Apollo Apollo is the god of prophecy, of musical and artistic inspiration, of archers and of healing. "The lyre and the curved bow shall ever be dear to me, and I will declare to men the unfailing will of Zeus" [Apollo. Homeric Hymn to Delian Apollo 131]Homeric Hymn

The Chatsworth Apollo (c B.C.E.)

Leto, Apollo and Artemis When the Titaness Leto had been seduced by Zeus she was hunted over the whole earth by the jealousy of the god's wife Hera. And after having wandered through many countries Leto came to the rocky island of Delos, which is one of the so called Cyclades Islands in the Aegean Sea, and there she gave birth to her twins, first to Artemis and soon after to Apollo.

Python Only four days after his birth Apollo went to Mount Parnassus and killed Python, the female dragon that gave oracular responses and that had followed the pregnant Leto in order to kill her.

Apollo at Delphi (Δελφοί) According to some ancient accounts, the Python protected the oracle of Gaia, the mother of the gods and first inhabitant of the site. As described in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, Apollo slew the serpent and then spent eight years on leave, in order to cleanse himself.

Zeus and the centre of the earth Zeus also played a role in Delphi's mythological construction. Wanting to find the centre of the Earth, Zeus sent out two eagles at opposite ends of the Earth. They collided at Delphi, and Zeus concluded Delphi was the "omphalos," or navel of the world. Though Zeus' surveying methods may not be sound, Delphi occupied a special place for the Greeks and their gods.

The Omphalos In religious ceremony, the Omphalos was ritually adorned with woolen yarn, for it was said that when the goddess Harmonia wove the web of the world she started with the Omphallos at the center.

Musical Centre Yehudi Menuhin, in The Music of Man, gives this musical role of Delphi his highest praise: "There is surely no more impressive site in the world than the Temple of Apollo at Delphi on Mount Parnassus; of all the glorious holy places, this site of the Oracle of Delphi established the link between music and mystery.... The word music itself comes for the Greek word musiki, meaning all the arts of the nine Muses. Apollo, son of Zeus, was the leader of the Muses, as master athlete and warrior as well as master musician. Mount Parnassus came to be thought of as the home of music."

Tholos temple in the sanctuary of Athena Pronaia

The Oracle In fact, Delphi's fame later spread well beyond Greece; during the 8th and 7th Centuries BC, the site received Mediterranean-wide recognition as the premier divine oracle. Note: the term "oracle" can be used in three ways. It indicates either: 1) the physical temple site, 2) the person who recites the divine message, also known as a "mantis," or 3) the words the mantis speaks.

The divination The Oracle was perhaps the oldest in Greece and practiced nearly every form of divination. Ancient authors claim that bird-watching and entrail- reading, two of the most popular forms of divination, actually began at Delphi. Delphi was also home to a group of priests who would interpret flames of sacrificial fires, and presided over a kind of divination by the drawing of lots. However, by far the most important form of divination at Delphi came from the priestess of Apollo herself, the Pythia. Apollo himself possessed the Pythia and spoke his enigmatic prophecies directly though her.

The Pythtia The Pythia began by cleansing herself at Kastalia, a spring sacred to Apollo located on Mount Parnassos. She took her seat deep inside the temple on Apollo's tripod, a three-legged stand upon which pots are placed over a cooking fire. Special priests of Apollo and assistants to the Pythia, known as the Prophetai, sacrificed a goat at the temple's great altar, and then cleansed themselves as well in Kastalia.

The interpretation in fact, the most famous oracles typically present two mutually exclusive interpretations, presenting a test of the petitioner's interpretive skills (and, as it happens, leaving the Pythia no way to be wrong). For example when King Croesus (6th c. B.C.E.) asked whether he should launch an attack against the mighty Persians, the oracle told him that if he did he would "destroy a great empire”. " When Croesus' attack leads to his total annihilation by the Persians, he protests to the oracle. The Pythia tells him that her oracle actually did come true, he was simply too blind to read it correctly. He DID destroy a great empire -- his own! Delphi's oracles achieved worldwide recognition on an unprecedented scale, for they offered, as Hoyle says, "a glimpse of truth given by the god, even if the answer was misunderstood, or sometimes wrongly interpreted" (39).

King Ageus consulting the oracle

Origins of the Oracle Concerning the oracle says a Pythian priestess of Delphi that the first to have prophetic powers was Gaia who appointed Daphnis, a Mountain Nymph (Oread), as prophetess. After her came Themis and then the Titaness Phoebe, who gave her seat at Delphi to Phoebus Apollo, called after her.

