Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Delphic Oracle
Near the modern-day village of Delphi is the site of the Delphic oracle, the most import-
ant oracle in ancient Greece. Its beginnings are shrouded in myth; some say Apollo,
when looking for an earthly abode, found a home here but not before doing battle with
the python who guarded the entrance to the centre of the earth. After he slew the python
and threw it into the chasm it began to rot, producing noxious vapours. From this fissure
came intoxicating fumes that the sibyl, or Pythia (a clairvoyant priestess, or seer), would
sit above on a tripod. On inhaling the fumes, she would fall into a trance and allow her-
self to be possessed by Apollo. While in this state the sibyl raved and her mumblings
were interpreted by attendant priests.
Citizens, politicians and kings paid a fee to consult the sibyl on personal affairs and
matters of state - from whether to go to war or colonise a new country, to more prosaic
matters. For more than six centuries, until it was destroyed by a Christian emperor, the
Delphic oracle shaped the history of the world with its often eerily prescient prophecies.
Visiting today is a magical experience. Best seen early morning before the day-trippers
arrive, or late afternoon, climb up past the temple of Apollo to the place the
Pythia
used
to receive her Apollonian messages.
