The Rise of Athens

The temple itself was a fine marble structure, partly resting on bedrock and partly on a specially built platform. On its walls three inscriptions were carved, which summed up basic principles of the good and fulfilled life. They were “know yourself,” “nothing in excess,” and, somewhat cynical advice to steer clear of rash pledges, “make a promise and ruin follows.”

We are told that beneath the cella or inner room was a small secret chamber, the adyton

(Greek for “inaccessible”), where the omphalos stood, a stone object that represented the center or “navel” of the earth. Its surface was covered with the carving of a knotted net and it had a hollow center widening towards the bottom.

The temple was managed by a priest who was recruited from Delphi’s ruling elite. He served for life. The position was one of high prestige, but the incumbent was not expected to live a particularly virtuous life. He was assisted by five hosioi (or holy ones), and one or more prophetae,

who may have had some role in interpreting or explaining the god’s messages.

The key figure in the oracular process was the Pythia, the priestess or prophetess. She was an ordinary local woman, not of high birth, and she too served for life. She was past childbearing age when appointed, but on duty she wore the costume of an unmarried girl—a sacred sheep dressed as lamb. She was expected to be chaste.

Apollo was supposed to live at Delphi for nine months of the year, and the oracle appears to have been available for consultation only for one day in each of these months. It is not clear whether the god was willing to open up shop in cases of emergency; when a city-state like Athens needed advice we do not hear of them having to wait for Apollo’s convenience. As to inquirers, priority was given to the city of Delphi and its citizens, to states with “most favored nation” status, and to specially honored individuals. In general, states took preference over individuals.

In front of the temple stood a large altar. Here a preliminary sacrifice was conducted on behalf of all the day’s inquirers. If this went well—that is, the animal reacted to a sprinkling of water by appearing to nod in acceptance of its fate—it was duly slaughtered.

An inquirer was led inside the temple and performed a second sacrifice, depositing the victim or parts of it on a table at the door to the adyton, the sunken room where the omphalos stood and where the Pythia was awaiting him. He was shown into a place from which he could hear but not see her.

The priestess had prepared for the consultation by purifying herself at the Castalian Spring in a ravine (two fountains fed by the spring still flow). At an altar inside the temple she burned laurel leaves and barley meal. Crowned with laurel she sat on a tripod and became possessed by the god. She then delivered her prophecy.

While we know broadly how consultations were managed, there are important aspects of the Delphi process about which we are in the dark. First of all, how was the Pythia’s prophetic trance induced? We can be sure that she did not chew some kind of hallucinogenic leaf. No ancient source mentions this, and if she did do so, she would probably have chosen leaves of bay or laurel, both plants sacred to Apollo. The former would have produced no effect at all, and the latter are poisonous.

The author Plutarch, a local man and a priest of Apollo who knew the oracle from the inside, writes in the first century A.D. of a sweet smell emanating from the Pythia’s consulting room. Was there a vent from which subterranean fumes rose? No trace of it could be found when archaeologists excavated the temple of Apollo in the twentieth century.

However, recent geological research suggests that the temple was built over the confluence of two fault lines and that gases including ethylene, which is both explosive and anesthetic, did come up from them. But the oracle functioned for a thousand years and it is hard to believe that the production of gas did not fluctuate. Even if the gases, when flowing, were of assistance to the Pythia it seems very probable that mostly her trances were self-induced.

The second problem concerns the presentation of the prophecies. Ancient historians such as Herodotus quote well-turned verses, rich in meaning and often carefully ambiguous. It is hardly plausible that the Pythia would have been able to improvise them, so one possibility is that her “ravings” were not altogether articulate and were later translated into poetry by the prophetae or some other persons.