The Center of the World Delphi 1500 BCE. – 392 AD. By: Kelly Orr 9/24/13 to

Geography It is in the territory of Phocis The town it self is located on the side of Mount Parnassus Delphi is located right next to the Gulf of Corinth so they had some sea access They had a lot of land because of the government’s power Delphi has a usual Mediterranean climate with hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters

Government During 8th c. B.C. Delphi became internationally known for Pythia the priestess who sat on a tripod and muttered incomprehensible words that foretold the future. No decision was made with out first asking Pythia Delphi thought that before they prepared for anything and before they did anything that they had to ask Pythia The four main governments of the time were Dictatorship, Democracy(created by Athens), Monarchy and oligarchy Ancient Delphi was governed by aristocrats who were members of a 12 member federation known as the Amphictyonia whose main task was to unify the small city-states, so Delphi was an oligarchy The Amphictyonia had a lot of land and had great influence on a few things for other city states

Food Sources They were farmers and like most Greek city-states their main crop was olives They also fished and traded with other city states Like others they made a lot of money off of shipping olive products and wheat overseas Their main meats were sheep, cow, chicken and turkey They ate fish, meat, poultry, eggs, olives, wheat and many other foods too because they had many natural resources and they could trade with other areas

Religion The people of Delphi believed that when Apollo slayed the dragon that had been guarding the oracle that he built a shrine there where his sacred flame was never supposed to go out The main god of Delphi was Apollo The sanctuary of Delphi was part of the Amphictyonia alliance which protected the site from many invaders and it protected the site form the people who lived around it The Oracle of Delphi was so important that the people who lived there thought that they had to be living at the center of the world

Architecture The first temple was built in the 7th century BCE and was a replacement for other temples which were smaller Both temples the old one and the new ones were both in Doric style The theatre there was so big it could hold 5,000 people And the stadium was so big that it could hold 7,000 people Delphi had over 20 treasuries for all of their gold The main style for all of the major buildings in Delphi was Doric The best structure in all of Delphi was the tholos in the sanctuary of Athena Pronaia, its columns stand at 13.5 meters tall

Social Structure The social structure was generally broken up into 3 different classes in most cases, slaves, free people (who owned slaves), and upperclassmen (nobles, royals, dictators, rich people, etc.) The 12 rulers of Delphi were the main people in charge and therefore they were at the top of the social pyramid

The Arts Delphi was known for their intricate almost life like statues of people They made huge joyful paintings to hang on their walls and in their temples They also had a huge market where all kinds of art was sold Their art was Doric style

Writing The ancient Greeks were the first European civilization to use and alphabet for their writing There were three major dialects in ancient Greece, Aeolic, Doric and Ionic However mostly all Greeks spoke the same language and used the same style of writing They recorded their writing on blocks of stone that were cut away from rocks

Technology An amazing feat for Delphi back then was the huge 13.5 meter columns at the tholos in the sanctuary of Athena Pronaia The people of Delphi were also able to carve out a huge theater in the side of Mount Parnassus Another huge feat that Delphi had was that they were able to make 1.80 cm tall statues that had incredible detail and were almost life like At first the people of ancient Delphi simply stuck their arrows in a toxic plant that was growing near their village but overtime they got more advanced and made metal weapons made from bronze and other metals The people of Delphi also used terrace farming and a complex irrigation system to water their crops

Legacy Delphi was known for all of its oracles ,people who told the future.(However, the oracles were only like that because Delphi was built on top of a natural gas line, so basically they all inhaled to much ethylene gasses) According to mythology, Zeus sent out two Eagles from the ends of the universe to find the center of the world and the found Delphi For many centuries it was considered the best cultural and religious center and symbol of unity for the Hellenic world

The End!!! Thanks!!!