We drove maybe a half-mile from the town of Delphi to the ancient site of Delphi. When the early Christians destroyed the holy Delphic site, because it was pagan, earthquakes had already damaged the temples. The one building that still stood after the Christians finished their work was the Roman agora, the market building built by the Romans below the temple to Apollo. This remaining building became a Christian church, and as is often the case, where there is a church, a town eventually grows up around it. In this case, the town of Delphi was built right on top of the forgotten ruins of the old temples. It wasn’t until the last century that archeologists began to imagine what might lie beneath the town. They actually were able to put together a fund and offer the townspeople money to move to a new location so the site could be excavated. Nobody wanted to move until an earthquake caused extensive property damage. At that point, the offer of money to rebuild made complete sense and the town moved to its present location.
When excavations began, they found that beyond the Agora, and up the mountain were the treasury buildings—each city-state had one to both guard and flaunt their wealth and the spoils from their conquests. Statuary abounded. Above the treasuries was the large temple to Apollo where, in ancient times, the earth was cracked open and fumes emanated—a mysterious and holy place. There in the dim basement of the temple, the priestess would breathe in fumes in an ecstatic, hallucinogenic state while fondling the stone that represented the center of the world. She would babble in tongues and one of the temple priests would interpret her strange incantations to the pilgrims who had come to seek their future or find the answer to their dilemma. The priest always answered the pilgrims’ questions in an ambiguous way to not risk being wrong. Also, a network of spies gained information from the pilgrims as they traveled to Delphi, which helped stack the odds in the favor of the Delphic Oracle.
-By Temple to Apollo, Delphi-
Above the temple was an amphitheater and above that was the stadium—games were held at Delphi as they were at Olympia. At the base of the mountain was a temple to Athena. All of the ruined temples were still located at the site, but any statuary had been relocated to the either the museum at Delphi or the National Archeological Museum. Irini, as usual, gave a great tour. But, as usual, she talked for too long—thus the time we had to look around on our own was a mere 15 minutes. After touring the site, we spent time in the museum and then drove back to the town of Delphi for lunch. After lunch, we made the long drive to Kalambaka.
We arrived in the evening at the Amalia Inn just outside Kalambaka. I’d been fighting a scratchy throat all day and by bedtime, it was obvious that I’d contracted a good old Greek rhinovirus. I took a little stroll around the hotel grounds that evening after sunset—through a small grove of apple and pomegranate trees and then took my cold to bed.
When excavations began, they found that beyond the Agora, and up the mountain were the treasury buildings—each city-state had one to both guard and flaunt their wealth and the spoils from their conquests. Statuary abounded. Above the treasuries was the large temple to Apollo where, in ancient times, the earth was cracked open and fumes emanated—a mysterious and holy place. There in the dim basement of the temple, the priestess would breathe in fumes in an ecstatic, hallucinogenic state while fondling the stone that represented the center of the world. She would babble in tongues and one of the temple priests would interpret her strange incantations to the pilgrims who had come to seek their future or find the answer to their dilemma. The priest always answered the pilgrims’ questions in an ambiguous way to not risk being wrong. Also, a network of spies gained information from the pilgrims as they traveled to Delphi, which helped stack the odds in the favor of the Delphic Oracle.
-By Temple to Apollo, Delphi-
Above the temple was an amphitheater and above that was the stadium—games were held at Delphi as they were at Olympia. At the base of the mountain was a temple to Athena. All of the ruined temples were still located at the site, but any statuary had been relocated to the either the museum at Delphi or the National Archeological Museum. Irini, as usual, gave a great tour. But, as usual, she talked for too long—thus the time we had to look around on our own was a mere 15 minutes. After touring the site, we spent time in the museum and then drove back to the town of Delphi for lunch. After lunch, we made the long drive to Kalambaka.
We arrived in the evening at the Amalia Inn just outside Kalambaka. I’d been fighting a scratchy throat all day and by bedtime, it was obvious that I’d contracted a good old Greek rhinovirus. I took a little stroll around the hotel grounds that evening after sunset—through a small grove of apple and pomegranate trees and then took my cold to bed.
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