travel to Tempe to be purified for his misdeed; instead, Apollo instructed one of his priestesses, known as “Pythia,” to give guidance to his followers, then set off for Crete. There he purified himself, first with ritual bathing to remove the serpent’s blood, then by serving King Admetus for nine years as a slave and herdsman. His debt to society was paid, Apollo appeared in the form of a dolphin [“delphis” is the Greek word for dolphin] to a group of Cretan sailors. After leaping aboard their ship, he brought the frightened sailors to Crisa, the coastal port near Pytho. He transformed himself into a beautiful young man and appointed his shipmates to be priests of his temple (“History”). He took the name “Apollo Pythias,” and the area became known as “Delphi” from that time on (Dilos).

Mythology aside, archaeologists have concluded based on exhaustive studies that there were no defensive walls built around the sacred city of Pytho, and no protection for the cave shrine to Gaea, or her sibyls. Somewhere around 700 B.C., a peace loving, thousand-year old civilization, whose goddess was symbolized by the snake [a revered symbol, later demonized by the Christian faith, in the Old Testament Book of Genesis, in attempt to turn would-be believers against Earth-based religions], was destroyed by aggressors. Pytho’s Mycenaean settlers were ill prepared for the invasion by the Greeks from the North, who took advantage of the devastation in the region caused several earthquakes, tidal waves, and the volcanic eruption of Mount Thera (now called Mt. Santorini) in 1645 B.C. (BBC). The Greeks ultimately conquered the settlement of Pytho, renamed it “Delphi,” snuffed out the goddess-based religion, and replaced it with their own— a male deity, and a pantheon of lesser gods and goddesses (Morgana).

Building on the five-hundred year success of the Pythian sibyls, a temple was erected over the sacred shrine to the Earth Goddess, this one dedicated to Apollo, which eventually become the center of government for the Greek Empire’s city-states, and the home of the Oracle at Delphi, fortune-telling priestesses whose advice was sought by Greek and Roman rulers for a period of over 2,000 years (Ball).

During the eighth and seventh centuries B.C., the region and the Oracle thrived and grew wealthy as it received dedications from kings Midas and Gyges, but the apex of its ascension came during the seventh century when Delphi was named as the seat of the Amphictyony [an association of 12 Greek states—mostly polis settled by the Thessalians & Dorians]. This Amphictyony was named after their leader, Amphictyon, the son of Deucalion, a former king of Athens (Bernard). Individual cities began to build along the “Sacred Way” to the temple of Apollo, treasuries in which statues and dedications to Apollo were guarded, and various monuments were built commemorating the success of the city-states (“History”).

Word of the Oracle spread like wildfire, and worshippers of Apollo traveled to Delphi from all over Greece, Egypt, Asia Minor, and Italy for private audience with the Pythia. Somewhere around 1,000 people lived in the vicinity of Delphi from Spring till Fall, largely exploiting the pilgrims for financial gain. Apollo was believed to travel to his Winter quarters in Hyperboreans [fabled distant land in the North] in the Fall; the Pythia didn’t deliver oracles in Apollo’s absence, and the shrine was used as the temple of Dionysus in the off-season (“History”). Servants could be rented on the outskirts of Delphi; local merchants offered hand engraving to inscribe sacrificial knives or swords. Animals for sacrifice, knives, religious objects, souvenirs and other supplies were also sold in various shops along the way. Traveling hundreds of miles with livestock and other necessary items proved costly and cumbersome to most of the pilgrims, and the local merchants were all too pleased to capitalize on this market (Dilos).

Because of the booming economy, and the enormous donations pilgrims made to the Oracle, a large theatre and a recreational facility were built on the grounds. There was a gymnasium, swimming pool, a running track, and a stadium on the hillside near the sanctuary of Athena. This facility was the site of the Pythian Games [Apollo’s rite of purification after slaying Python was celebrated by these games] and Delphic Festivals, originally a music festival, but later a combination of music festivals and athletic events that rivaled the popularity and importance of the Olympic Games. This festival was originally held every nine years, but when sports were added in 582 B.C., the games were held every four years [the third year of each Olympiad](Bernard).

