Greece, Day 3 - Delphi

Day 3 - 2nd June 2008, Monday

For the record, I have finally settled down in Malaysia, my beautiful country after my demobilisation back to headquarters effectively on 1st December 2012. So much things to do, but I hope I will stay focus in keeping this blog alive. Back to my travelogue. On the 3rd day, the tourist company had arrange for our visit to Delphi, an archaeological site and a modern town in Greece on the south western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis. We got up and get our breakfast very early that day after an exhausted Athens City Tour the day before.

It was a 2 and a half hour journey from Athens to reach Delphi by bus. We were pick-up at 7.50 in the morning. The bus was full and we had a seat right at the back with 2 teenage couple from UK. Delphi is a famous mountainous place of Temple of Apollo, seated at 800m above sea levels. The road is winding and scary as we reached a 1,000m highest peak of the journey. The modern town of Delphi is situated immediately west of the archaeological site and hence is a popular tourist destination. It is on a major highway linking Amfissa along with Itea and Arachova. There are many hotels and guest houses in the town, and many taverns and bars. The main streets are narrow, and often one-way. 

This coffee shop located adjacent to the winding road. Beautiful!

We were given a briefing by the tour guide around the Temple of Apollo before exploring the beautiful ruins of the temple on our own. Delphi was thought of by the Greeks as the middle of the entire Earth, “navel of earth” @ Omphalos.

The name Delphi comes from the same root as, "womb" and may indicate archaic veneration of Gaia, Grandmother Earth, and the Earth Goddess at the site. Apollo is connected with the site by his nickname, “the Delphinian”. The nickname is connected with dolphins (Greek in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo (line 400), recounting the legend of how Apollo first came to Delphi in the shape of a dolphin, carrying Cretan priests on his back. Another legend held that Apollo walked to Delphi from the north and stopped at Tempe, a city in Thessaly, to pick laurel (also known as bay tree) which he considered to be a sacred plant. In commemoration of this legend, the winners at the Pythian Games received a wreath of laurel picked in the Temple.

The navel!

In Greek mythology, Delphi was the site of the Delphic oracle, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, and a major site for the worship of the deities god, Apollo after he slew the Python, a dragon who lived there and protected the navel of the Earth. Python is claimed by some to be the original name of the site in recognition of the Python that Apollo defeated. The Homeric Hymn to Delphic Apollo recalled that the ancient name of this site had been Krisa.

Apollo is one of the most important Olympian deities in ancient Greek & Roman religion, mythology, and Greco–Roman Neopaganism. A beardless and athletic youth of Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun, truth and prophecy, healing, plague, music, poetry, and more. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has a twin sister, the chaste huntress Artemis. Apollo's sacred precinct in Delphi was a Pan-Hellenic sanctuary, where every four years, starting in 776 BC athletes from all over the Greek world competed in the Pythian Games, one of the four Pan-Hellenic games, ancestor of the Modern Olympics.

The ancient theatre at Delphi (photo below) was built further up the hill from the Temple of Apollo giving spectators a view of the entire sanctuary and the valley below. It was originally built in the 4th century BC but was remodelled on several occasions since. Its 35 rows can seat 5,000 spectators.

Temple of Apollo was a dedication to Apollo.Carved into the temple were three phrases: "know thyself","nothing in excess", and "make a pledge and mischief is nigh". In ancient times, the origin of these phrases was attributed to one or more of the Seven Sages of Greece.However, ancient as well as modern scholars have doubted the legitimacy of such inscriptions. According to one pair of scholars, "The actual authorship of the three maxims set up on the Delphian temple may be left uncertain. Most likely they were popular proverbs, which tended later to be attributed to particular sages."

From the entrance of the site, continuing up the slope almost to the temple itself, are a large number of votive statues, and numerous treasuries, seen below. These were built by the various Greek city states those overseas as well as those on the mainland to commemorate victories and to thank the oracle for her advice, which was thought to have contributed to those victories. They are called "treasuries" because they held the offerings made to Apollo; these were frequently a "tithe" or tenth of the spoils of a battle. The most impressive is the now-restored Athenian Treasury, built to commemorate the Athenians' victory at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC.

The temple survived until 390 AD, when the Christian emperor Theodosius I silenced the oracle by destroying the temple and most of the statues and works of art in the name of Christianity. The site was completely destroyed by zealous Christians in an attempt to remove all traces of Paganism. About 7000 statues of gold, silver and bronze statues which were discovered by the archaeologist were stored nicely in the Delphi museum, seated not far from the archaeological site.

The Delphi Archaeological Museum is at the foot of the main archaeological complex, on the east side of the village, and on the north side of the main road. The museum houses an impressive collection associated with ancient Delphi, including the earliest known notation of a melody, the famous Charioteer, golden treasures discovered beneath the Sacred Way, and fragments of reliefs from the Siphnian Treasury. Immediately adjacent to the exit (and overlooked by most tour guides) is the inscription that mentions the Roman proconsul Gallio.

Do not miss for a closer look of Kleobis and Biton statues, the names of two human brothers in legend related by Solon to Croesus in Herodotus' Histories. It is also the name conventionally given to a pair of life size Archaic Greek statues, or kouroi, in the Delphi Archaeological Museum. The statues date from about 580 BC and come from Argos in the Peloponnese, although they were found at Delphi. In the legend, Kleobis and Biton were Argives, the sons of Cydippe, a priestess of Hera. Cydippe was travelling from Argos to a festival in honor of Argive Hera. The oxen which were to pull her cart were overdue and her sons, Kleobis and Biton, pulled the cart the entire way (45 stadia, or 8.3 km/5.1 miles). Cydippe was impressed with their devotion to her and her goddess and she prayed to Hera, asking her to give her children the best gift a god could give to a mortal. Hera ordained that the brothers would die in their sleep, and after the feast the youths lay down in the temple of Hera, slept and never woke. Herodotus, who relates the story, says that the citizens of Argos donated a pair of statues to the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi.

And not forgotten, the Charioteer of Delphi, also known as Heniokhos (the rein-holder), is one of the best-known statues surviving from Ancient Greece, and is considered one of the finest examples of ancient bronze statues. The life-size statue of a chariot driver was found in 1896 at the Sanctuary of Apollo in Delphi. It is now in the Delphi Archaeological Museum. The statue was erected at Delphi in 474 BC, to commemorate the victory of a chariot team in the Pythian Games, which were held at Delphi every four years in honor of Pythean Apollo. It was originally part of a larger group of statuary, including the chariot, four (possibly six) horses and two grooms. Some fragments of the horses were found with the statue. When intact, it must have been one of the most imposing works of statuary in the world.

After the museum, we stopped for lunch at a cosy restaurant at 2.30pm. The food were amazing. We were served 4 course meal, the soup, salad, risotto rice and a pie!

On the way to Athens, the bus stopped for short coffee break where there's place for our little shopping. The gift shop offers varieties of choices for us.

Remarks: Facts of the Delphi are my reasearch from Wikipedia and books that I purchased in Athens. 

to be continued...