The delphin and the Cretan Sailors It was then that Apollo took over the oracle in Delphi. He then appointed Cretan sailors as the sanctuary's first priests. For having seen a Cretan ship, Apollo turned himself into a dolphin and brought the ship into the Crisaean. So from Crisa, the Cretan sailors conducted by Apollo came to Parnassus, and having become priests of Apollo, they called the city Delphi, for the god, having appeared to them in the shape of a dolphin, told them: "I sprang upon the ship in the form of a dolphin, pray to me as Apollo Delphinius; also the altar itself shall be called Delphinius..." [Apollo to the Cretan sailors. Homeric Hymn to Pythian Apollo 493] Homeric Hymn

The cave and the breath The seat of the oracle has been described as a cave hollowed out deep down in the earth with a narrow mouth, from which arose breath that inspired a divine frenzy. Over the mouth a high tripod was placed, and when the Pythian priestess mounted it she received the breath and uttered oracles, in both prose and verse.

The central oracle The oracle at Delphi was believed to be the most truthful, also because it was placed in the geographical centre of Greece or, as some claimed, in the centre of the inhabited world; for this reason it has been considered to be "the navel of the earth". Many riches were deposited in treasure-houses at Delphi and these were offerings dedicated, for example, from spoils of war.

The goats and the chasm The oracular shrine, they say, was accidentally discovered by goats, and that is why goats were regularly used as victims when consulting the oracle. What came to be the forbidden sanctuary was originally a chasm, and it is told that when goats once came to that place and peered into the chasm, they started leaping about in an unusual fashion, emitting sounds completely different from what goats normally emit.

So when a herdsman approached the chasm to investigate the reason behind the strange phenomenon, he became as possessed as his goats, or even more, for he began to foretell future events. Now, when everybody in the vicinity learned what was happening, they started coming in larger numbers visiting the chasm and testing its miraculous effects. Many then became inspired and so the chasm was regarded as a marvel, and as the prophecy-giving shrine of Gaia herself. In this way, and in a completely free manner, all who wished to obtain a prophecy approached the chasm and made their prophetic replies to one another.

The prophetess However, an increasing number of people, not being able to control their frenzy, started to leap down into the chasm disappearing for ever. So to eliminate this public risk, the people of the region decided to appoint one single prophetess for all and to have the oracles told by her.

The tripod And a contrivance with three supports (hence called a tripod) was devised so that the prophetess could safely mount it, and having become inspired, give prophecies to those who so desired or needed them. Common womens were not allowed to sit on the tripod. Only the prophetess could touch it.

Virgins - Elderly women In ancient times, virgins delivered the oracles because virgins, having their natural innocence intact were supposed to guard the secrecy of the oracles. But in historical times, as sexual violence was offered against a prophetess, the Delphians appointed an elderly woman to prophesy. The mediumship was a very rare gift. A new prophetess was elected only before an accurate research about the prophetic skills of the women of Delphi.

Sacrifice Before the oracular act was necessary perform the sacrifice of a goat, animal scared to Dionysus. The victim should tremble and emit strange sounds, as signals of agreement.

The destinies The communication with the spiritual forces required a huge mental and physical strain. In front of the prophetess there was a pot full of little objects called ”fates”, ”destinies”. This objects first shacked and rattled, and then jumped in the hands of the prophetess. In this moment the prophetess, ”overfilled by the god Apollo”, was able to read and interpret the ”destinies”. Apollo spoke by the way of the possessed prophetess.

Health The prophecies regarded in many case private or public health. If somewhere there was a pestilence, it was considered a wrath of a god. First was necessary to know what was this divinity, and in a second time was necessary perform an act of purification to clean the impurity caused by the offence. Quite often was necessary to found a new ritual to appease the god.

Health and the Knowledge Such is the power of Apollo on the subject of health, which otherwise could be thought to be preserved by following the counsels of the same god which were engraved upon a column at Delphi: "Know yourself" and/or "Nothing in excess". For these counsels are believed to preserve balance and harmony, which are conditions of health. These are the three maxims which the so called Seven Sages with laconic brevity, engraved upon a column at Delphi.

"Know yourself" Some have believed that by this maxim they exhorted men and women to become educated. For, they say, those who are ignorant and thoughtless use to think themselves to be very clever. And this disgraceful feature has been considered to be the worst of all kinds of ignorance, since such people consider wicked men to be good, and believe the honest to be of no account. It has also been remarked that some fail to follow this maxim by believing they own greater wealth than they do, or by believing they possess better physical qualities than it is the case, or by erring about the qualities of the soul, thinking themselves to be wiser than they are. Others have affirmed that to know oneself is to exploit the gifts one has got, and that only the man with self-knowledge will be able to love wisely. They have added that if nature has made him handsome, he should flash his best profile, that the good singer should sing, and the good drinker drink.

"Nothing in excess." Of this maxim it has been said that the Seven Sages wished mankind to observe due measure and proportion in all matters, and not to make irrevocable decisions about any human affairs.

"A pledge, and ruin is near." The Seven Sages are believed to declare with this maxim that ruin is near to such pledges as those made in relation to contracts and all other agreements in which money is involved.