The temple to Apollo was the most imposing structure on the grounds of the shrine, located at the center of the complex. Two priests of equal rank directed worship, assisted by interpreters for the Oracle and sacred slaves. Initially, the Pythia were young virgins from Delphi, just as the oracles for Gaea had been, but later, to insure the virtue of the Pythia, the priests only selected women fifty years old or older (Dilos).

On the morning of a day when the Pythia was to prophesy, a goat would be slaughtered on the altar just outside Apollo’s Temple. Its entrails were examined, and a decision made on whether the day favored a connection with the god. Between the Treasury of the Athenians and a portico, a pool ran under the Temple. This is believed to be the location where the Oracle bathed ritually in the Castalian waters before beginning her day of divination. She dressed in a ceremonial robe, chewed a handful of laurel leaves, sat on the tripod over the fissure, bending over the Sacred Stone [omphalos], and inhaled the vapors wafting from the Earth’s crust (Morgana).

Pilgrims ritually bathed themselves in the Castilian spring out near the recreational facility, then climbed the zig-zag “Sacred Way,” an avenue lined with monuments, before reaching Apollo’s temple (“History”). At the door, each pilgrim paid a tax to enter, then sacrificed a boar, goat or bull on the altar before descending into the smoky tent of the Oracle (Dilos). An assistant delivered the pilgrim’s written question to the Pythia, then the pilgrim waited in a corner until the answer was recorded and delivered to him. The Pythia responded to all questions in a trance, her cries and mutterings being interpreted and written down by one of the priests. The earliest recorded replies were written in hexameter verse, but by the height of interests in the prophesies of the Oracle, replies were delivered in prose (“History”).

The biggest problem with taking these prophesies seriously was the shrewd ambiguity of the message, best interpreted after the event they allegedly referred to. This didn’t stop kings and philosophers [including Socrates (Fusaro)] from seeking advice and following it to the letter, frequently resulting in tragedy. The most famous example of this was the story of King Croesus of Lydia, who in 550 B.C. wanted to invade the Persian Empire. After he sacrificed 300 head of cattle to Apollo, he had gold and silver melted down to make 117 bricks, and sent them to Delphi along with statues, jewels and a solid gold bowl, which was said to weigh a quarter of a ton. The gifts accompanied his written question about his proposed attack on Persia. He was told he would destroy a great empire, and in the end he did. His invasion of Persia resulted in a crushing defeat and the destruction of his own empire (Morgana; Bernard). An Oracle at Delphi once told Socrates he was the wisest man in the world, which marked the start of his “mission” [finding the wisest man alive], and ultimately set up the chain of events that led to his being put to death. Nevertheless, the Oracle was considered knowledgeable in areas of history, religion, geography, philosophy, and was consulted on matters of where to locate cities, how to build them what laws to incorporate, and which prayers were to be uttered (Morgana).

Between 601 B.C. and 339 B.C., four Sacred Wars were fought by the Amphictyony to maintain the independence of Delphi. The first three Sacred Wars were waged against the Phocians of Crisa, a neighboring town who levied heavy taxes on pilgrims visiting the shrine. Philip of Macedon drove the Phocians out of Delphi in 345 B.C. The fourth Sacred War was waged in 339 B.C. against Locrian invaders. In 548 B.C., the Temple of Apollo was accidentally destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt by the Amphictyony with contributions from kings of many countries [King Amasis of Egypt, and King Croesus of Lydia], and international contributions. The reconstructed temple was destroyed a second time, this time by earthquake in 373 B.C. It was built a third time with pan-Hellenic contributions, only to be plundered by Gauls in 279 B.C., Sulla in 86 B.C., and then set on fire by barbarians in 83 B.C. (“History”).

In 191 B.C., the Romans took over Delphi, but interest in the shrine declined until the early second century A.D., when the Roman Emperor Hadrian began restoring some of the buildings. Under the rule of Emperor Constantine, famous for his conversion to Christianity, Delphi declined further, but Emperor Julian’s attempt to revive pagan religions provided some brief revival of interest in the shrine. In 394 A.D., Theodosios prohibited the cult of Apollo and brought an end to the Pythian Games (“History”); the Christian Emperor Arcadius, in 398 A.D., destroyed the shrine once and for all (Morgana).

