Delphi (48 page)

Key

Parke and Wormell + No. in bold: Oracular consultation reference number from Parke and Wormell 1956b.

Scott + No. in bold: Monumental dedication reference number from Scott 2010.

Jacquemin + No. in bold. Monumental dedication reference number from Jacquemin 1999.

Guide de Delphes + No. in bold: Monumental dedication reference number from Bommelaer 1991.

NOTES

PROLOGUE

1
. Quote from the Memorandum of Justification for the Recommendation by United Nations International Committee on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) that Delphi be listed as a World Heritage site, 6 March 1986. Full text can be viewed online:
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/393/documents/
(1987 Advisory Body Evaluation)—last accessed 17.6.13.

2
. Heliod.
Aeth.
For discussion of the novel, see: Feuillatre 1966, Hunter 1998.

3
. Heliod.
Aeth.
2.26–27; Pouilloux 1983, Weir 2004: 77–78, Baumbach 2008: 182.

4
. For discussions of the veracity of Heliodorus's account: Feuillatre 1966: 45–70, Pouilloux 1984.

5
. For discussion of the date of the
Aethiopica
: Bowersock 1997: 149–60, Baumbach 2008: 167.

6
. E.g., Strabo 9.3.3.

CHAPTER 1. ORACLE

1
. “It happened just like at Delphi,” e.g., Hdt. 7.111. Amandry argued that the earliest oracular consultation at Delphi may in fact have been the reading of the rustling of leaves from a laurel tree at Delphi (not just any laurel tree, but the one
that Daphne was transformed into when pursued by Apollo): Phylarchus
FGrH
81F 32; Amandry 1950: 126–34.

2
. Whereas at the oracular sanctuary of Dodona, questions and responses were often inscribed on lead tablets buried in the ground (and thus discoverable, and readable, today), at Delphi no such permanent records have survived, see Eidinow 2007. It is possible that archives of oracular responses were kept at Delphi: there is a
zygastron
referred to in inscriptions, but neither it, nor any responses, have ever been found: Flacelière 1961: 52.

3
. Different accounts of same consultation: e.g., Thuc. 1.133–34 and Paus. 3.17.7 on Pausanias of Sparta. Different authorial styles: Herodotus's passion for oracles and his use of them in his narrative: Kindt 2003, Kindt 2006. For discussion of the “use” of the Delphic oracle in other Athenian sources: Bowden 2005: 40–87. On the use of oracle stories in Pausanias: Habicht 1988, Elsner 2001, Elsner 2004, Hutton 2005a, Juul 2010. See also on the use of oracles in later literature: Busine 2005: 26–28.

4
. All ahistorical accounts of oracle responses before fifth century
BC
, e.g., Fontenrose 1978: 11–195. Impossible to write a history after the fourth century
BC
: Parke and Wormell 1956a: 244. Middle path: Parke and Wormell 1956b: xxi.

5
. The first Pythia was Phemonoe (meaning literally “prophetic mind”): Hes. Frag. 226; Strabo 9.3.5. Aristonice was Pythia at the time of the battle of Salamis in the fifth century
BC
: Hdt. 7.140. Periallus was the Pythia whom Cleomenes of Sparta bribed: Hdt. 6.66.

6
. Plut.
Mor.
405C. See Flacelière 1961: 42. By the third century
AD
, however, the post had become associated with the “priestly” families of Delphi: de la Coste-Messelière 1925: 83–86.

7
. Chosen for life: Flacelière 1961: 42. See Roux 1976: 69. House to live in:
FD
III 5 50; Amandry 2000: 19. Multiple Pythias: Plut.
Mor.
414B.

8
. Diod. Sic. 16.26. See Flacelière 1961: 41. Pythia previously married: Parke and Wormell 1956a: 34.

9
. Plut.
Mor.
388E; Flacelière 1961: 39, Roux 1976: 175–76. Possibility of “special” consultations at other times: Price 1985: 134.

10
. The lot oracle: Amandry 1939a, Amandry 1950: 25–36, Flacelière 1961: 39. Possibly a jar of black and white beans, the color indicating yes or no, selected at random by the Pythia: Price 1985: 132. These “lots” may have been kept in, and indeed consulted from, the tripod in which the Pythia was said to sit: Lucian
Bis. Acc.
1. See also the early consultation by the Thessalians at Delphi about the
choice of their king, which was said to have been performed with a lot oracle: Plut.
Mor.
492A.

11
. Amandry 1984c, Picard 1991: 261. See also Graf 2005.

