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Delphi is a city of Phocis in mainland Greece
that lies in the vale of the river Pleistus, and is
shut on one side by Mount Parnassus. The city
became famous because the oracle of
Apollo was located in it.
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Pytho
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The celebrated city of Delphi, which on account
of its oracle, received countless visits during
many years, was originally called Pytho, and was
still called so at the time of the
Trojan War, when it
was held by Epistrophus 1 and Schedius 1, sons of
Iphitus 2, son of Naubolus 1, or of Hippasus 3.
Naubolus 1, who sometimes is called son of Hippasus
3, is otherwise called son of Ornytus 1.
Some have said that the name Pytho comes from
Pythes, son of Delphus, but others say that the
city was called after Python, the dragon offspring
of Gaia, who guarded
Themis' Oracle at Delphi
[more about this dragon at
Leto].
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Phocis and Parnassus
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Phocis was called after Phocus 4, son of
Ornytion, son of
Sisyphus. Later Phocus
3 (son of Aeacus and
Psamathe 1) and his sons settled in the land about
Mount Parnassus. This mountain, they say, was
called after Parnassus, son of Cleopompus and
Cleodora 1, a nymph, or as others say, son of
Poseidon and Cleodora
1. Parnassus, who invented the art of foretelling
the future from the flight of birds, is said to
have founded the first city of Delphi, which was
destroyed during the Flood
of Deucalion 1.
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Lycorus
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Those who were able to escape the
Flood followed the howls
of wolves and came to the top of Mount Parnassus.
And because they were saved by these beasts, they
called the new city Lycoreia, founding it above
Delphi. But others say that the city was named
after Lycorus, son of
Apollo and Corycia, a
nymph after whom the Corycian cave was named.
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Delphus
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Lycorus, they say, had a son Hyamus, who had a
daughter Celaeno 3, who had by
Apollo a son Delphus,
after whom the city received its definitive name.
But others have said that Delphus was son of
Apollo and Thyia 1, a
priestess of Dionysus
2 and the first to celebrate orgies in his
honour. She was daughter of Castalius, an
autochthon from
Phocis. Still others say that Delphus was son of
Apollo and Melaena,
daughter of the river god Cephisus. Her mother was
probably Liriope, who is also called mother of
Narcissus.
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First priests
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It is said that after killing Python, a plague
for all men, Apollo
established his oracle in the vicinity. He then
appointed Cretan sailors as the sanctuary's first
priests. For having seen a Cretan ship sailing from
Cnossus in Crete to
Pylos in the Peloponnesus,
he turned himself into a dolphin and brought the
ship into the Crisaean Gulf, which is in the
Phocian section of the northern coast of the Gulf
of Corinth. So from
Crisa, the Cretan sailors conducted by
Apollo came to Parnassus,
and having become priests of
Apollo, they called the
city Delphi, for the god, having appeared to them
in the shape of a dolphin, told them:
"I sprang upon
the ship in the form of a dolphin, pray to me as
Apollo Delphinius; also the altar itself
shall be called Delphinius ..."
[Apollo to the Cretan
sailors.
Homeric
Hymn to Pythian Apollo 495]
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The oracle
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Concerning the oracle says a Pythian priestess
of Delphi that the first to have prophetic powers
was Gaia, who appointed
Daphnis 4, a Mountain Nymph (Oread), as prophetess.
After her came Themis,
and then the Titaness Phoebe 1, who gave her seat
at Delphi to Phoebus
Apollo, called after her.
But others say that Gaia
and Poseidon had the
oracle in common, and that it was
Themis who gave the
oracle to Apollo as a
gift, and that Poseidon
was compensated receiving Calaureia, that lies off
Troezen, in exchange for
the oracle.
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First prophetess
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Phemonoe, they say, was the first prophetess of
Apollo at Delphi, but the
Delphian poetess Boeo says that the Hyperboreans
Pagasus 1, Olen and Agyieus established the oracle
of Apollo at Delphi and
that Olen was Apollo's
first prophet.
