The Delphian Society was a national organization that promoted the education of women in the United States. This organization was founded around 1910 in Chicago.
79-407: The Delphian Society takes its name from the historical Oracle of Delphi of Phocis , Greece . "Here in remote times Apollo was believed to reveal his wishes to men through the medium of a priestess, speaking under the influence of vaporous breath which rose from a yawning fissure. Her utterances were not always coherent and were interpreted to those seeking guidance by Apollo's priests." In 1913,
158-423: A French photograph of the excavated interior of the temple clearly depicts a springlike pool as well as a number of small vertical fissures, indicating numerous pathways by which vapors could enter the base of the temple. During the 1980s, the interdisciplinary team of geologist Jelle Zeilinga de Boer, archaeologist John R. Hale, forensic chemist Jeffrey P. Chanton, and toxicologist Henry R. Spiller investigated
237-535: A chasm in the rock, and that she spoke gibberish which priests interpreted as the enigmatic prophecies and turned them into poetic dactylic hexameters preserved in Greek literature. This idea, however, has been challenged by scholars such as Joseph Fontenrose and Lisa Maurizio, who argue that the ancient sources uniformly represent the Pythia speaking intelligibly, and giving prophecies in her own voice. Herodotus , writing in
316-431: A crack in the earth, was behaving strangely. On entering the chasm, he found himself filled with a divine presence and the ability to see outside of the present, into the past and the future. Excited by his discovery, he shared it with nearby villagers. Many started visiting the site to experience the convulsions and inspirational trances, though some were said to disappear into the cleft due to their frenzied state. A shrine
395-460: A day of good reading would have given any one of this multitude a really human life." In response to his call for lifelong learning, the Delphian Society wrote, "To meet this condition, which prevails through the length and breadth of our land, to stimulate a deeper interest, quicken a latent appreciation and facilitate the use of brief periods of freedom for self-improvement, the Delphian Society
474-546: A month, thereafter, the oracle would undergo purification rites, including fasting, to ceremonially prepare the Pythia for communications with the divine. On the seventh day of each month, she would be led by two attended oracular priests, with her face veiled in purple. A priest would then declaim: Servant of the Delphian Apollo Go to the Castallian Spring Wash in its silvery eddies, And return cleansed to
553-411: A runner after a race or a dancer after an ecstatic dance, which may have had a physical effect on the health of the Pythia. Several other officiants served the oracle in addition to the Pythia. After 200 BC, at any given time, there were two priests of Apollo, who were in charge of the entire sanctuary; Plutarch, who served as a priest during the late first century and early second century CE, gives us
632-415: A tripod, while making her prophecies in an ecstatic trance state, like shamans , and her utterings unintelligible. According to William Godwin, the tripod was perforated with holes, and as she inhaled the vapors, her figure would seem to enlarge, her hair stood on end, her complexion changed, her heart panted, her bosom swelled, and her voice became seemingly more than human. Since the first operation of
711-450: A woman chosen from an influential family, well educated in geography, politics, history, philosophy, and the arts. During later periods, however, uneducated peasant women were chosen for the role, which may explain why the poetic pentameter or hexameter prophecies of the early period were later made only in prose . Often, the priestess's answers to questions would be put into hexameter by a priest. The archaeologist John Hale reports that:
790-502: A writer of simple, less elegant prose, as evidenced through his writing, this Cornelius is a Mandrake, a root creature created from a hangman's tears, and dug up on a dark night at 11 at night, who is a treasure finder, desiring to become more important than what he is. Desiring to be a Field Marshal in the Holy Roman Empire , Cornelius serves the title character, Isabella, helping her by digging up treasures for them, while rejecting
869-571: Is evidence that Apollo supposedly took over the shrine with the arrival of priests from Delos in the 8th century, from an earlier dedication to Gaia . The 8th-century reformulation of the Oracle at Delphi as a shrine to Apollo seems associated with the rise in importance of the city of Corinth and the importance of sites in the Corinthian Gulf . The earliest account of the origin of the Delphic oracle
