DELPHI ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE

Even today, the place has kept all its magic. In the collective imagination, and from the beginning, the history of Delphi inevitably evokes that of its oracle which prospered there as well as that of the god Apollo who built his temple there. This was already the case in the Mycenaean period (14th-11th century BC), when Delphi was only a small village. The presence of a crevice in the ground from which came out intoxicating emanations had been enough for the foundation of the first oracle where the goddess of the Earth, Gaia, was worshipped under the protective eye of Python, son of Gaia and guardian of her oracle. When Apollo discovered Delphi, he killed Python with a flaming torch and arrows, and took over the oracle of the earth with new ideas. These ideas had a great influence in the Greek political and social life since they consisted in reconciling the opposite tendencies and in softening the manners. Apollo himself gave the example by going to purify himself in the valley of Tempi to erase the stain of his murder.

His will was expressed through the voice of the pythia, probably a young Delphian woman who lived in the sanctuary of Apollo. The persons or the gods wishing to consult the oracle had to follow a well defined ritual. They had first to pay a tax, then to purify themselves with the water of the fountain Castalie. Each consultant then approached the great altar of Apollo where a sheep was placed and sprinkled with cold water. If the animal flinched, it was a sign that it was free of all imperfections, and therefore that Apollo was favorably disposed to give audience. Once the sheep was sacrificed, the pythia entered the temple after having purified herself and inhaled the breath of the crevice while chewing laurel leaves. She would then go into a trance and answer the question asked with incoherent words that the prophets collected and translated into verse and prose. Unfortunately, the divine answer often had an ambiguous meaning. Thanks to these oracles, Apollo soon became the god of purification and of the right solution to personal and public problems. He also indicated the limits that man could reach without exceeding the measure fixed by the gods. He remained of course the god of arts, music and poetry, in particular through the Pythian games celebrated in the stadium of Delphi, where the musical and poetic contests were at least as important as the gymnastic contests. The faithful flocked from all over to express their gratitude to the god, making offerings of buildings, treasures, precious metal statues... This cult dedicated to Apollo until the Roman period is in a way the symbolic keystone of the site of Delphi. In Roman times, the cult of Delphi was already almost extinct. The numerous state wars, their batches of plunder and destruction had begun the decline of the oracle. Some emperors tried to rehabilitate it, like Nero who plundered 500 statues, or Hadrian who restored many buildings with the financial help of his friend Herod Atticus. But these efforts were in vain: the religion of Christ was at the same time making its appearance in the society of men and it was soon going to eclipse definitively the belief in Apollo.