Ancient Greek Religion: Oracles

1. Ancient Greek Religion:Oracles Ancient Studies

2. Three meanings • The word oracle usually refers to a pronouncement [prediction], made in answer to an inquiry, by a qualified interpreter who was in direct or indirect communication with a god. Sometimes, however, the word is used to refer to the site of the shrine where such communication took place or even to the interpreter himself (Carpenter and Gula 135, emphasis added).

3. Dating back to 1400 BC, the Oracle of Delphi was the most important shrine in all Greece, and in theory all Greeks respected its independence. Built around a sacred spring, Delphi was considered to be the omphalos - the center (literally navel) of the world. • People came from all over Greece and beyond to have their questions about the future answered by the Pythia, the priestess of Apollo. And her answers, usually cryptic, could determine the course of everything from when a farmer planted his seedlings, to when an empire declared war. • Source: http://www.pbs.org/empires/thegreeks/background/7.html

4. http://iam.classics.unc.edu/loci/del/16_brf.html

5. Source:www.pbs.org/empires/thegreeks/ background/7_p1.html

6. "There was a stone at Delphi [in central Greece near Mount Parnassus overlooking the Gulf of Corinth] called theomphalos, a word which means 'center' or 'navel.' Zeus was said to have released birds simultaneously from the opposite ends of the world and, because they met at that spot, it was regarded as the center of the world (Carpenter and Gula 135).

7. “Apollo made known his father's will through the oracle at Delphi . . .” (Carpenter and Gula 135). • Zeus Apollo Pythia Interpreter Seeker

8. “In early times it seems that the oracle was available for consultation only during one day out of the year. Later, however, this seems to have been expanded to one day out of each month. During the winter months . . . the oracle was closed and the site was sacred to Dionysus. It would seem, then, that there were at most a total of nine consultation days a year--but during those nine days, the oracle was available from dawn to dusk and hundreds stood in line waiting for their turn” (Carpenter and Gula 135).

9. "The enquirer first had to purify himself with holy water and pay a consultation fee. An animal was then sacrificed on the altar outside the temple.” • "The Pythia was a woman over 50. Once appointed, she had to remain chaste. She bathed in the Kastalian Spring, burned laurel leaves and barley meal, and then sat on a tripod in the adyton [sacred inner chamber.]” (Mee and Spawforth 310)

10. "Delphi was an international site, and anyone could consult the oracle. After ritual purification and the offering of an expensive cake to the god, the petitioner would sacrifice an animal; if this sacrifice was accepted, he would then go into an inner chamber. There, a woman known as a pythia sat on a bronze tripod and uttered ecstatic sounds. How she reached her ecstatic state is a matter of debate, but there is no basis for the story that she inhaled fumes emitted from a fissure in the rocks. Whatever the cause, the sounds she made were said to be the utterances of Apollo. A priest who listened to these sounds would then translate them into hexameter verses for the petitioner. There is evidence that, at times, when the oracle was not in session, petitioners could get an "either/or" answer through sacred lots. The oracle at Delphi continued to make pronouncements well into the fourth century A.D., when it was closed by a Christian emperor” (Carpenter and Gula 135-136).

11. The oracle supposedly said that Socrates was the wisest man in Greece. Like many prophecies, this statement is ambiguous and subject to interpretation. Note how Socrates interprets it in “The Apology.” Socrates http://www.windows.ucar.edu/people/images/socrates.gif

12. Appendix: background on the name Pythia • In Greek mythology, a female serpent born of the Earth. The goddess Hera sent Python to torment her rival Leto, one of the many loves of Zeus, and the mother of Apollo. The young Apollo slew the Python and bid the serpent to rot where it had fallen. The spot where this encounter took place was called Pytho, from the Greek word pytho, "to rot." The name was later changed to Delphi. The site became the most venerated shrine in ancient Greece, sacred to Apollo. The Pythian Games were held every four years in honor of the ancient Python and were next in importance to the famous Olympic Games. http://www.fofweb.com/NuHistory/default.asp?ItemID=WE49&NewItemID=True

13. The Origins of Delphi According to one myth, Zeus set two eagles free, one from each ends of the Earth. Where they met, he established Delphi as the center of the world. A stone marked like a navel (Omphalos in Greek) was the place from which the Oracle—a wise being, capable of speaking words of the gods and foretelling the future—would speak. Long before that, the site of the shrine was sacred to Gaia. At that time Delphi was called Pytho. A female serpent-dragon, Python, guarded the shrine. The young god Apollo slew Python and commanded her spirit to be his oracle at Delphi. Delphi was in fact Apollo's chosen land. Having killed the serpent Python, he built an altar in the sacred grove. According to one legend, Apollo was looking for priests to minister to his shrine when he saw a ship manned by Cretans, a very ancient race. Apollo turned himself into a dolphin and sped after the ship. He captured the ship and persuaded the sailors to guard his temple, which they then called Delphi in honor of the dolphin (Greek delphin). The decline of Delphi and its oracle is paralleled by the decline of Greece and of the justice and moral excellence represented by Apollo. Some efforts were made to restore Delphi's influence but finally, in CE 385, the Emperor Theodosius silenced the voice of Apollo forever, in the name of Christianity. http://www.fofweb.com/NuHistory/default.asp?ItemID=WE49&NewItemID=True

14. Sources • Gula, Robert J. and Thomas H. Carpenter. Mythology Greek and Roman. New York: Longman, 1977. • Mee, Christopher and Antony Spawforth. Greece: An Oxford Archaeological Guide. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. • Oracle at Delphi image:www.pbs.org/empires/thegreeks/ background/7_p1.html • Socrates image: http://www.windows.ucar.edu/people/images/socrates.gif