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#1732852243313948-454: Is provided in the Homeric Hymn to Delphic Apollo, which recent scholarship dates within a narrow range, c. 580–570 BC. It describes in detail how Apollo chose his first priests, whom he selected in their "swift ship"; they were " Cretans from Minos ' city of Knossos " who were voyaging to sandy Pylos . But Apollo, who had Delphinios as one of his cult epithets, leapt into the ship in
1027-418: Is strong structural evidence that indicates where it was most likely located.) They also found evidence for underground passages and chambers, and drains for spring water. Additionally, they discovered at the site formations of travertine , a form of calcite created when water flows through limestone and dissolves calcium carbonate , which is later redeposited. Further investigation revealed that deep beneath
1106-401: Is unclear; it has been suggested that they interpreted the Pythia's prophecies, or even reformatted her utterances into verse, but it has also been argued that the term prophētēs is a generic reference to any cult officials of the sanctuary, including the Pythia. There were five hosioi , whose responsibilities are unknown, but may have been involved in some manner with the operation of
1185-701: The Seven Sages of Greece ("know thyself" perhaps also being attributed to other famous philosophers). The temple survived until AD 390, when the Roman emperor Theodosius I silenced the oracle by destroying the temple and most of the statues and works of art to remove all traces of paganism. There have been many attempts to find a scientific explanation for the Pythia's inspiration. Most commonly, these refer to an observation made by Plutarch , who presided as high priest at Delphi for several years, who stated that her oracular powers appeared to be associated with vapors from
1264-462: The "sacred disease", which could have amounted to the possession of the Pythia by the spirit of Apollo, rendering Pythia his spokesperson and prophetess. The oleander fumes (the "spirit of Apollo") could have originated in a brazier located in an underground chamber (the antron) and have escaped through an opening (the "chasm") in the temple's floor. This hypothesis fits the findings of the archaeological excavations that revealed an underground space under
1343-459: The Apollonian, with the laurel. But ever since the introduction of the cult of Dionysus at Delphi, the god that brought his followers into ecstasy and madness, the Delphic god gave oracles through Pythia, who also fell into a trance under the influence of vapors and fumes coming from the opening, the inner sanctum of the Oracle. Pythia sat on top of a tall gilded tripod that stood above the opening. In
1422-507: The Delphi region lies a bituminous deposit, rich in hydrocarbons and full of pitch, that has a petrochemical content as high as 20%. Friction created by earthquakes heat the bituminous layers resulting in vaporization of the hydrocarbons which rise to the surface through small fissures in the rock. Cornelius Nepos Cornelius Nepos ( / k ɔːr ˈ n iː l i ə s ˈ n iː p ɒ s , ˈ n ɛ p ɒ s / ; c. 110 BC – c. 25 BC)
1501-446: The Delphian Society wrote, "We know full well today that no priestess upon a tripod can reveal to us the secrets of the future. A thorough understanding of the past must be the safest guide for coming years. No vapor can inspire sudden revelations--the result only of faithful effort and earnest thought. Yet the story of the ancient oracle charms us still and when a name was sought for a national organization, that had for its avowed purposed
1580-474: The French excavations there, concurred with Oppé's pronouncements, claiming that gaseous emissions were not even possible in a volcanic zone such as Delphi. Neither Oppé nor Amandry were geologists, though, and no geologists had been involved in the debate up to that point. Subsequent re-examination of the French excavations, however, has shown that this consensus may have been mistaken. Broad (2007) demonstrates that
1659-530: The Kerna spring waters that flowed under the temple. It has often been suggested that these vapors may have been hallucinogenic gases. Recent geological investigations have suggested that gas emissions from a geologic chasm in the earth could have inspired the Delphic Oracle to "connect with the divine". Some researchers suggest the possibility that ethylene gas caused the Pythia's state of inspiration, based on
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#17328522433131738-516: The Oracles and that she would be dressed in the costume of a virgin, as a sort of reminder of the prophetess of olden times. The scholar Martin Litchfield West writes that the Pythia shows many traits of shamanistic practices, likely inherited or influenced from Central Asian practices, although there is no evidence of any such association at this time. He cites the Pythia sitting in a cauldron on