12
. Washing: Schol. Vet. on Eur.
Phoen
. 224. The Castalia was cleaned and fenced off in the third century
BC
: Colin 1899: 567. Burning barley: Plut.
Mor.
397A. Only laurel wood was used on the sacred hearth: Parke and Wormell 1956a: 26. See Flacelière 1961: 43, Fontenrose 1978: 224.

13
. Plut.
Mor.
435B, 437B, 438A. See Parke and Wormell 1956a: 30. Plutarch intimates that, occasionally, huge efforts were made to ensure the goat shuddered, including pouring a good deal of cold water over the animal: Plut.
Mor.
438B. At the same time, Plutarch goes on to show how this bending of the rules led to an unsatisfactory consultation in which the Pythia's voice was odd, ending with everyone running from the temple in fear and the Pythia dying a few days later.

14
. Chian promanteia: Inscribed in the third century
BC
, when the Chians undertook a refit of their dedication (first made in the late sixth century
BC
): Courby 1927: 124. Several consulters with promanteia, see Eur.
Ion
908.

15
.
CID
I 8. See Parke and Wormell 1956a: 32, Flacelière 1961: 48.

16
.
CID
I 13; Amandry 1950: 245 (XVI). For discussion: Parke and Wormell 1956a: 31–32. The Sciathus inscription also says that it costs one Aeginetan stater for “consultation by 2 beans,” which is the best evidence for the existence of a lot (or “bean”) oracle at Delphi.

17
. Asclepiads:
FD
III 1 394 1.22–33.

18
. Waiting area: Flacelière 1961: 40. Proxenos: Eur.
Ion
228. See Sourvinou-Inwood 1990: 15. It is not unlike the practice in the Gulf States today, such as in the United Arab Emirates, where a local, native partner is needed if a foreigner or foreign business wishes to engage in any business venture in the country.

19
. Daux 1949c, Parke and Wormell 1956a: 32–33.

20
. Plut.
Mor.
385A, 378D.

21
. See Hdt. 8.37; Plut.
Mor.
388E; Plut.
Vit. Sull.
12;
Vit. Tim.
8; Fontenrose 1978: 226–27, Price 1985: 135. Elsewhere in the temple it was said there were busts of Homer and Hesiod, as well as Pindar's iron seat and numerous other precious dedications: Flacelière 1961: 58.

22
. E.g., Parke and Wormell 1956a: 28.

23
. Initial temple publication: Courby 1927. See (reprinted) discussions in: Amandry 2010b, Amandry 2010a. Latest plan: Amandry 2000: 20–21, Amandry and Hansen 2010: 315–21 (figure 18.19).

24
. Painted by the Codrus painter, supposedly showing Aegeus before the Pythia or Themis: Fontenrose 1978: 204, Lissarrague 2000. This impression of the consultation is favored by Fontenrose 1978: 223.

25
. There were two priests of Apollo in second–first centuries
BC
(
SGDI
1684–2343), but three by first century
AD
: Amandry 2000: 18. Bowden thinks there was only one in classical times, drawn from among the leading families of Delphi: Bowden 2005: 14. It seems local Delphians may also have been selected by lot to accompany the priests during parts of the consultation process: Plut.
Mor.
438B; Parke and Wormell 1956a: 30.

26
. Prophetes: Hdt. 8.36, Eur.
Ion
413–16. Hosioi: the earliest mention of these officials is in the second century
BC
. There were five hosioi in Plutarch's day:
Mor.
292D; Parke 1940. Women responsible for flame: Plut.
Mor.
385C. Parke and Wormell argue that these were women who had “ceased from marital relations” and may have been the group from which a Pythian priestess was picked. Tending the flame was thus a kind of preselection round for being chosen as the Pythia: Parke and Wormell 1956a: 36. Plutarch also mentions a group of “versifiers”: “there used to be [men who would sit around the oracle] weaving hexameters and metres and rhythms extemporaneously as vessels for the oracles,” Plut.
Mor.
407B. For more on personnel: Roux 1976: 54–63.

27
. Fontenrose 1978: 218.

28
. Asking the question: Eur.
Andr.
1104; Schol. Ar.
Plut.
39. Providing answer in oral and written form: Eur.
Ion
100; Hdt. 1.48;
IG
II
²
1096. See Parke 1940, Parke and Wormell 1956a: 33, Price 1985: 136.

29
. Amandry 1950: 129–30. Callimachus tells us she wore a bay-leaf crown and also held a bay sprig in her hand: Callim.
Ia.
4.26–27.

30
. Fontenrose 1978: 198–200.

