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See also:DELPHI (the Pytho of See also:Homer and See also:Herodotus; in Boeotian See also:inscriptions BeA4oi, on coins Aa)tg5oi)
, a See also:place in See also:ancient See also:Greece in the territory of See also:Phocis, famous'as the seat of the most important See also:temple and See also:oracle of See also:Apollo.' It was situated about 6 m. inland from the shores of the Corinthian Gulf, in a rugged and romantic glen, closed on the N. by the steep See also:wall-like under-cliffs of See also:Mount See also:Parnassus known as the Phaedriades or Shining Rocks, on the E. and W. by two See also:minor ridges or spurs, and on the S. by the irregular heights of Mount Cirphis
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Between the two mountains the Pleistus flowed from See also:east to See also:west, and opposite the See also:town received the brooklet of the Castalian See also:fountain, which See also:rose in a deep See also:gorge in the centre of the Parnassian cliff
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About 7 M. to the See also:north, on the See also:side of Mount Parnassus, was the famous Corycian See also:cave, a large grotto in the See also:limestone See also:rock, which afforded the See also:people of See also:Delphi a See also:refuge during the See also:Persian invasion
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It is now called in the See also:district the Sarant' Aulai or See also:Forty Courts, and is said to be capable of holding 3000 people
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I
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The Site.—The site of Delphi was occupied by the See also:modern See also:village of Castri until it was bought by the See also:French See also:government in 1891, and the See also:peasant proprietors expropriated and transferred to the new village of Castri, a little farther to the west
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Excavations had been made previously in some parts of the See also:precinct; for example, the See also:portico of the Athenians was laid See also:bare in 186o
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The systematic clearing of the site began in the See also:spring of 1892, and it was rapidly cleared of See also:earth by means of a See also:light railway
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The See also:plan of the precinct is now easily traced, and with the help of See also:Pausanias many of the buildings have been identified
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The ancient wall See also:running east and west, commonly known as the Hellenico, has been found extant in its whole length, and the two boundary walls running up the See also: It mounts first west-wards to an open space, then turns eastwards till it reaches the eastern end of the See also:terrace wall that supports the temple, and then turns again and curves up north and then west towards the temple . Above this, approached by a See also:stair, are the Lesche and the See also:theatre, occupying respectively the north-east and north-west corner of the precinct . On a higher level still, a little to the west, is the See also:stadium . There are several narrow paths and stairs that cut off the zigzags of the Sacred Way . In describing the monuments discovered by the French excavators, the simplest plan is to follow the route of Pausanias . Outside the entrance is a large paved See also:court of See also:Roman date, flanked by a See also:colonnade . On the north side of the Sacred Way, See also:close to the main entrance, stood the offering dedicated by the Lacedaemonians after the See also:battle of See also:Aegospotami . It was a large quadrangular See also:building of See also:conglomerate, with a back wall faced with See also:stucco, and stood open to the road . On a stepped See also:pedestal facing the open stood the statues of the gods and the admirals, perhaps in rows above one another . The statues of the See also:Epigoni stood on a semicircular basis on the See also:south side of the way . Opposite them stood another semi-circular basis which carried the statues of the Argive See also:kings, whose names are cut on the pedestal in archaic characters, See also:reading from right to See also:left . Farther west was the Sicyonian See also:treasury on the south of the way . It was in the See also:form of a small Doric temple in antis, and had its entrance on the east . The See also:present See also:foundations are built of architectural fragments, probably from an earlier building of circular form on the same site . The sculptures from this treasury are in the museum, as are the other sculptures found on the site . These sculptures, which are in 974 rough limestone, most likely belong to the earlier building, as their See also:surface is in a better See also:state of preservation than could be possible if they had been See also:long exposed to the See also:air . The earlier treasury was probably destroyed either by See also:earthquake or by the percolation of See also:water through the terracing . The Cnidian treasury stands on the south side of the way farther west . This building was originally surmised by the excavators to be the treasury of Siphnos, but further See also:evidence led them to See also:change their See also:opinion . The treasury was raised on a quadrangular structure, supported on its south side by the Hellenico, and built of tufa . The See also:lower courses are left rough and were most likely hidden . A small Ionic temple of See also:marble with See also:Scale of M£pr 4 'P P . ° Scale of }'.arils v 5 .P 'P By permlv..m, foam plSns iu llolletin de Correspoodence Helleniqup 2897 . XVI . XVIU two caryatids between See also:antae stood on this substructure . The See also:sculpture from this treasury, which ornamented its See also:frieze and See also:pediment, is of See also:great See also:interest in the See also:history of the development of the See also:art, and