1817-418: The Pythia operated are scarce, missing, or non-existent, as authors from the classical period (6th to 4th centuries BC) treat the process as common knowledge with no need to explain. Those who discussed the oracle in any detail are from 1st century BC to 4th century AD and give conflicting stories. One of the main stories claimed that the Pythia delivered oracles in a frenzied state induced by vapours rising from
1896-451: The Pythia was (on occasion) a noble of aristocratic family, sometimes a peasant, sometimes rich, sometimes poor, sometimes old, sometimes young, sometimes a very lettered and educated woman to whom somebody like the high priest and the philosopher Plutarch would dedicate essays, other times who could not write her own name. So it seems to have been aptitude rather than any ascribed status that made these women eligible to be Pythias and speak for
1975-453: The Younger mentions verse written by Nepos, and in his own Life of Dion , Nepos himself refers to a work of his own authorship, De Historicis . If a separate work, this would be from a hypothesized De Historicis Latinis , only one book in the larger De Viris Illustribus (see above), although exclusively comprising biographies of Romans. Pliny also mentions a longer Life of Cato at the end of
2054-501: The aid of a teacher, and such sciences as make laboratories necessary, are not included.". It also published The World's Progress In 1928, the Delphian Society published several volumes of books containing an outline of human knowledge for the use of conversation . More educational volumes were published by the society in the following decades, such as The Delphian Text, The Delphian Course, Orientation for Modern Times, and Patterns for Modern Living. There are continuing chapters of
2133-407: The altar and sprinkled with water. If the kid trembled from the hooves upward it was considered a good omen for the oracle, but if it did not, the enquirer was considered to have been rejected by the god and the consultation was terminated. If it were a good omen, however, the goat would subsequently be sacrificed to Apollo. In turn, the animal's organs, particularly its liver, were examined to ensure
2212-421: The archaeological evidence." An early visitor to these "dells of Parnassus ", at the end of the eighth century, was Hesiod , who was shown the omphalos . There are many later stories of the origins of the Delphic Oracle. One late explanation, which is first related by the 1st century BC writer Diodorus Siculus , tells of a goat herder named Coretas, who noticed one day that one of his goats, who fell into
2291-399: The authority of Zeus , and the cleft from which emerged the sacred pneuma . Petitioners drew lots to determine the order of admission, but representatives of a city-state or those who brought larger donations to Apollo were secured a higher place in line. Each person approaching the oracle was accompanied with a proxenos specific to the state of the petitioner, whose job was to identify
2370-404: The biographies of Cato and Atticus. He added them to the other existing biographies, despite the fact that the writer speaks of himself as a contemporary and friend of Atticus, and that the manuscript bore the heading E libro posteriore Cornelii Nepotis ('from the last book of Cornelius Nepos'). At last Dionysius Lambinus 's edition of 1569 bore a commentary demonstrating on stylistic grounds that
2449-479: The citizen of their polis . This service, too, was paid for. Plutarch describes the events of one session in which the omens were ill-favored, but the Oracle was consulted nonetheless. The priests proceeded to receive the prophecy, but the result was a hysterical uncontrollable reaction from the priestess that resulted in her death a few days later. At times when the Pythia was not available, consultants could obtain guidance by asking simple yes-or-no questions to
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2528-408: The death of her predecessor, from amongst a guild of priestesses of the temple. These women were all natives of Delphi and were required to have had a sober life and be of good character. Although some were married, upon assuming their role as the Pythia, the priestesses ceased all family responsibilities, marital relations, and individual identity. In the heyday of the oracle, the Pythia may have been
2607-468: The details of a chasm and a vapor in the first place. In accordance with this definitive statement, such scholars as Frederick Poulson, E. R. Dodds, Joseph Fontenrose, and Saul Levin all stated that there were no vapors and no chasm. For the decades to follow, scientists and scholars believed the ancient descriptions of a sacred, inspiring pneuma to be fallacious. During 1950, the French hellenist Pierre Amandry , who had worked at Delphi and later directed
2686-469: The emperor with a dedication in Latin verse. He claims it to have been the work of his mother or father (the manuscripts vary) and his grandfather. Despite the obvious questions (such as why the preface addressed to someone named Atticus when the work was supposedly dedicated to Theodosius), no one seemed to have doubted Probus's authorship. Eventually Peter Cornerus discovered in a manuscript of Cicero 's letters
