DELPHI

Delphi ca. 1400 BCE Mycenaean oracular site, presumably female; cf. Delphi < delphys (“womb) 10th century myths of seizure of site by Apollo ca. 750 BCE first mention of Pythian Apollo (Odyssey) 8th century competition between Dodona and Delphi ca. 580 BCE Hymn to Pythian Apollo • slaying of Pytho • recruitment of Cretan priests • installation of female Pythia 5th century panhellenic, international site 395 CE closing of oracle by Emperor Theodosius I

Succession of Oracles dream (engkoimêsis) Gaea lots (klêroi) 3 Thriai sisters (?) [laurel leaves Apollo] possession (enthusiasmos) Apollo

Delphi vs. Dodona inspired (possession) chrêsmos manteia inductive (technological) sêmeion

omphalos

Delphic Oracle • oracles only during nine warmest months • Apollo absent from Delphi during winter; returns beginning of spring • THEOPHANIA festival celebrates return • oracle open to all, private and public, Greek and non-Greek

Oracular Procedure • Pythia adult woman chosen for lifetime term from local population • purification rites (fasting, bathing in Castalian spring) for Pythia • Pythia drinks from spring Kassotis • Pythia descends into temple adyton with laurel and dish of water • Pythia possessed by Apollo • response to questions transcribed and translated into verse by priests

Sanctuary at Delphi

Temple of Apollo

(a) room for inquirers (d) tomb of Dionysus (b) omphalos (e) chasm (c) statue of Apollo (f) laurel tree

594 BCE First sacrifice to the warriors who once had their home in this island Whom now the rolling plain of fair Asopia covers Laid in the tombs of heroes with their faces turned to the sunset. 560 BCE I count the grains of sand on the beach and measure the sea; I understand the speech of the dumb and hear the voiceless. The smell has come to my sense of a hard-shelled tortoise boiling and bubbling with a lamb's flesh in a bronze pot: the cauldron underneath it is of bronze, and bronze is the lid. After crossing the Halys, Croesus will destroy a great empire.

480 BCE Now your statues are standing and pouring sweat. They shiver with dread. The black blood drips from the highest rooftops. They have seen the necessity of evil. Get out, get out of my sanctum and drown your spirits in woe.   Wait not in quiet the coming of the horses, the marching feet, the armed host upon the land. Slip away. Turn your back. You will meet in battle anyway. O holy Salamis, you will be the death of many a woman's son between the seedtime and the harvest of the grain. Pray to the Winds. They will prove to be mighty allies of Greece. A wall of wood alone shall be uncaptured, a boon to you and your children. 4th century BCE You will go return not die in the war.