A team of French archeologists conducted the first excavations at Delphi beginning in the late 1830’s and continuing until 1935, when the project was complete. In 1902, a museum was erected on the site and contains objects of all kinds from the shrine and surrounding area. Among the major works housed there are:

• The Navel of the World [a Hellenistic or Roman copy of the Sacred Stone]
• The Sphinx of the Naxians [550 B.C.]
• The Karyatid and Zephyr from the Treasury of Siphnos
• The Bronze Charioteer
• The Head of Dionysos
  
  

Today, Delphi is a tourist attraction, a headquarters for international meetings, architectural and archaeological cultural symposia, and Congress of Ancient Drama [under the auspices of the European Cultural Centre]. The Delphic Festival was revived in 1930 by poet Angelo Sikelianos to remind everyone that this place was once considered the navel of the world, and home to the most important Oracle in history (Dilos).

In 2001, Jelle de Boer, a geologist with Wesleyan University in Connecticut, made a discovery that sheds new light on the long-studied question of the origin and composition of the fumes emitted by the fissure in the ground at Delphi, and why breathing them caused the Pythia to hallucinate. When the site was excavated in the late nineteenth century, the fissure no longer existed and no vapor was rising from the ground. Scientists in Europe and the United States have studied the Delphi fault line, which runs directly beneath the Temple of Apollo, since the early 1900’s, but had been unable to see a correlation between the known line and the missing fissure. Italian geologists theorized that the rupture might have occurred as part of a massive earthquake, similar to the one that destroyed nearby cities on the Gulf of Corinth in 373 B.C. The U.S. scientists discovered a previously unknown geological fault passing straight through the Temple of Apollo, punctuated by active and dried-up springs (Ball).

This crossing of fault lines makes the bitumen-rich limestone below the temple more permeable to gases and groundwater. Seismic activity could have heated up the deposits, releasing hydrocarbon gases. Water collected from a spring northwest of the temple contains both methane and ethylene. Ethylene, a sweet-smelling gas, is a central-nervous system stimulant, and was once used as an anesthetic. Taken in small doses, it produces euphoria and a floating sensation; large quantities are fatal. The Greek writer Plutarch, the Temple of Apollo’s high priest in the first century A.D., left clear records of how the Oracle worked. He describes the fumes from the fissure as “sweet smelling, like perfume” (Ball), not foul as has been suggested by some other sources.

The research team from Wesleyan University feels that they may have stumbled on the solution to a mystery almost as old as time itself. Whatever the truth may be, for more than six hundred years, Delphi truly shaped this history of not only Greece and Rome, but of the whole world (Morgana).

Works Cited--Oracle at Delphi

“Apollo & Python.” Geocities. 27 April 2002. /gm_apollo/python.html

Ball, Philip. “Oracle’s secret fault found.” Nature News Service. 17 July 2001.
11 April 2002. http://www.nature.com/nsu/010719/010719-10.html

Bernard, Suzanne. “Delphi.” 4 January 1998. 1 May 2002.
http://plato-dialogues.org/tools/loc/delphi.htm

Dilos Web Creations. “Delphi.” Dilos Holiday World. 1996. 27 April 2002.
http://www.dilos.com/region/centgr/delphi01.html

Fusaro, Diego. “Socrates.” 27 April 2002. http://web.tiscali.it/filo3000/english.html

“The History of the Oracle at Delphi.” Interactive Ancient Mediterranean. 1998.
11 April 2002. http://www.oracleofdelphi.com/oraclestory.htm

Leadbetter, Ron. “Leto.” Pantheon Org. 1996. 27 April 2002.
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/l/leto.html

Morgana. “The Oracle at Delphi.” Morgana’s Observatory. 1997. 11 April 2002. http://www.dreamscape.com/morgana/desdemon.htm

“Python.” Grolier Electronic Publishing. 1993. 27 April 2002.
http://www.mistral.com.uk/hammerwood/python.htm