2765-463: The extant Life of Cato , written at the request of Titus Pomponius Atticus , the "complete biography" now lost. While the historical Cornelius Nepos does not appear in fiction, his name is used by the German Romantic author Achim von Arnim for one of the characters in his novella Isabella of Egypt [ de ; fr ] . Contrary to the historical Cornelius, who has been thought of as
2844-460: The fifth century BC, describes the Pythia speaking in dactylic hexameters. The name Pythia is derived from " pythia hiereia " ( Greek : πυθία ἱέρεια ), meaning ' priestess of the Pythian Apollo ' ; it is related to Pythios ( Πύθιος ), an epithet of Apollo , itself deriving from Pytho , which in myth was the original name of Delphi . As such, the word is likely related to Python ,
2923-466: The form of a dolphin ( delphys , gen. delphinos ). Dolphin-Apollo revealed himself to the terrified Cretans and bade them follow him up to the "place where you will have rich offerings". The Cretans "danced in time and followed, singing Iē Paiēon , like the paeans of the Cretans in whose breasts the divine Muse has placed "honey-voiced singing". "Paean" seems to have been the name by which Apollo
3002-522: The fourth year of the reign of Augustus , which is supposed to be when he began to attract critical acclaim by his writing. Pliny the Elder notes he died in the reign of Augustus ( Natural History IX.39, X.23). Nepos's De viris illustribus consisted of parallel lives of distinguished Romans and foreigners, in sixteen books. It originally included "descriptions of foreign and Roman kings, generals, lawyers, orators, poets, historians, and philosophers". However,
3081-492: The gas emitted from the chasm, or CO 2 and H 2 S , arguing that the chasm itself might have been a seismic ground rupture. Oleander , in contemporary toxicological literature, has also been considered responsible for contributing symptoms similar to those of the Pythia. The Pythia used oleander as a complement during the oracular procedure, chewing its leaves and inhaling their smoke. The toxic substances of oleander results in symptoms similar to those of epilepsy,
3160-526: The god Apollo. But he reports one story as follows: Echecrates the Thessalian , having arrived at the shrine and beheld the virgin who uttered the oracle, became enamoured of her because of her beauty, carried her away and violated her; and that the Delphians because of this deplorable occurrence passed a law that in the future a virgin should no longer prophesy but that an elderly woman of fifty would declare
3239-407: The god. The job of a priestess, especially the Pythia, was a respectable career for Greek women. Priestesses enjoyed many liberties and rewards for their social position, such as freedom from taxation, the right to own property and attend public events, a salary and housing provided by the state, a wide range of duties depending on their affiliation, and often gold crowns. During the main period of
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3318-478: The matching symptoms, ethylene's use as an anesthetic, and the smell of the chamber, as described by Plutarch. Traces of ethylene have been found in the waters of the Castallian spring, which is now largely diverted for the town water supply of the town of modern Delphi . However, Lehoux argues that ethylene is "impossible" and benzene is "crucially underdetermined". Others argue instead that methane might have been
3397-407: The meaning of the "E at Delphi" (the only literary source for the E inscription), there have been various interpretations of this letter. In ancient times, the origin of these phrases was attributed to one or more of the Seven Sages of Greece . Pythia would then remove her purple veil. She would wear a short plain white dress. At the temple fire to Hestia , a live goat kid would be set in front of
3476-492: The most information about the organization of the oracle at that time. Before 200 BC, while the temple was dedicated to Apollo, there was probably only one priest of Apollo. Priests were chosen from among the main citizens of Delphi, and were appointed for life. In addition to overseeing the oracle, priests would also conduct sacrifices at other festivals of Apollo, and had charge of the Pythian Games . Earlier arrangements, before
3555-476: The name of the mythical snake that was slain by Apollo near Delphi. Etymologically, the Greeks derived this place name from the verb πύθειν ( púthein ) 'to rot', which refers to the sickly sweet smell from the decomposing body of the monstrous Python after it was slain by Apollo. The Delphic oracle may have been present in some form from 1400 BC, in the middle period of Mycenaean Greece (1750–1050 BC). There
