Son of a Sailor

There's more than meets the eye in Delphi!

The God Zeus decided to find the center of the universe and release two eagles from the East and the West. Both eagles met and landed on the rocky ledges of Mount Parnassus, exactly where ancient and modern Delphi is located now. Delphi was exalted as the navel of the universe….and the exact rock the eagles landed on has become a navel shaped stone. But there’s more, as two distinct fault lines also run across each other exactly under Delphi and through Mount Parnassus, making the area seismically active and ripe for various legends and rumors.

**The simplified copy of the Omphalos Stone (Navel of the World) outside in Delphi while the actual adorned stone is in the Delphi museum.**

Taking off from the hotel near Galaxidi on this morning, we could see the roads heading into the Parnassos Mountains, but it would get really really steep as we went along. I don’t think you can understand clearly when I say that ancient Delphi is carved into the side of Mount Parnassos….cause it is. But most interestingly is all the work done seems to be into terraces, with extended flat ground carved into the mountain for the main temples, sporting areas, a full theatre and a full size stadium the same distance as the one at Olympia. This is not a small site, and become the most important cultural and spiritual crossroads in the ancient world, certainly in Ancient Greece.

**Steep drive into the mountains. Those are all Olive Trees.**

**And finally there, now we just had to find bus parking….but he backed the bus into a site and we were off on our walking tour.**

Here’s the overall site, with a whole area below the road (Gymnasium of Delphi and the Temple of Athena) we were not allowed to go into because of falling rock from the mountain. I’ve circled the Temple of Apollo as that’s where the Oracle worked from, it was the largest and most ornate temple, perhaps situated over fault lines that allowed the gases to influence the Oracle.

A painting in the museum that may show how Delphi was set up while it was most populated. The Temple of Apollo is the largest structure in the middle, the theatre is the structure to the rear and you can see the smaller buildings on the way up the switchback layers are the offering houses of the powers of Greece at the time.

Another view that might help you envision Delphi: first black elongated drawing is actually outside Delphi proper and would have been where you could buy offerings at various stands, get a haircut or eat some lunch. The second circle shows you some of the offering houses as you start up the switchback road/path. The first arrow shows you the Temple of Apollo and the second arrow shows you the theatre.

First as we started up the paths toward Delphi you are introduced to the notion that “services” existed outside Delphi proper. Food stands, offering shops, places to rest and sleep, barbershops ect were set up along the road/path on the way into the area proper. And the remains are still there to see and check out as you enter the area.

**Service areas along the road into Delphi.**

As you enter Delphi proper, we learned about offerings to the Gods, often kept safe in offering houses or treasuries built right there on the site. Many of these are still on the site, reconstructed after multiple earthquakes….but that’s also why we were able to find so many well preserved artifacts right there on the site……because they were buried when the Treasuries fell down, keeping them from looters or treasure seekers. The offerings: In case you don’t know….offerings then inferred status and wealth upon those who made them, because they spoke to social status. The better and richer the offering…the more status the person had or gained because of their offering. The offerings may have also bought them time with the Oracle or the favor of Apollo.

**Clay or rock pipes/water troughs still in the ground….original?**

**Reconstructed offering house/Treasury.**

The Temple of Apollo

The Temple of Apollo was/is the largest building on the site and the most ornate, at least the fourth incarnation of the same Temple (because of earthquakes). Known as the home of the Oracle, she was usually an older women who volunteered to become the next Oracle for life. There’s writings that tell us the Oracles used to give prophecies while in a trancelike state, often swaying and talking in tongues, sometimes looking like they were drugged or semi-conscious. While there were archeologists who tried to discount these ancient observations, there have also been several geologic expeditions in the last 30 years who have tested both the air and the spring water near the Temple of Apollo only to find that two fault lines connect under Delphi. These expeditions also found ethylene, methane and ethane both in the water and seeping from rock formations, meaning that in ancient times these gases definitely could have effected the Oracle, especially if she worked from a confined space cavern or room under the Temple of Apollo. In the 1900’s, ethylene was used as a surgical anathetic for pain in patients, producing the exact same kind of reactions that have been attributed to the Oracles at Delphi. Here’s my pictures of the Temple of Apollo:

**The backside of the Temple of Apollo.**

Like other larger temple areas of Greece, Delphi also had a medium sized theatre. These were places to watch shows and hear music, interact with other travelers, a good place for many people to sleep and a great place to catch up with old friends:

And…not to be outdone by Olympia….Delphi also had its own version of the Olympic Games. These games were played every four years, called the Phythian Games. These games were second in popularity to the games at Olympia and included music and sport.

**The stadium where the field events where held for the Phythian Games….same exact distances as the Olympic field running distances.**

The Museum of Delphi

Because of the fault lines that run under this site and Mount Parnassus, history has been preserved for all of us to see in a most unusual way. Lots of ancient, real and original material and artifacts have been preserved on site and out of the hands of looters and treasure seekers because of the earthquakes. These quakes would open fissures, topple buildings and bury remains quickly….meaning that when the site was excavated throughout the last hundred years….an amazing number of different and well preserved artifacts were found. While some of artifacts have been looted and taken to Europe or moved to the National Greek Museum in Athens, there was so much material onsite that a museum was just built there to house all of the treasures. Eventually, more and more of the best pieces came back to Delphi, meaning you can see them in the excellent museum right onsite. And…it’s quite large and well done…if you come see the site, plan on spending a couple hours in the museum, it’s really a must see. Here’s my slide show of the museum and then some pictures of one of the standout pieces:

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The Charioteer of Delphi

The museum contains the original bronze statue called the Charioteer. Found in 1896 during excavations at Delphi, the statue was part of a much larger offering given by Polyzalus to commemorate a victory in the chariot race during the Phythian Games. The statue was probably buried when most of Delphi was destroyed during the great earthquake of 373 BC, with various other parts of the larger statue also preserved but much of it missing. Amazingly, the actual Charioteer was found in three different parts and able to be perfectly reassembled. The importance of this statue is hard to describe, as there are very, very few surviving bronze statues from this age in existence and this one is the finest surviving example for the “Severe” period in Greek Art History. Honestly, I had no idea how important this statue was until my teenager (who was taking a duel-enrollment art history class) got excited about seeing it…..as she had already seen it and studied the statue out of her classroom textbook. Here’s the Charioteer:

**On the way through mountain villages and narrow streets, we had to pass buses…this close.**

Athens:

The rest of the day was good. We stopped for lunch shortly after leaving Delphi (while still in the mountains) and got to see the prettiest small mountain towns as we headed south. For the next four hours or so, we moved toward Athens….heading for our hotel in an area right by the ocean in Glyfada. After getting to the hotel, we quickly had to turn around and get back on the bus to head to a traditional Greek dinner somewhere in Athens (actually a really nice posh area downtown). Once there, we were served traditional Greek food and sat through various performances of Greek dancing and entertainment. I’m not sure our teacher/tour administrator knew that there was going to be a very flexible belly dancer as part of the show, but she did hold the teenage boys attention away from their phones for a new minutes. It was good to get into Athens, we would have a full few days left in town.

**Heading into our traditional Green Dinner and show.**

**Traditional Greek Dancing as part of the show.**

**And the belly dancer. There was nothing risqué about her dancing and the whole crowd seemed to enjoy it.**

We travel, but not as much as we want to….as we have to work to earn that travel money and our kids are in school full time. We travel when we can but we also hunker down and take care of job, school and tiny farm too.