10 March 2010 (Wednesday #4) – Delphi day

(still!) At the Ruins of Ancient Delphi

While I was sloshing down the Delphi mountain, I heard another tour guide tell her people that red marble is even more slippery than the rest. Trust me, it’s ALL slippery, especially when it’s wet. Our Delphi photos may not show it, but most of the Sacred Way was composed of marble.

Since one hand of my hands was busy holding my umbrella over my head, the other hand was in charge of taking photos on the way down. However, the photo-taking hand couldn’t get my camera case out of my bigger bag, open the camera case, get the camera out, and turn the camera on all by itself. So, I cleverly left the top of my bigger bag unzipped a little. I put my camera in the opening and covered it with one of my gloves. Now the photo-taking hand was ready to whip out the camera at a moment’s notice and take photos in the storm.

Meanwhile Conrad made it to (the remains of) the renowned Sanctuary of Apollo, home of the all-knowing Oracle of Delphi in Ancient Greece. He took all the photos (except the last one) on this post.

Here is what is left of a corner of the Sanctuary (or Temple) of Apollo:

After Apollo (the sun god) killed the serpent Python (son of Mother Earth and guardian of Delphi's sacred Castalian Spring), he then established an oracle at the spring, promising to provide counsel to all who needed it. Located at the navel of the world and personally blessed by Apollo, Delphi was the holiest site in the world for the Ancient Greeks.

Here’s a view from the side of the remaining columns of the Temple of Apollo:

Here’s a view from the back of the Temple of Apollo, looking toward mountains and valleys in the distance:

The Delphic oracle had quite a small sanctuary on a steep slope of mountain ledge under the cliffs of Parnassos.

Originally the Temple of Apollo had six columns at the front and 15 columns on the sides. Little remains of the columns. While some of the foundation has survived, not much is known about the temple’s interior arrangement.

Conrad (dripping wet) in front of the ruins of the Temple of Apollo:

In ancient times it was believed that Apollo spoke through his oracle, who was a sibyl or priestess. She was an older woman of blameless character who was chosen from among the area peasants. She sat on a stool over an opening in the earth. Fumes (that were intoxicating) from (a decomposing body [gross!] in) the opening would arise and put the sibyl into a trance. Then Apollo would possess her spirit and prophesy through her. Her ravings were translated by the priests of the temple.

People consulted the Oracle at Delphi for everything, from personal affairs to public policy, from small daily matters to major undertakings like wars. For example, people would travel from all over Greece to the priestess to ask questions like, “Will our baby be a boy or girl?” The priestess would receive a message from Apollo. The priests would translate it to the parents as, say, “boy no girl,” which the prospective parents might take as, say, “boy, no girl.” However, if they had a girl and came back to complain, the priests would say the people hadn’t understood. What the priests had told them was, “Boy no, girl.” It was all about the comma.

Here’s another example of this duality of meaning. A warrior about to go to battle was told, "You will go you will return not in the battle you will perish." This can be interpreted two different ways, depending on where the comma was placed. If a comma were placed after the word "not," the message was discouraging for the warrior. If, on the other hand, the comma were placed before the word "not," then the warrior was to return alive.

I doubt the Ancient Greeks had commas, but rather they showed with their voices where the commas would go. Likewise, the camcorder had not been invented, so those receiving a wrong message could not go back with a video to prove what they’d been told. The power of punctuation was no more foolish than a woman sitting over fumes. It was a crazy time in history.

Views from above the Temple of Apollo:

These were taken after Conrad reached the end of the Sacred Way at the Temple of Apollo and was continuing up the path to the theater.

The Delphi Theater:

The theater was constructed from local Parnassos limestone. Like the theater in Epidaurus, it was an open-air structure that took advantage of sloping hillsides for its terraced seating. Music, poetry recitation, and dramatic re-enactments of mythical stories were performed here. Ancient Greek theaters were often located in or near sanctuaries (i.e., temples), because they were very much a part of religious pilgrimages. This theater could hold 5,000 people.

Even though it was raining, Conrad intended to go to the mountain-top stadium located further up the mountain, beyond the Sacred Way and the theater. But it was closed on this day due to rain (i.e., slippery marble) and FALLING ROCKS. Ha.

The Delphi Stadium was used for the Delphic, or Pythian, Games, a forerunner of the modern Olympic Games. They were held every four years, with athletes coming from all over Greece. The stadium seated about 6,500 spectators.

Since Conrad could not tour the stadium, he came back down the Sacred Way:

Look at the vertical lines on the photo; they are from the rain pouring down:

(All photos are clickable to enlarge.)

Before going to the museum, Conrad stopped to drink water here near the beginning of the Sacred Way:

The water comes from the Castalian Spring. All people visiting Delphi for religious purposes in ancient times and even the athletes were required to purify themselves in the clear, but icy, waters of the Castalian Spring. Purifying included washing one’s hair in the spring water. The Oracle would also drink and wash there before making her pronouncements.

Centuries later the British poet Lord Byron plunged into the spring, inspired by the belief that the waters would enhance one's poetic spirit.

The area of the spring is now closed off, but a channel filled with water running from the spring comes out to the above pathway. I wonder if Conrad drank the water as preparation for proclaiming a prophecy or writing a poem.

While Conrad was descending the Sacred Way and drinking (possibly parasite-laden) water, I was in the museum freaking out about my glove that had been on top of my camera in my bag to protect the camera while I descended the Sacred Way. It was such a nice glove. Since it was black, brown, and gray, it went with every coat I own.

After sliding around on slippery marble and fighting the school crowds to get inside the museum, I noticed my glove was no longer on my camera. Conrad showed up at the museum about that time.

Since I was sure I’d dropped it (who would steal one glove?), Conrad ran in the rain all the way back to the top end of the Sacred Way to look for it. He was such a good son. He didn’t find it, though. Just as I was starting to mourn its loss deeply, he told me it was the ugliest pair of gloves he’d ever seen. He’s such a rude son.

How embarrassing to wear such ugly gloves for years! And no one ever told me!! The one remaining glove right before it hit the trash:

Good-bye, ugly glove.