3634-464: The new god justified, but presumably having to retain the priestesses of the original oracle because of the long tradition. It is possible that the myths portray Poseidon as mollified by the gift of a new site in Troizen . Diodorus explained how, initially, the Pythia was an appropriately clad young virgin , for great emphasis was placed on the Oracle's chastity and purity to be reserved for union with
3713-424: The old days, Pythia was a virgin, young girl, but after Echecrates of Thessaly kidnapped and violated a young and beautiful Pythia in the late 3rd century BC, a woman older than fifty years old was chosen, who dressed and wore jewelry to resemble a young maiden girl. According to tradition, Phemonoe was the first Pythia. Though little is known of how the priestess was chosen, the Pythia was probably selected, at
3792-522: The oracle of the Temple of Delphi, it was believed that the god lived within a laurel (his holy plant) and gave oracles for the future with the rustling of the leaves. It was also said that the art of divination had been taught to the god by the three winged sisters of Parnassus, the Thriae, at the time when Apollo was grazing his cattle there. The Thriae used to have a Kliromanteion (oracle by lot) in that area in
3871-404: The oracle's popularity, as many as three women served as Pythia, another vestige of the triad, with two taking turns in giving prophecy and another kept in reserve. Only one day of the month could the priestess be consulted. Plutarch said that the Pythia's life was shortened through the service of Apollo. The sessions were said to be exhausting. At the end of each period the Pythia would be like
3950-641: The oracle. In the traditions associated with Apollo, the oracle gave prophecies during the nine warmest months of each year. During winter months, Apollo was said to have deserted his temple, his place being taken by his divine half-brother Dionysus , whose tomb was also within the temple. It is not known whether the Oracle participated with the Dionysian rites of the Maenads or Thyades in the Korykion cave on Mount Parnassos, although Plutarch informs us that his friend Clea
4029-475: The past and it is possible that such was the first oracle of Delphi, i.e. using the lot (throwing lots in a container and pulling a lot, the color and shape of which were of particular importance). Three oracles had successively operated in Delphi – the chthonion using egkoimisi (a procedure that involved sleeping in the holy place, so as to experience a revealing dream), the Kliromanteion and finally
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#17328522433134108-418: The priest Ion dancing on the highest point of Mount Parnassus, going about his duties within the temple, and sprinkling the temple floor with holy water. The purification ceremonies always were performed on the seventh day of the month, which was sacred to and associated with the god Apollo. Then, escorted by the hosioi , an aristocratic council of five, with a crowd of oracular servants, they would arrive at
4187-415: The priests. A response was returned through the tossing of colored beans, one color designating "yes", another "no". Little else is known of this practice. Between 535 and 615 of the Oracles (statements) of Delphi are known to have survived since classical times, of which over half are said to be accurate historically (see List of oracular statements from Delphi for examples). Cicero noted no expedition
4266-481: The production of fumes. Adolphe Paul Oppé published an influential article in 1904, which made three crucial claims: No chasm or vapor ever existed; no natural gas could create prophetic visions; and the recorded incidents of a priestess undergoing violent and often deadly reactions was inconsistent with the more customary reports. Oppé explained away all the ancient testimony as being reports of gullible travelers fooled by wily local guides who, Oppé believed, invented
4345-431: The promotion of educational interests in a continent, none was deemed more suitable than that which for so many years cast its gracious spell from one sea to another." The Delphian Society was inspired by influential Harvard President, Charles William Eliot 's belief that education serves the purpose of inspiring lifelong learning and those who do not receive it "seem to live in a mental vacuum." However, "Fifteen minutes
4424-514: The reason why the Pythia could only venture into her oracular chamber once a month, both to coincide with the correct concentration of gases, and to prolong the already-short lifespan of the Pythia by limiting her exposure to such fumes. Beginning during 1892, a team of French archaeologists directed by Théophile Homolle of the Collège de France excavated the site at Delphi. Contrary to ancient literature, they found no fissure and no possible means for