the fragments of architectural See also:mouldings are of great delicacy and beauty . The whole See also:work is perhaps the most perfect example we possess of the transitional See also:style of the See also:early 5th See also:century . See also:Standing back somewhat from the path just as it bends See also:round up the hill is the Theban treasury . Farther north, where the path turns again, is the Athenian treasury . This structure, which was in the form of a small Doric temple in antis, appears to have suffered from the building above it having been shaken down by an earthquake . It has now been rebuilt with the See also:original blocks . There can be no doubt about the identity of the building, for the basis on which it stands bears the remains of the dedicatory inscription, stating that it was erected from the spoils of See also:Marathon . Almost all the sculptured metopes are in the museum, and are of the highest interest to the student of archaic art . The famous See also:inscriptions with See also:hymns to Apollo accompanied by musical notation were found on stones belonging to this treasury . Above the Athenian treasury is an open space, in which is a rock which has been identified as the Sybil's rock . It has steps hewn in it, and has a cleft . The ground round it has been left rough like the space on the See also:Acropolis at See also:Athens identified as theancient See also:altar of See also:Athena . Here too was placed the curious See also:column, with many flutes and an Ionic See also:capital, on which stood the See also:colossal See also:sphinx, dedicated by the Naxians, that has been pieced together and placed in the museum . A little farther on, but below the Sacred Way, is another open space, of circular form, which is perhaps the aXXwr or sacred threshing-See also:floor on which the See also:drama of the slaying of the See also:Python by Apollo was periodically performed . Opposite this space, and backed against the beautifully jointed polygonal wall which has for some See also:time been known, and which supports the terrace on which the temple stands, is the colonnade of the Athenians . A dedicatory inscription runs along the See also:face of the See also:top step, and has been the subject of much dispute . Both the forms of the letters and the style of the See also:architecture show that the colonnade cannot date, as Pausanias says, from the time of the Peloponnesian See also:War; Th . Homolle now as-signs it to the end of the 6th century . The polygonal ter-See also:race wall at the back, on being cleared, proves to be covered with inscriptions, most of them. concerning the manumission of slaves . After rounding the east end of the terrace wall, the Sacred Way turns northward, leaving the Great Altar, dedicated by the Chians; on the left . After passing the altar, it turns to the left again at right well angles, and so enters the space in front of the temple . Remains of offerings found in this region include those dedicated by the Cyrenians and by the See also:Corinthians . The site of the temple itself carries the remains of successive structures . Of that built by the Alcmaeonids in the 6th century n.c. considerable remains have been found, some in the foundations of the later temple and some lying where they were thrown by the earthquake . The sculptures found have been assigned to this building, probably to the gables, as they are archaic in See also:character, and show a remarkable resemblance to the sculptures from the pediment of the early temple of Athena at Athens . The existing foundations are these of the temple built in the 4th century . They give no certain See also:information as to the sacred cleft and other matters See also:relating to the oracle . Though there are great hollow spaces in the structure of the foundations, these appear merely to have been intended to See also:save material, and not to have been put to any religious or other use . Up in the north-eastern corner of the precinct, standing at the See also:foot of the cliffs, are the remains of the interesting Cnidian Lesche or Clubhouse . It was a long narrow building accessible only from the south, and the famous paintings were probably disposed around the walls so as to meet in the See also:middle of the north side . Some scanty fragments of the lower See also:part of the frescoed walls have survived; but they are not enough to give any information as to the work of See also:Polygnotus . At the north-western corner of the precinct is the theatre, one of the best preserved in Greece . The foundations of the See also:stage are extant, as well as the See also:orchestra, and the walls and seats of the auditorium . There are See also:thirty-three tiers of seats in seven sets, and a paved diazoma . The sculptures from the stage front, now in the museum, have the labours of Heracles as their subject . The date of the theatre is probably early end century B.C . The stadium lies, as Pausanias says, in the highest part of the See also:city to the north-west . It stands on a narrow See also:plateau of ground supported on the south-east by a terrace wall . The seats have been cleared, and are in a state of extraordinary preservation . A few of those at the east end are hewn in the rock . No trace of the marble seats mentioned by Pausanias has been found, but they have probably been carried off for See also:lime or building, as they could easily be removed . An immense number of inscriptions have been found in the excavations, and many See also:works of art, including a See also:bronze charioteer, which is one of the most admirable statues preserved from ancient times . II . History.—Our information as to the oracle at Delphi and the manner in which it was consulted is somewhat confused; there probably was considerable variation at different periods . The See also:tale of a hole from which intoxicating " mephitic " vapour arose has no early authority, nor is it scientifically probable (see A . P . Oppe in See also:Journal of Hellenic Studies, See also:xxiv .