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First temple
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The most ancient temple was made of laurel, the
branches of which were brought from the laurel in
Tempe (a Thessalian valley through which the river
Peneus flows from the foot of Mount Pindus) where
Apollo was once purified.
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Second temple
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According to the Delphians the second temple was
made by bees from bees-wax and feathers, though
others say that it was built by Pteras, who is
known for this.
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Third temple
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The third temple was made of bronze and some say
that it was destroyed through falling into a chasm
in the earth, but others have said that it was
melted by fire.
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Fourth temple
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The temple was then rebuilt a fourth time by
Agamedes 1 and Trophonius, sons of King Erginus 1
of the Minyans by a young
wife. Erginus 1, who was afterwards killed by
Heracles 1, was son of
Clymenus 2, son of Presbon, son of Phrixus 1 and
Chalciope 2, daughter of King
Aeetes of Colchis and the
Oceanid Idyia. Phrixus 1 is son of
Athamas 1 and Nephele
2.
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Clever architects
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Trophonius (who some say was son of
Apollo and not of Erginus
1) and Agamedes 1, being regarded as talented
architects, built both sanctuaries and palaces, as
the temple in Delphi and the palace of wealthy
Hyrieus, son of
Poseidon and Alcyone 1,
one of the PLEIADES.
These two architects built Hyrieus treasury in such
a way that they were able, by removing one of the
stones from the outside, to drain Hyrieus' riches.
The wealthy man was dumbfounded, for although all
keys and seals were untampered the treasure kept
shrinking. So he put traps to arrest anyone who
should enter, and that is how Agamedes 1 was kept
fast. But Trophonius, fearing that his brother
should be tortured when day came and confess
everything, cut off his head. Trophonius himself
was later swallowed up by the earth.
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Musical contests
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Musical and poetical contests were held at
Delphi among singers and composers, and prizes were
offered to the best hymn to the god. A crown of
laurel was the prize for a Pythian victory on
account of the love of
Apollo for
Daphne 1, who turned
into a laurel tree, a branch of which the god made
into a wreath for himself.
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First winner
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The first contest was won by Chrysothemis 3, son
of Carmanor, the man who purified
Apollo after the latter
had killed the dragon Python, and the same who
received Apollo in his
house when the god consorted with Acalle
(Acacallis), the daughter of
Minos 2.
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Second winner
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The second contest was won by Philammon, who was
famous for his song and zither. Philammon was son
of Apollo by either
Chione 2, Leuconoe 3 or Philonis, though others
have called him son of
Hephaestus. Chione 2
and Philonis are daughters of Daedalion [see
Ceyx]. Leuconoe 3 is
daughter of Eosphorus, who is Lucifer, that is, the
morning an evening star, or with other words, the
planet Venus. Eosphorus is son of
Eos (Dawn). Philammon was
killed by an armed force of Phlegyans that marched
against the sanctuary at Delphi.
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Third winner loses all
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The third contest was won by Thamyris 1, son of
Philammon and the Nymph Argiope 3. This Thamyris 1
is the same that loved
Hyacinthus 1, being
the first man to fall in love with males. He is
also known for having engaged in a musical contest
with the MUSES, and when
he lost they took both his eyes and his minstrelsy
in accordance with what they had agreed before the
contest. In addition, he is still being punished in
the Underworld for
having opposed these goddesses.
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Another winner
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Also Eleuther 1, son of
Apollo and Aethusa
(daughter of Poseidon
and the Pleiad Alcyone 1), is said to have won a
Pythian victory for his loud and sweet voice.
Eleuther 1 was father of Iasius 3, father of
Chaeresilaus, father of Poemander, the founder of
Tanagra in Boeotia.
