The Oracle of Delphi and the Pythia

Delphi is a holy place high on the slopes of Mount Parnassus, in central Greece. In ancient times it was the most famous μαντεῖον, an oracle: a place where people asked a god questions about the future. The god of Delphi was Apollo, the god of light, music and prophecy.

The Greeks told a myth about Delphi. Zeus wanted to find the centre of the world. He let two eagles fly, one to the east and one to the west. The two eagles met above Delphi. So the Greeks called Delphi the ὀμφαλός, the navel of the earth. Another myth says that a huge snake, the Python, guarded the place, until Apollo killed it with his arrows. The old name of Delphi was Πυθώ, Pytho, and from it comes the name of Apollo's priestess, the Πυθία, the Pythia.

Archaeologists have found that people worshipped at Delphi from the 9th century BC, and the sanctuary grew in the 8th century BC. Cities from all over the Greek world came here, and they built small treasuries to keep their gifts to Apollo.

The Pythia was a woman from Delphi. People believed that Apollo spoke through her mouth. The historian Diodorus says that in early times she was a young girl, but that later she was a woman over fifty, dressed like a young girl.

Visitors brought gifts and offered a sacrifice, often a goat. Under the temple there was a small room, the ἄδυτον, the inner sanctuary. Only priests could go in. There the Pythia sat on a τρίπους, a tripod: a tall seat with three legs. She gave the god's answer, the χρησμός. Most answers that survive are in verse. Some ancient writers say that priests helped to put her words in order, but historians still discuss how much they did.

Ancient writers also spoke of a gap in the ground with a strange vapour, which the Pythia breathed in. In 1927, French geologists found no such gap. In 2001, a new study found two faults in the rock under the temple, and a sweet-smelling gas, ethylene, in a nearby spring. Was this the secret of the Pythia? Scientists and historians still do not agree.

The answers of Delphi became famous, because they could often mean two things. The historian Herodotus tells two well-known stories.

Croesus, a very rich king of Lydia, wanted to attack the Persians. He sent rich gifts to Delphi and asked the god for advice. The answer was: if Croesus attacked the Persians, he would destroy a great empire. Croesus was happy and attacked. But he lost the war, and the great empire that he destroyed was his own.

In 480 BC, the huge Persian army was coming towards Athens. The Athenians asked the oracle what to do. The Pythia said that a “wooden wall” would save them, and she spoke of “divine Salamis”. What was the wooden wall? Some old Athenians thought it was the thorn hedge that once stood around the Acropolis. But Themistocles said that the wooden wall was the fleet, the wooden ships. The Athenians trusted him, and they won the sea battle of Salamis.

About 615 oracles of Delphi survive today. Historians think that many of them were written down after the events, to make the oracle look as if it was always right.

On the front porch of Apollo's temple, visitors could read short wise sayings. The most famous was γνῶθι σαυτόν, know yourself. Another was μηδὲν ἄγαν, nothing in excess. The traveller Pausanias says that the Seven Sages of Greece gave these sayings to Apollo. Their message was: remember that you are a human, not a god, and know your limits.

The oracle worked for more than a thousand years. The writer Plutarch, who lived around AD 100, was a priest at Delphi for many years. The temple whose ruins we see today was finished in 334–333 BC. Later the Roman Empire became Christian. After the laws of Emperor Theodosius I against the old religions, at the end of the 4th century AD, the temple was abandoned.

Much later, a village called Kastri stood over the ruins. In 1892, the French School at Athens began the “Great Excavation”, and the sanctuary came back to light. Since 1987, Delphi has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. And Greeks still quote «γνώθι σαυτόν» today.