4503-452: The second temple it retained the 6 by 15 column pattern around the stylobate . Inside was the adyton , the centre of the Delphic oracle and seat of Pythia. The temple had the statement " Know thyself ", one of the Delphic maxims , carved into it (and some modern Greek writers say the rest were carved into it), and the maxims were attributed to Apollo and given through the Oracle and/or
4582-455: The shore of the Corinthian Gulf . The rift of the Gulf of Corinth is one of the most geologically active sites on Earth; shifts there impose immense strains on nearby fault lines, such as those below Delphi. The two faults cross one another, and they intersect right below where the adyton was probably located. (The actual, original oracle chamber had been destroyed by the moving faults, but there
4661-418: The signs were favorable , and then burned outside on the altar of Chios . The rising smoke was a signal that the oracle was open. The Oracle then descended into the adyton (Greek for 'inaccessible') and mounted her tripod seat, holding laurel leaves and a dish of Kassotis spring water into which she gazed. Nearby was the omphalos (Greek for 'navel'), which was flanked by two solid gold eagles representing
4740-461: The site at Delphi using this photograph and other sources as evidence, as part of a United Nations survey of all active faults in Greece. Jelle Zeilinga de Boer saw evidence of a fault line in Delphi that lay under the ruined temple. During several expeditions, they discovered two major fault lines, one lying north–south, the Kerna fault, and the other lying east–west, the Delphic fault, which parallels
4819-680: The society, such as the Houston Assembly of Delphian Chapters. Oracle of Delphi Pythia ( / ˈ p ɪ θ i ə / ; Ancient Greek : Πυθία [pyːˈtʰíaː] ) was the title of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi . She specifically served as its oracle and was known as the Oracle of Delphi . Her title was also historically glossed in English as the Pythoness . The Pythia
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#17328522433134898-603: The sole surviving book (which is thought to be complete) is the Excellentium imperatorum vitae ("Lives of the Eminent Commanders"), which covers commanders and generals ( imperatores ); its contents are as follows: Two additional lives survive from elsewhere in the De viris illustribus : The Excellentium imperatorum vitae appeared in the reign of Theodosius I , as the work of the grammarian Aemilius Probus, who presented it to
4977-461: The supplicant to the oracle would undergo a four-stage process, typical of shamanic journeys. The ruins of the Temple of Delphi visible today date from the 4th century BC, and are of a peripteral Doric building. It was erected on the remains of an earlier temple, dated to the 6th century BC, which itself was erected on the site of a 7th-century-BC construction attributed to the architects Trophonios and Agamedes. The 6th-century BC temple
5056-439: The temple became dedicated to Apollo, are not documented. The other officiants associated with the oracle are less well known. These are the hosioi ( ὅσιοι , 'holy ones') and the prophētai ( προφῆται , singular prophētēs ). Prophētēs is the origin of the English word prophet , with the meaning 'one who forespeaks, one who foretells'. The prophetai are referred to in literary sources, but their function
5135-568: The temple. Guard your lips from offence To those who ask for oracles. Let the God's answer come Pure from all private fault. The Pythia would then bathe naked in the Castalian Spring , then drink the holier waters of the Cassotis , which flowed closer to the temple, where a naiad possessing magical powers was said to live. Euripides described this ritual purification ceremony, starting first with
5214-495: The temple. Consultants, carrying laurel branches sacred to Apollo, approached the temple along the winding upward course of the Sacred Way, bringing a young goat kid for sacrifice in the forecourt of the temple, and a monetary fee. Inscribed on a column in the pronaos (forecourt) of the temple were an enigmatic "E" and three maxims: These seem to have played an important part in the temple ritual. According to Plutarch's essay on
5293-438: The temple. This explanation sheds light on the alleged spirit and chasm of Delphi, that have been the subject of intense debate and interdisciplinary research for the last hundred years. Regardless of which fumes existed in the chasm, winter months would bring cooler weather, decreasing release of gases in the chamber. This offers a plausible explanation for the absence of summer deities in winter months. A toxic gas also explains
5372-410: The very notion of being considered a Mandrake in society. An analogy to historical contexts, Arnim names the mandrake Cornelius Nepos, in an effort to implement what Tzvetan Todorov calls "the fantastic", a genre that sets what is real against what is imaginary or supernatural; to transmit to society that life is not as simple as we make it out to be. Here, Nepos is used to convey that idea, that when