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The seat of the oracle
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The seat of the oracle has been described as a
cave hollowed out deep down in the earth with a
narrow mouth, from which arose breath that inspired
a divine frenzy. Over the mouth a high tripod was
placed, and when the Pythian priestess mounted it,
she received the breath and uttered oracles, in
both prose and verse. The oracle at Delphi was
believed to be the most truthful, also because it
was placed in the geographical centre of Hellas, or
as some claimed, in the centre of the inhabited
world. For this reason, Delphi came to be
considered as the navel of the earth, and many
riches and spoils of war were deposited in
treasure-houses there. So, for example, when the
EPIGONI took
Thebes, they sent a part
of the booty to Delphi, and with it the daughter of
the seer Tiresias, who
was a seeress herself; for they had sworn that, if
they took the city, they would dedicate to Delphi
the fairest of the spoils.
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Remains of the treasury of
the Athenians at Delphi (AD 1983)
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Goats discover oracular site
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The oracular shrine, they say, was accidentally
discovered by goats, and that is why goats were
regularly used as victims when consulting the
oracle. What came to be the forbidden sanctuary was
originally a chasm, and it is told that when goats
once came to that place and peered into the chasm,
they started leaping about in an unusual fashion,
emitting sounds completely different from what
goats normally emit.
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Goatherd possessed
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So when a herdsman approached the chasm to
investigate the reason behind the strange
phenomenon, he became as possessed as his goats, or
even more, for he began to foretell future events.
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All become prophets
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Now, when everybody in the vicinity learned what
was happening, they started coming in larger
numbers visiting the chasm and testing its
miraculous effects. Many then became inspired and
so the chasm was regarded as a marvel, and as the
prophecy-giving shrine of
Gaia herself. In this way,
and in a completely free manner, all who wished to
obtain a prophecy approached the chasm and made
their prophetic replies to one another.
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Public danger
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However, an increasing number of people, not
being able to control their frenzy, started to leap
down into the chasm disappearing for ever. So to
eliminate this public risk, the people of the
region decided to appoint one single prophetess for
all and to have the oracles told by her. And a
contrivance with three supports (hence called a
tripod) was devised so that the prophetess could
safely mount it, and having become inspired, give
prophecies to those who so desired or needed them.
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Elderly woman takes over
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In ancient times, virgins delivered the oracles
because virgins, having their natural innocence
intact were supposed to guard the secrecy of the
oracles. But in historical times, as sexual
violence was offered against a prophetess, the
Delphians appointed an elderly woman to prophesy.
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Examples of violence at Delphi
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Regular violence was also witnessed by the
Oracle of Delphi which itself was plotted against
many times. The Atrides
Agamemnon and
Menelaus, seized their
uncle Thyestes 1 at Delphi, when they had come to
inquire about him, and Thyestes 1, by chance, had
come at the same time to consult about taking
vengeance on his brother
Atreus. Later in this
same city, Orestes 2
killed Neoptolemus
as the latter was sacrificing to the god.
Heracles 1 was so
disappointed when the Pythian priestess did not
answer him by oracles, that he, after plundering
the temple, carried off the tripod to institute his
own oracle. Heracles 1
was however resisted by
Apollo himself until
Zeus parted them throwing a
thunderbolt.
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Consultants & Visitors
Since the times of
Deucalion 1, who
survived the Flood and
after coming to Mount Parnassus received
instructions from Themis
as to how to populate the desolate earth, the
Oracle at Delphi received many inquiries, answering
them in both prose and verse. Even though the
oracles were clearly spoken by the Pythia, not
always were they properly understood.
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The Rock of the Sibyl at
Delphi. Behind are the remains of the
Temple of Apollo
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Manto 1
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Manto 1, the daughter of
Tiresias who was sent
to Delphi by the
EPIGONI, was commanded
by the Oracle to marry whomsoever she might meet,
and the man she met was Rhacius [EPIG.3].
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Aegeus 1 consulted
the Oracle as to how he might have children, and he
received the answer:
"The bulging
mouth of the wineskin, O best of men,
Loose not until thou hast reached the height of
Athens." [Apollodorus,
Library
3.15.6]
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Erginus 1
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King Erginus 1 of the
Minyans, who was later
killed by Heracles 1,
inquired the Oracle about children, and having
received the answer
"Erginus, son
of Clymenus Presboniades,
Late thou camest seeking offspring, but even
now
To the old plough-tree put a new tip."