214)
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The questions had to be given in See also:writing, and the responses were uttered by the Pythian priestess, in early times a See also:maiden, later a woman over fifty attired as a maiden
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After chewing the sacred See also:bay and drinking of the spring Cassotis, which was conducted into the temple by artificial channels, she took her seat on the sacred See also:tripod in the inner See also:shrine
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Her utterances were reduced to See also:verse and edited by the prophets and the "See also:holy men" (Saws)
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For the See also:influence and history of the oracle see ORACLE
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Delphi also contained the " Omphalos," a sacred See also: This was destroyed by See also:fire in 548 B.C., and the See also:contract for rebuilding was undertaken by the exiled See also:Alcmaeonidae from Athens, who generously substituted marble on the eastern front for the See also:poros specified (see See also:CLEISTHENES, ad init.) . Portions of the pediments of this temple have been found in the excavations; but no sign has been found of the pediments mentioned by Pausanias, representing on the east Apollo and the See also:Muses, and on the west See also:Dionysus and the Thyiades (Bacchantes), and designed by See also:Praxias, the See also:pupil of Calanias . The temple which was seen by Pausanias, and of which the foundations were found by the-excavators, was the one of which the building is recorded in inscriptions of the 4th century . A See also:raid on Delphi attempted by the Persians in 48o B.C. was said to have been frustrated by the See also:god himself, by means of a See also:storm or earthquake which hurled rocks down on the invaders; a similar tale is told of the raid of the Gauls in 279 B.C . But the See also:sacrilege thus escaped at the hands of See also:foreign invaders See also:wad inflicted by the Phocian defenders of Delphi during the Sacred War, 356–346 B.C., when many of the See also:precious votive offerings were melted down . The Phocians were condemned to replace their value to the amount of so,000 talents, which they paid in instalments . In 86 B.C. the See also:sanctuary and its treasures were put under contribution by L . See also:Cornelius See also:Sulla for the See also:payment of his soldiers; See also:Nero removed no fewer than 500 bronze statues from the sacred precincts; See also:Constantine the Great enriched his new city by the sacred tripod and its support of intertwined See also:snakes dedicated by the See also:Greek cities after the battle of See also:Plataea . This still exists, with its inscription, in the See also:Hippodrome at Constanti-nople . See also:Julian afterwards sent Oribasius to restore the temple; but the oracle responded to the See also:emperor's See also:enthusiasm with nothing but a wail over the See also:glory that had departed . Provisional accounts of the excavations have appeared during the excavations in the Bulletin de correspondance hellenique . A See also:summary is given in J . G . Frazer, Pausanias, vol. v . The See also:official See also:account is entitled Fouilles de Delphes . For history see See also:Hiller von Gartringea in Puuly-Wissowa, Realencyclopddie, s.v . " Delphi." For cult see L . R . Farnell, Cults of the Greek States, iv . 179-218 . For the works of art discovered see GREEK ART . (E . |
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