The Delphic Oracle was where, according to Greek tradition, Apollo would speak through his priestesses. This work explores the importance placed on consultations at Delphi by Athenians in the city's age of democracy. It demonstrates the extent to which concern to do the will of the gods affected Athenian politics, challenging the notion that Athenian democracy may be seen as a model for modern secular democratic constitutions. All the known consultations of the oracle by Athens in the period before 300 BC are examined, and descriptions of consultations found in Attic tragedy and comedy are discussed. This work provides a new account of how the Delphic oracle functioned and presents a thorough analysis of the relationship between the Athenians and the oracle, making it essential reading both for students of the oracle itself and of Athenian democracy.
Annotation This work engages with the complex archaeological development of the religious sanctuaries of Delphi and Olympia. It investigates the physical remains of both sanctuaries to show how different visitors interacted with the sacred spaces of Delphi and Olympia in an important variety of ways during the archaic and classical periods.
This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1978.
A fascinating collection of tales and lore from the ancient Oracle at Delphi, this book provides both a collection of good stories and finds spiritual enlightenment weaved throughout these diverse offerings.
A gripping modern-day detective story about the scientific quest to understand the Oracle of Delphi Like Walking the Bible, this fascinating book turns a modern eye on an enduring legend. The Oracle of Delphi was one of the most influential figures in ancient Greece. Human mistress of the god Apollo, she had the power to enter into ecstatic communion with him and deliver his prophesies to men. Thousands of years later, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist William J. Broad follows a crew of enterprising researchers as they sift through the evidence of history, geology, and archaeology to reveal—as far as science is able—the source of her visions.
The Prophecies of the Delphic Oracle, aside from their mystery and marvel, offer an ideal opportunity to describe the extraordinary culture and history of Ancient Greece.
*Includes pictures *Includes ancient descriptions of the oracle *Includes a bibliography for further reading "Not often nor regularly, but occasionally and fortuitously, the room in which they seat the god's consultants is filled with a fragrance and breeze, as if the adyton were sending forth the essences of the sweetest and most expensive perfumes from a spring." - Plutarch "[T]he seat of the oracle is a cavern hollowed down in the depths...from which arises pneuma [breath, vapor, gas] that inspires a divine state of possession." - Strabo, Geography 9.3.5 The Oracle of Delphi was one of the greatest religious institutions in Ancient Greece and one which played a significant role not only in the formation and collective decisions of Hellenic localities and city-states but also in the personal lives of Greeks known and unknown. The site was dedicated to the god Apollo, and the Greeks believed the god spoke his oracles through his prophetess known as the Pythia. The judgments and decisions rendered by the oracle were so important to the Greeks that they often put them above all other interests, even security threats posed by the likes of the Persians, and Delphi was popular even amongst outsiders. The Pythia delivered the god's oracles to such famous persons as Midas and Croesus, and it provided consultations during such important historical moments as the Persian War and the Peloponnesian War. Many authors of antiquity mention the oracle for one reason or another, and there even survive epigraphic collections that preserve the god's words on stone. The ancient Greeks called Delphi the omphalos ("navel") of the Earth, and the black rock that symbolized this imagined center stands at the site to this very day. Sitting at the foot of Mt. Parnassos, Delphi overlooks the Gulf of Corinth, and it is no wonder why the setting mesmerized contemporaries. The majestic, almost magical, aspect of the site, bordered by precipitous cliffs and craggy footpaths on a hillside that is dotted with deep, dark caves and lined by gargling streams of pure water, never fails to inspire a sense of awe and wonder in its visitors, even to this very day. Despite the oracle's fame and popularity, however, modern knowledge of Delphi remains limited in certain respects. Cultic history has become so intertwined with cultic myth that the lines separating one from another have been nearly lost. Modern scholars studying the oracle of Delphi have tried to pull the shroud of mythology away from historical facts to illuminate the realities of the Apolline cult, but the job has often proved trickier than imagined. If anything, the work of scholars has deepened the mysticism of Delphi rather than dispel it, in large measure due to documenting fascinating and mysterious stories about the oracle. Certain aspects of the Delphic cult will likely always be impossible to describe with any degree of accuracy or certainty, despite scholars' best attempts at imaginative reconstruction, because its foundation and function depended entirely upon religious belief in Apollo and his prophetic gift, which no amount of scholarship can fully explain. The Oracle of Delphi: The Ancient World's Most Famous Seer examines the history and mysteries surrounding the influential Greek oracle, including the historical buildings of the site and the cultic traditions recorded by ancient writers, in an attempt to separate truth from fiction as much as possible. Along with pictures and a bibliography, you will learn about the Delphic Oracle like never before, in no time at all.
Examining the final years of Delphic consultation, this monograph argues that the sanctuary operated on two connected, yet distinct levels: the oracle, which was in decline, and the remaining religious, political and social elements at the site which continued to thrive. In contrast to Delphi, other oracular counterparts in Asia Minor, such as Claros and Didyma, rose in prestige as they engaged with new "theological" issues. Issues such as these were not presented to Apollo at Delphi and this lack of expertise could help to explain why Delphi began to decline in importance. The second and third centuries AD witnessed the development of new ways of access to divine wisdom. Particularly widespread were the practices of astrology and the Neoplatonic divinatory system, theurgy. This monograph examines the correlation between the rise of such practices and the decline of oracular consultation at Delphi, analyzing several examples from the Chaldean Oracles to demonstrate the new interest in a personal, soteriological religion. These cases reveal the transfer of Delphi’s sacred space, which further impacted the status of the oracle. Delphi’s interaction with Christianity in the final years of oracular operation is also discussed. Oracular utterances with Christian overtones are examined along with archaeological remains which demonstrate a shift in the use of space at Delphi from a "pagan" Panhellenic center to one in which Christianity is accepted and promoted.