[Pausanias,
Description
of Greece 9.37.4]
... he took a young wife.
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Cadmus
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Cadmus founded
Thebes, following
instructions he received from the oracle when he
came to inquire about his sister
Europa. The oracle told
him not to worry about his sister and instead,
letting himself be guided by a cow, found a city in
the place where the animal should stop to rest.
Some say that Cadmus
bought an ox which had a moon-shaped mark on its
side—as the oracle had predicted—and
driving it before him, he founded
Thebes, where the ox lay
down to rest [Apd.3.4.1, Hyg.Fab.178, Pau.9.12.2].
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King Athamas 1 sent
a servant to Delphi to inquire as how his kingdom
might be delivered from the dearth, but the servant
was bribed and brought back a false reply.
Athamas 1, who having
suffered two plots, had lost all his children, was
banished from Boeotia. Not knowing where to live he
inquired the oracle, receiving the answer that he
should dwell in whatever place he should be
entertained by wild beasts [Apd.1.9.2].
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and Laius 1
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Oedipus killed his
father Laius 1 in the
road to Delphi; the former came to inquire about
his parents and the latter about prodigies that
revealed that death at his son's hands was near.
Prior to that, an oracle had declared that if
Laius 1 had a son by
Jocasta he would meet his death at his son's hands.
This is the reason why
Oedipus was exposed
[Eur.Phoe.17; Hyg.Fab.66; Pau.9.5.10; Pin.Oly.2.40;
Soph.OT.714].
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It was the oracle at Delphi which gave
Orestes 2 leave to kill
his mother and her lover, and later, when he was
pursued by the ERINYES,
the oracle advised him to sail to Tauris in order
to get rid of his mental disorder. At his return
from Tauris, Orestes 2
met at Delphi her sister
Electra 2, who had come
to inquire about the fate of her brother. After his
death the oracle helped the Lacedaemonians to find
the place where the bones of this same
Orestes 2 were buried.
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Alcides inquired at Delphi where he should
dwell, and he was called for the first time
Heracles 1 by the
Pythian priestess who told him to dwell in
Tiryns serving
Eurystheus. On a
later occasion, after having killed his wife and
children, Heracles 1
was told by the oracle that the cure for his
violent mental disease was for him to be sold as a
slave, and it was then that he was bought by
Omphale, Queen of Lydia in Asia Minor.
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HERACLIDES
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Also the
HERACLIDES consulted
the oracle, not understanding the answers until
three generations had passed. Their questions were
related to their return to the Peloponnesus, which
they first conquered but have to leave, when a year
had elapsed, because of a plague [see
HERACLIDES].
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Robe & Necklace of
Harmonia 1
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The famous Robe &
Necklace of Harmonia 1 were dedicated at Delphi
by the sons of Phegeus 1, or as others say, by the
sons of Alcmaeon 1 [see Robe
& Necklace of Harmonia 1].
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Podalirius
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After the Trojan
War, Podalirius, son of
Asclepius, settled in
the Carian Chersonese, following the instructions
he received at Delphi.
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Inachus
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Inachus' daughter Io told
her father that she had dreams by night, in which
visions told her to leave her maidenhood behind her
and yield to Zeus, who
loved her. Inachus then consulted the Oracle, and
the god speaking through it commanded him to banish
his daughter from home and land to roam over the
whole world, adding that if he disobeyed a
thunderbolt from Zeus would
destroy his race [Aes.Pro.655ff.].
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Aepytus 3
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Aepytus 3, son of Elatus 2, son of Arcas 1, son
of Zeus &
Callisto, consulted the
Oracle concerning the pregnancy of his adoptive
daughter Evadne 3, to whom Pitana gave birth after
having consorted with
Poseidon. There he
learned that Evadne 3's child was
Apollo's, and when he
came back the child Iamus had already seen the
light. Iamus, who had been left on the ground by
his distressed mother, was nurtured by two serpents
who gave him honey. From Iamus are descended the
diviners called Iamides [Pau.6.2.5,
Pin.Oly.6.28ff.].
