#temple of delphi

[theoi-crow]

"Damn granny, what that mouth do?"

-Apollo interviewing his next Pythia...

(Fun fact: traditionally only women over the age of 50 were eligible to be the oracle of Delphi)

[petitsportraits]

[illustratus]

The Tholos of Delphi, Greece

[ihatebrainstorm]

[Medicine]

"The Caduceus. Commonly mixed up with the Rod of Asclepius."

Guys I think it'd be really funny if Pharma and Ratchet had the same voice

[starkysa]

[melit0n]

And so my favourite Ancient Greek site ever; Delphi!!

This place (and, of course, the mythos behind the oracle of Delphi herself) has been a fixation for me for years, so I was buzzing basically the entire time I was there.

While everything I saw was beyond gorgeous, this place took the cake. An absolute trek up a mountain side (with a further trek if you wanted to see the Pythian stadium, which I happily did), but we'll worth it. Massive props to everyone and everyone who traveled from literally anywhere in order to get a prophecy.

Speaking of prophecy (info dump under the cut)...

Okay! So! Delphi, aside from being a temple of Apollo, was considered the centre of the classical Greek world (and just the world in general), for a long time, mainly because it was the seat of the Pythia; the high priestess, aka, the oracle of Delphi. Which, fun fact, in Greek shares the same root word for 'womb'.

Now, the temples (as well as the village, various treasuries, gymnasium and theatre) at Delphi are of varying ages, with the temple of Apollo being built around 7th century BCE, before being burnt down in 548ish BC, and then again in the 4th century BC. The ones which you can see (and are in the photos 😌) are all from the 4th century BC. Two thousand plus years old.

Isn't that insane? Sure, not the oldest thing in the world, but walked by so many people. Awesome, in the truest meaning of the word I fear.

But, onto the Pythia. For a bit of context, the original site of Delphi is believed to have housed a different God, suspected to be Gaia, who's son/daughter (varies depending on what translation of the myth you're reading into), named Python (sometimes called Drakon // Drakaina) resided in a cave. When Apollo took over the site, he killed it, and, when he did, it caused a great chasm to open up in the Earth and spew gas. Henceforth, the oracle was known as the Pythia.

She would've also sat on a tripod over this chasm, of which with inhalation of the gas, the spirit of Apollo could posses her in order to give prophecies.

It's been debated whether this chasm did or didn't exist—it is highly possible for one to have been there; the area is known for earthquakes, and natural gas that causes hallucinations, such as methane, ethane and ethylene is able to come from the ground—but, either way, the priestess was high as balls when giving these prophecies. Either from gas, laurel (known in the modern age as Oleander), or both.

So, imagine, you've been travelling from Athens to Delphi for a week or two, have waited a month to see this oracle, only to step into a dim temple to see a lady probably between 40-60 years old, dressed as a young woman, with visable gas spewing out from underneath her, and she spews what sounds like absolute nonsense, in which, very helpfully, a priest translates into poetry for you to take home, which turns out to be scarily accurate. I'd be damn sure the Olympians existed too.

Her being so accurate is, in fact, what brought Delphi such high prestige.

While the idea of living breathing oracle is very cool, the way Delphi was set up aided her being so precise. As noted before, Delphi was considered a hub (would've had street markets, banks, small villages, religious sects etc.), with almost everyone there to see the oracle—people would be waiting weeks to months for a visit from her—and, during this time, they'd interact and talk with those around them. War plans would be drunkenly shared, marriages would be quietly talked of, and most of these conversations between generals and kings, and their messangers and servants, were all heard and noted down by the various priests in the area, who'd provide information to the oracle, and slip in some more details in their 'translation'.

Interesting, no?

The oracle of Delphi is dates back to about 1400 BC, with her last prophecy being delivered about 390 CE, to a Roman Emperor who began stating various laws to end pagan (classical Hellenistic) activities.

[christinakroft]

Delphi

[seablueblessings]

Temple of Apollo in Delphi, Greece

[alchemisoul]

* You're not responsible for every thought that comes in and out of your head. They're not necessarily within your control, not initially anyways.

It is within your power, however, to decide which ones you want to hold on to and those you wish to discard.

You're responsible for observing thoughts that flow inward and choosing whether or not you act on them, buy into them, or take ownership of them.

#KnowThyself

#TheWolfYouFeed

#IsTheOneThatWins

[ophierian-vp]

[sephospaganplace]

The Temple of Apollo, Korinth

Assassins Creed - Odyssey

[theoi-crow]

any souce for the pythia being over fifty? i saw that websites claim that but they dont link to any initial source. p.s. i know late trad. pythias were older women, its the precise age that got me curios

Here's a link from Britannica that mentions her age.

I wrote an essay all about the Pythia a few years back for my Greek Religion class in college and through my research I learned there was a myth where the first Pythias were young virgins who kept getting kidnapped and SA'd so they made a rule in the temple of Delphi where only women over the age of 50 could be the Pythia in order to dissuade people from kidnapping her because to the ancient Greeks they were seen as undesirable (Aristophanes mentions this POV in Lysastrata: the women go on a sex strike and lock themselves away from the men and the men only have access to elderly women whom they didn't want).

I will look into my books to give you sources I used for my own essay but I try to stick to free sites online whenever I give sources on Tumblr in order to make the information both free and easy to access because the very frustrating truth is that most scholars keep credible information behind a paywall or you need to buy a book in order to access that information.

It's such BS how this information is only really accessible to people who have the economic means to pay for it but unfortunately Greco-Roman studies are jealously guarded by the "elite" who try to keep everyone else out of it by making it hard to access, especially for free and especially online.

[percy-ils]

being a Greek mythology fan while living in the exact places where the stories took place is insane. Ionia? just a few hours away, elementary schools take us to trips to see the big wooden horse. Symyrna? Literally my hometown. Ephesus? it's on the way to my summer house. Lesbos or chios? I can go there for a weekend getaway. Mount Ida? I almost fell into a creek there once. Samos? I can see it across the sea on a clear day. All the same with Pergamon and Halicarnassus and Dydma and a lot of other islands and places like it's all only a few hours away and I've been to almost all of them. legit the peak of being mythology fan

[nike-apteros]

What was and what is....

The Acropolis, Propylaea, Erectheum, Temple of Athena Nike, Temple of Apollo at Delphi and the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion 🏛🏛

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

For día de muertos 2: "Know Thyself". The ancient Greek maxim "know thyself" or "gnothi seauton" (Greek: γνῶθι σεαυτόν), is one of the Delphic maxims and was inscribed in the pronaos (forecourt) of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi according to the Greek writer Pausanias (10.24.1). The aphorism came from Luxor in Ancient Egypt.

[Robert Scott Horton]

* * * *

You've heard that message from the source of whatever path you follow, very likely. This too shall pass. Even if it's hot in your heart at the moment, or gnawing at your brain like a fiery little animal. [candace] _____

It Passes Away What is the purpose of reacting to something when it is changing so quickly? What is the purpose of reacting with craving or clinging? It passes away. Or hatred: it passes away. —S.N. Goenka, "Superscience"

[alive on all channels]

[ourlordapollo]

Cold medicine never makes me feel better but every so often I get desperate enough to try it, but the problem is that when I get desperate enough to try it, I already feel pretty fucking awful, and then cold medicine turns out to be the equivalent of throwing gasoline on a fire