Abi and I ran this morning at 0615, making good time to the sanctuary of Athena Pronaia. We poked around a bit and got some nice photos before returning to the hotel and breakfast.
Our departure at 8pm sent us back the way we had run earlier. However, instead of heading to the lower terrace, we went past the museum into the upper part of the site, dedicated to Apollo. Our first presentation was on the Delphic treasuries, delivered by Asia. She talked about how the confined spaces of Delphi made the placement of the treasuries difficult, especially when cities were trying to be as conspicuous as possible. Brad drew a comparison between treasuries and World’s Fair booths. Asia informed us that many of the treasuries were built from material from the home cities of the builders, making them stand out even more. There's even a treasury from the Greek colony of Messalia, now known as Marseille, in the lower sanctuary. The Athenian treasury was rebuilt by the French during the course of their excavation here and is quite impressive. Overall, Asia’s presentation was very informative and well sourced.
Treasury of the Athenians at Delphi.
Up next was the centerpiece of the sanctuary, the Temple of Apollo. Melanie presented there and knocked it out of the park with a detailed background of the site’s mythology and discussion of the temple. There are a couple different traditions about the site, including the one that gives the place the name Delphi. Apollo was in search of guards for his sanctuary and spied a ship full of Cretans on the water. He changed himself into a dolphin and swam alongside the ship before appearing to them. They agreed to protect his temple and named the site Delphi after the Greek word for dolphin, delphinos. Apollo’s oracle supposedly resided within the temple near a chasm in the rock where vapors emerged and the god possessed her. Her gibbering was interpreted by a priest, who relayed the answer to prophecy seekers.
Picture from the north side of the Temple.
The prophecies were notoriously difficult to understand, or perhaps deliberately were made so to prevent repercussions against the oracle and Delphi. Perhaps the most famous example of this is when Croesus, King of Lydia (in modern day Turkey), asked the oracle if he should invade the Persian Empire to the east. The response wa something along the lines of “if you cross the border river, a great empire will fall,” according to Herodotus. Croesus attacked and ultimately, his empire fell.
After the temple, we kept climbing. We saw the theater, hewn from the bedrock, and the stadium. Alas, we were unable to run in the stadium. It was roped off and the straw on the track would have made running difficult even if we had been allowed past the wire.
Alas, we were unable to continue our races here.
We headed down after a short break to the sanctuary of Athena Pronaia, where Abi and I had run earlier in the day. Cassia gave a brief presentation on the site and then we wandered around for a while. Of particular interest is the Tholos, which is another round structure that we have no answers for. Anyone who figures out the Tholos problem probably gets a job in classics.
Circular and mysterious.
Then we had a leisurely break for lunch. Gyros, of course. We were back in the museum after lunch looking at some fantastic artifacts. The silver bull was extremely impressive, both the material and the museum display that contextualizes these twisted and fragmentary pieces of metal. We also had a rousing debate over the identification of the figures on the metopes of the Siphnian treasury. I supported the view that it is not the Judgement of Paris, but a scene with Artemis. If anyone knows Richard Neer, I'd love to chat with him about the identification.
Artemis or Aphrodite? We had a lively debate.
We also saw the omphalos, which supposedly marked the center of the world for the Greeks. It was placed by Zeus in Delphi after he divined the center of the world by observing where two eagles released from the edges of the earth on a straight course met. The relief on the stone has a lot of eastern elements and someone compared it to Hindu iconography. We also saw the incredible charioteer bronze, which is preserved with reins made of bronze.
The charioteer with his fragmentary reins.
The restored omphalos. Very imposing and solid.
After the museum, we were set free by Amy for the rest of the evening. Abi, Luke, Sophie, and I headed back to the hotel and did various activities, like helping Sophie prepare her site report before dinner. The down time on the trip thus far has been really enjoyable.
Tomorrow we head out to Lamia and Meteora. It's a lot of bus time, but I have reading I need to do anyways.
Thanks for reading.
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