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Pelias 1
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King Pelias 1 of
Iolcus was told by the Oracle to beware of a man
wearing one sandal. That man proved to be
Jason, whom
Pelias 1 sent to fetch
the Golden Fleece, according to yet another oracle,
which he said he had received and that urged him to
make ready a ship for that purpose, and for the
purpose of bringing the soul of Phrixus 1, son of
Athamas 1 home
[Apd.1.9.16, Hyg.Fab.12, Pin.Pyth.4.75, 4.164].
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Tlepolemus 1
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Tlepolemus 1, son of
Heracles 1 &
Astyoche 2, was beating a servant when Licymnius,
bastard son of Electryon 1, son of
Perseus 1 ran in
between. Licymnius died and Tlepolemus 1 consulted
the oracle, which told him to leave
Argos and settle in
Rhodes. Tlepolemus 1
became leader of the Rhodians against
Troy [see also
ACHAEAN LEADERS]
[Apd.2.8.2, Dio.4.58.7, 5.59.5, Pin.Oly.7.32].
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Acrisius
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King Acrisius of Argos
inquired of the oracle how he should get male
children, and the answer was that his daughter
Danae would give birth to
a son who would kill him. That is why
Danae was kept isolated,
but she nevertheless became pregnant and gave birth
to Perseus 1, who did
kill Acrisius [Apd.2.4.1, Hyg.Fab.63].
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Telephus
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Also Telephus, son
of Heracles 1 and Auge
2, daughter of Aleus, son of Aphidas 1, son of
Arcas 1, son of Zeus and
Callisto, consulted the
oracle concerning his parents, for he had been
exposed as a child. On the ground of the
information received at Delphi he went to Mysia in
Asia Minor and was adopted by King Teuthras 1, or
as others say, by Corythus 3.
Telephus was wounded by
Achilles when the
Achaeans attacked Mysia on their first expedition
against Troy. As the wound
would not heal,
Telephus asked the
oracle, which replied that the wound would be cured
when the one who wounded him should turn physician.
That is why Telephus,
in a beggar's attire, sailed to
Argos, where
Achilles was staying,
begging to be healed by him and offering to show
the Achaeans the course to steer for
Troy, as a reward. And
Achilles healed him by
scraping off the rust of his spear [Apd.Ep.3.20;
Hyg.Fab.101].
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Thyestes 1
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In the course of the conflict between
Atreus and his brother
Thyestes 1, the latter consulted the Oracle about
taking vengeance on his brother, which answered
that he would be able to retaliate if he had
intercourse with his own daughter [Apd.Ep.2.14;
Hyg.Fab.87].
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Alcmaeon 1 and the
EPIGONI
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When ten years after the expedition of the
SEVEN, the
EPIGONI marched against
Thebes, they consulted
the Oracle, which predicted victory if they fought
under the leadership of Alcmaeon 1. This man, once
he was chosen, consulted the Oracle himself
regarding the campaign and the punishment of his
mother, hateful Eriphyle. And the Oracle answered
that he should make the expedition against
Thebes, and also punish
his mother, who was notorious for the bribes she
had received [see Robe &
Necklace of Harmonia 1]. On account of those
bribes Alcmaeon 1 killed his mother, but as this is
a terrible kind of deed, he was followed by her
ERINYES, which means
that he went mad; for that is the effect of these
avenging spirits. He then consulted the Oracle once
more and was instructed to settle in a land that
did not exist at the time of the murder. That is
why Alcmaeon 1, having discovered the alluvial
deposit of the river Achelous, settled there
[Apd.3.7.2-5; Dio.4.66.3; Pau.8.24.8]s.
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When Theseus was
about to be sent to Crete
as one of the youths that were to be offered to the
Minotaur, he consulted
the Oracle, which commanded him to make
Aphrodite his guide in
his journey. And this is certainly why
Ariadne fell in love
with him and revealed to him the secrets of the
Labyrinth [Plu.The.18.2].
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