5451-554: The work must have been of Nepos alone, and not Aemilius Probus. This view has been tempered by more recent scholarship, which agrees with Lambinus that they are the work of Nepos, but that Probus probably abridged the biographies when he added the verse dedication. The Life of Atticus , however, is considered to be the exclusive composition of Nepos. Nearly all of Nepos's other writings are lost, but several allusions to them survive in works by other authors. Aulus Gellius 's Attic Nights are of special importance in this respect. Pliny
5530-508: Was a Roman biographer. He was born at Hostilia , a village in Cisalpine Gaul not far from Verona . Nepos's Cisalpine birth is attested by Ausonius , and Pliny the Elder calls him Padi accola ("a dweller on the River Po ", Naturalis historia III.127). He was a friend of Catullus , who dedicates his poems to him (I.3), Cicero and Titus Pomponius Atticus . Eusebius places him in
5609-413: Was both a Priestess to Apollo and to the secret rites of Dionysus. The male priests seem to have had their own ceremonies to the dying and resurrecting god. Apollo was said to return at the beginning of spring, on the seventh day of the month of Bysios, his birthday. This would reiterate the absences of the great goddess Demeter in winter also, which would have been a part of the earliest traditions. Once
5688-402: Was erected at the site, where people began worshipping in the late Bronze Age , by 1600 BC. After the deaths of a number of men, the villagers chose a single young woman as the liaison for the divine inspirations. Eventually, she came to speak on behalf of the gods. According to earlier myths, the office of the oracle was initially possessed by the goddesses Themis and Phoebe , and the site
5767-403: Was established at the latest in the 8th century BC, (though some estimates date the shrine to as early as 1400 BC), and was widely credited for her prophecies uttered under divine possession ( enthusiasmos ) by Apollo . The Pythian priestess emerged pre-eminent by the end of the 7th century BC and continued to be consulted until the late 4th century AD. During this period, the Delphic Oracle
5846-507: Was initially sacred to Gaia . Subsequently, it was believed to be sacred to Poseidon , the god of earthquakes. During the Greek Dark Age , from the 11th to the 9th century BC, a new god of prophecy, Apollo, was said to have seized the temple and expelled the twin guardian serpents of Gaia, whose bodies he wrapped around the caduceus . Later myths stated that Phoebe or Themis had "given" the site to Apollo, rendering its seizure by priests of
5925-571: Was known in Mycenaean times. G. L. Huxley observes: "If the hymn to (Delphic) Apollo conveys a historical message, it is above all that there were once Cretan priests at Delphi." Robin Lane Fox notes that Cretan bronzes are found at Delphi from the eighth century onwards, and Cretan sculptures are dedicated as late as c. 620–600 BC: "Dedications at the site cannot establish the identity of its priesthood, but for once we have an explicit text to set beside
6004-464: Was named the "Temple of Alcmaeonidae " in tribute to the Athenian family who funded its reconstruction following a fire, which had destroyed the original structure. The new building was a Doric hexastyle temple of 6 by 15 columns. This temple was destroyed in 373 BC by an earthquake. The pediment sculptures are a tribute to Praxias and Androsthenes of Athens . Of a similar proportion to
6083-572: Was organized and the Delphian Course of Reading made possible." In 1913, the Delphian Society published the Delphian Course of Reading : "A systematic plan of education, embracing the world's progress and development of the liberal arts." This ten volume course covers "history, literature, philosophy, poetry, fiction, drama, art, ethics, music," however, "Mathematics, being in its higher forms essential to few, has been omitted; languages, requiring
6162-544: Was the most prestigious and authoritative oracle among the Greeks, and she was among the most powerful women of the classical world. The oracle is one of the best-documented religious institutions of the classical Greeks. Authors who mention the oracle include Aeschylus , Aristotle , Clement of Alexandria , Diodorus , Diogenes , Euripides , Herodotus , Julian , Justin , Livy , Lucan , Nepos , Ovid , Pausanias , Pindar , Plato , Plutarch , Sophocles , Strabo , Thucydides , and Xenophon . Nevertheless, details of how
6241-497: Was undertaken, no colony sent out, and no affair of any distinguished individuals went on without the sanction of the oracle. The early fathers of the Christian church believed demons were allowed to assist them to spread idolatry, so that the need for a savior would be more evident. In antiquity, the people who went to the Oracle to ask for advice were known as "consultants", literally, "those who seek counsel". It would appear that
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