36 Facts About Delphi

1.

Delphi, in legend previously called Pytho (????), in ancient times was a sacred precinct that served as the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world.

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2.

The ancient Greeks considered the centre of the world to be in Delphi, marked by the stone monument known as the omphalos.

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3.

Today Delphi is a municipality of Greece as well as a modern town adjacent to the ancient precinct.

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4.

These early dates are comparable to the earliest dates at Delphi, suggesting Delphi was appropriated and transformed by Phocians from ancient Krisa.

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5.

Delphi made a transition to a secular site in which churches were built.

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6.

Delphi sent his physician to Delphi to rebuild the Temple of Apollo, and received an oracle for his efforts that "the speaking water has been silenced", which became known as "the last oracle" and is recorded by George Kedrenos.

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7.

Delphi probably left a fort to make sure it was not repopulated, however, the fort became the new village.

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8.

The museum houses artifacts associated with ancient Delphi, including the earliest known notation of a melody, the Charioteer of Delphi, Kleobis and Biton, golden treasures discovered beneath the Sacred Way, the Sphinx of Naxos, and fragments of reliefs from the Siphnian Treasury.

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9.

The nearby presence of the Treasury of the Athenians suggests that this quarter of Delphi was used for Athenian business or politics, as stoas are generally found in market-places.

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10.

Ancient theatre at Delphi was built farther up the hill from the Temple of Apollo giving spectators a view of the entire sanctuary and the valley below.

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11.

Architect of the "vaulted temple at Delphi" is named by Vitruvius, in De architectura Book VII, as Theodorus Phoceus.

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12.

Charioteer of Delphi is another ancient relic that has withstood the centuries.

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13.

Parke, the Delphi scholar, complained that they are self-contradictory, thus unconsciously falling into the Plutarchian epistemology, that they reflect some common, objective historic reality against which the accounts can be compared.

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14.

Delphi is advised by Telephus to choose Crissa "below the glade of Parnassus, " which he does, and has a temple built.

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15.

Delphi sent two eagles flying from the eastern and western extremities, and the path of the eagles crossed over Delphi where the omphalos, or navel of Gaia was found.

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16.

Delphi established that the prehistoric foundation of the oracle is described by three early writers: the author of the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, Aeschylus in the prologue to the Eumenides, and Euripides in a chorus in the Iphigeneia in Tauris.

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17.

Delphi's origin has been the subject of much learned controversy: it is sufficient for our purpose to take him as the Homeric Hymn represents him – a northern intruder – and his arrival must have occurred in the dark interval between Mycenaean and Hellenic times.

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18.

Delphi's had to be an older woman of blameless life chosen from among the peasants of the area.

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19.

Delphi's was respected by the Greek-influenced countries around the periphery of the Greek world, such as Lydia, Caria, and even Egypt.

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20.

In 278 BC, a Thracian tribe raided Delphi, burned the temple, plundered the sanctuary and stole the "unquenchable fire" from the altar.

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21.

The site was abandoned in the sixth or seventh centuries, although a single bishop of Delphi is attested in an episcopal list of the late eighth and early ninth centuries.

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22.

Delphi became the site of a major temple to Phoebus Apollo, as well as the Pythian Games and the prehistoric oracle.

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23.

Occupation of the site at Delphi can be traced back to the Neolithic period with extensive occupation and use beginning in the Mycenaean period.

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24.

Delphi was since ancient times a place of worship for Gaia, the mother goddess connected with fertility.

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25.

In 356 BC, the Phocians under Philomelos captured and sacked Delphi, leading to the Third Sacred War, which ended with the defeat of the former and the rise of Macedon under the reign of Philip II.

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26.

Over time, the town of Delphi gained more control of itself and the council lost much of its influence.

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27.

The victors at Delphi were presented with a laurel crown that was ceremonially cut from a tree by a boy who re-enacted the slaying of the Python.

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28.

Delphi would have been a renowned city regardless of whether it hosted these games; it had other attractions that led to it being labeled the "omphalos" of the earth, in other words, the centre of the world.

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29.

The first Westerner to describe the remains in Delphi was Cyriacus of Ancona, a fifteenth-century merchant turned diplomat and antiquarian, considered the founding father of modern classical archeology.

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30.

Delphi recorded all the visible archaeological remains based on Pausanias for identification.

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31.

Delphi described the stadium and the theatre at that date as well as some freestanding pieces of sculpture.

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32.

Delphi recorded several inscriptions, most of which are now lost.

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33.

Delphi carved his name on the same column in the gymnasium as Lord Aberdeen, later Prime Minister, who had visited a few years before.

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34.

The earliest depictions of Delphi were totally imaginary; for example, those created by Nikolaus Gerbel, who published in 1545 a text based on the map of Greece by N Sofianos.

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35.

In Wheler's "Journey into Greece", published in 1682, a sketch of the region of Delphi appeared, where the settlement of Kastri and some ruins were depicted.

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36.

Delphi didn't have time to finish his speech and a thunder came down and burnt him, opening the rock nearby into two.

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