Delphi: The Bellybutton of the Ancient World Page #2

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of the temple,

have discovered something new.

Here, this rectangular structure,

what they're calling an oikos,

which may well be what the literary

sources talk about as the adyton,

the home of the Pythian priestess

herself.

But the thing is, we still don't

know for sure the mechanics

of what actually happened

in this space.

What we do know

is that the Oracle was a woman.

The priestess was said to sit on

top of a tripod

set over a chasm in the rock,

from which vapours rose.

She was reputed to breathe in

the vapours and answer in a trance,

as if inspired by Apollo.

The priestess gave her answers to

the applicant's question

from within the trance,

and once she had spoken,

the applicants then had to try

to understand what she had said.

So what was the prophetic vapour

that induced trances in the priestess?

Well, we now know that Delphi's geology

produced hallucinogenic fumes.

The sanctuary grew up at a place

where two geological faults crossed.

And here on the temple floor

you can see the signs of subsidence

caused by the two faults.

And right beside the temple and

its Oracle, is a tell-tale deposit.

This is travertine, formed when

water releases hydrocarbons,

which it can only accumulate

if it exists around a fault line.

Another sign, another piece of

evidence that the geological

fault line runs right through

the temple at Delphi.

Recent tests showed that one of

those hydrocarbons

is the gas ethylene,

which is known to affect

the working of the brain.

That could explain the trance.

But geology can only explain why the

priestess was here in this exact position.

It can't help us explain why Delphi

became such a spectacular sanctuary,

and why it maintained its reputation

in the ancient world

for over 1,000 years.

If we examine Greek religion itself

however, things become clearer.

After all, Oracles were

a basic element

of ancient Greek religious

traditions,

and they included some sometimes

quite bizarre beliefs.

And to understand the religion

of ancient Greece

you have to understand

that there were

gods in everything and everywhere.

Poseidon in the sea,

Hades in the underworld,

nymphs in the grottos and

caves, Pan around you.

Every tree, every bush had a god.

And in that world,

the gods had to be worshipped.

They had to be prayed to.

Demeter to fertilise your fields, or Athena

to watch over your city or your industry.

You had to make sacrifices.

You met the gods in your dreams,

they cured your illnesses,

they were everywhere

and they could be for you

or against you,

so you had to do your utmost to

ensure that they were on your side.

These ideas go back to the very

beginnings of ancient Greece.

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