We reveal all the secrets of Delphi, the Greek sanctuary of the god Apollo. Discover its location and the legends that surround it.
Delphi
Delphi was an important Greek religious sanctuary sacred to the god Apollo. Located on Mount Parnassus, near the Gulf of Corinth, the sanctuary was home to the famous Oracle of Apollo, which gave cryptic predictions and guidance to both city-states and individuals. In addition, Delphi was also the site of the Panhellenic Games of Pythian.
Mythology and Origins
The site was first established in the Mycenaean period in the late Bronze Age (1500-1100 BC), but it gained its religious importance around 800 BC. The original name of the sanctuary was Pytho, in honor of the serpent that Apollo was believed to have killed there. Votive offerings at the site from this period include small clay statues (the oldest), bronze figures, and richly decorated bronze tripods.
Delphi was also considered the center of the world, as in Greek mythology, Zeus released two eagles, one to the east and one to the west, and Delphi was the point where they met after circling the world. This event was represented by the omphalos (or navel), a dome-shaped stone outside the temple of Apollo that also marked the spot where Apollo killed the Python.
The Oracle of Delphi
This Oracle of Apollo at Delphi was famous throughout the Greek world and even beyond. The oracle, the Pythia or priestess, answered questions asked by visitors who wanted guidance on their future actions. The entire process was lengthy, usually lasting a whole day, and was only carried out on specific days of the year. First, the priestess performed various purification rituals, such as washing herself in the nearby Castalian spring, burning laurel leaves, and drinking holy water.
Next, an animal, usually a goat, was sacrificed. The group seeking advice then offered a pelanos, a kind of cake, before being allowed to enter the inner temple where the priestess resided and gave her pronouncements, possibly in a state of ecstasy induced by drugs or natural gas.
Perhaps the most famous consultant of the Oracle of Delphi was Croesus, the fabulously wealthy King of Lydia who, facing war with the Persians, sought the advice of the Oracle. The Oracle said that if Croesus went to war, then a great empire would surely fall. Reassured by this, the Lydian king confronted the powerful Cyrus. However, the Lydians were defeated at Sardis and it was the Lydian empire that fell, a lesson that the oracle could easily be misinterpreted by the foolish or overconfident.
Panhellenic Games
Delphi, like the other great religious sites of Olympia, Nemea, and Isthmia, held games to honor various gods of the Greek religion. The Pythian Games of Delphi began between 591 and 585 BC and were initially held every eight years, the only event being a musical contest in which solo singers accompanied themselves on a zither to sing a hymn to Apollo.
Later, more musical competitions and athletic events were added to the program, and the games were held every four years, with only the Olympic Games being more important. The main prize for the winners of the Games was a laurel or laurel wreath.
The site and the games were administered by the independent Delphic Amphictyony, a council with representatives from several nearby cities and states, which collected taxes, gathered offerings, invested in construction programs, and even organized military campaigns in the Four Sacred Wars, fighting to repair the sacrilegious acts against Apollo perpetrated by the states of Crisa, Phocis, and Amphissa.
Architecture
The first temple in the area was built in the 7th century BC and was itself a replacement for the less important cult buildings that had been erected before it. The focal point of the sanctuary, the Doric temple of Apollo, was unfortunately destroyed by fire in 548 BC. A second temple, again in the Doric style, was completed in 510 BC with the help of the exiled Athenian family, the Alcmeonids. Measuring 60 by 24 meters, the facade had six columns, while the sides had 15.
This temple was destroyed by an earthquake in 373 BC and was replaced by a temple of similar proportions in 330 BC. This was built with porous stone covered with stucco. Marble sculpture was also added as decoration along with Persian shields taken at the Battle of Marathon. This is the temple that survives, albeit only partially, today.
Theater
Other notable constructions on the site were the theater (with a capacity for 5,000 spectators), the temples of Athena (4th century BC), a tholos with 13 Doric columns (c. 580 BC), the stoas, the stadium (with a capacity for 7,000 spectators), and around 20 treasuries, which were built to house votive offerings and dedications from city-states throughout Greece.
Monuments were also erected to commemorate military victories and other important events. For example, the Spartan general Lysander erected a monument to celebrate his victory over Athens at Aegospotami. Other notable monuments were the great bronze bulla of Corcyra (580 BC), the ten statues of the kings of Argos (c. 369 BC), a four-horse chariot offered by Rhodes, and a huge bronze statue of the Trojan horse offered by the Argives (c. 413 BC).
Along the sacred way, which runs from the gate of the sanctuary to the temple of Apollo, visitors must have been greatly impressed by the artistic and literary wealth on display. Unfortunately, in most cases, only the monumental pedestals remain of these great statues, silent witnesses to a lost grandeur.
Demise
In 480 BC, the Persians attacked the sanctuary, and in 279 BC, it was attacked again, this time by the Gauls. It was during the 3rd century BC that the site came under the control of the Aetolian League. In 191 BC, Delphi passed into Roman hands; however, the sanctuary and the games continued to be culturally important in Roman times, particularly under Hadrian.
Theodosius’ decree in 393 AD to close all pagan shrines resulted in the gradual decline of Delphi. A Christian community lived on the site for several centuries until its final abandonment in the 7th century AD.
The site was “rediscovered” with the first modern excavations carried out in 1880 by a team of French archaeologists. The most notable finds were splendid sculptures of metopes from the Athenian treasury (c. 490 BC) and the siphon (c. 525 BC), depicting scenes from Greek mythology.
In addition, a bronze quadriga in the severe style (480-460 BC), the marble Sphinx of the Naxians (c. 560 BC), the twin archaic marble statues, the kouroi of Argos (c. 580 BC) and the richly decorated omphalos stone (c. 330 BC) survive as testimony to the cultural and artistic wealth that Delphi once enjoyed.