31
. See Parke and Wormell 1956a: 19–20.

32
. Diod. Sic. 16.26.

33
. “Delightful fragrance”: Plut.
Mor.
437C. Debate among friends: Plut.
Mor.
432C–438D. Calm and peaceful: Plut.
Mor.
759B. Bad consultation: Plut.
Mor.
438B.

34
. Strabo 9.3.5. Luc. 5.165–74; Fontenrose 1978: 208. The occasion of the consultation is that of Appius Claudius in 48
BC
(see later chapters), and though the Pythia “rages,” her response is still clear and coherent. Pausanias 10.24.7. Lucian
Bis.Acc.1.
John Chrysostom
The Homilies on the First Epistle to the Corinthians
29.1.

35
. Pl.
Phdr.
244A–245C, 265A–B. See Amandry 1950: 41–56, Flacelière 1961: 50, Fontenrose 1978: 204. “Intelligible and satisfying”: Parke and Wormell 1956a: 22.

36
. Homolle, director of the original excavations at Delphi 1892–1901, is quoted as saying in 1894, “the temple, on which so much hope had rested, has been a great deception”: Broad 2006: 87.

37
. Oppé 1904.

38
. Price 1985: 139.

39
. Parke and Wormell 1956a: 39. See also Dodds 1951: 70, Lloyd-Jones 1976.

40
. E.g., Maurizio 1995.

41
. Dempsey 1918.

42
. Holland 1933.

43
. The stone block: Bourguet 1914: 249, Parke and Wormell 1956a: 29. It was recently used as the center of an “oracle-consultation” scene in the movie
Driving Aphrodite
/
Life in Ruins
. It has, over time, been recognized as carrying the tomb of Dionysus, as the base for the tripod, and as having nothing at all to do with the temple. In reality, it seems to be a stone block originally from the temple that received its curious markings only so it could be made use of as an olive press in the last phase of the ancient settlement at Delphi in the sixth century
AD
: Hansen 2009: 115–20.

44
. For an introduction to the general geology of the landscape at Delphi: Péchoux 1992.

45
. De Boer and Hale 2000, de Boer, Hale, and Chanton 2001, de Boer, Hale, and Spiller 2002. See Broad 2006.

46
. Price 1985: 131. See the discussion in Maass 1997: 1–19.

47
. Respected: Rosenberger 2001: 65–126. Oracles were, as Mary Douglas put it, not “a poor man's whiskey, used for gaining conviviality and courage against daunting odds”: Douglas 1966: 69. Numerous sites: e.g., Parke 1967, Parke 1985, Curnow 2004, Struck 2005, Johnston 2008, Stonemann 2011. For Dodona: Eidinow 2007. For oracles of the dead: Ogden 2001.

48
. Paus. 2.24.1–2. For description of this sanctuary see: Vollgraff 1956.

49
. See Dillery 2005, Flower 2008.

50
. Eidinow 2007: 27.

51
. Xen.
Mem.
1.1.6–9.

52
. Evans-Pritchard 1937. See Whittaker 1965.

53
. See the scorn in later writers about how Croesus had mishandled his interaction with the oracle: Xen.
Cyr.
7.2.17. On Herodotus and Croesus: Herodotus
1.46.2; Crahay 1956, Kindt 2003, Barker 2006, Kindt 2006. See how Herodotus also has Croesus misunderstand happiness as not being solely dependent on material possessions in his meeting with Solon of Athens: Herodotus 1.29–32; Osborne 2009: 204.

54
. Bowden 2005: 22. See also Price 1985: 144. Some examples of personal questions with equal leeway: “is it advantageous for me to sail/farm/go abroad”: Plut.
Mor.
386C.

55
. It provided what has been termed “resistance” for the oracle to any accusation of falsehood: Parker 2000: 78–80.

56
. Plut.
Mor.
407E.

57
. Johnston 2005: 301.

58
. Parker 2000: 78. See Cleomenes in Sparta received an ambiguous oracle about his impending invasion of Argos. Making his own interpretation of it, he decided not to attack. When he was later put on trial in Sparta for his withdrawal, he defended himself by explaining his reasoning, which was determined sufficient to acquit him of all charges: Hdt. 8.77.

59
. Advisor: Xen
Mem.
1.4.15; Hdt. 1.157.3. There is no clear case of disobedience to a specifically solicited oracular responses recorded in the surviving sources: Parker 2000: 76.

CHAPTER 2. BEGINNINGS

1
.
Hom. Hymn Apollo
lines 281–93. For discussion of the
Homeric Hymn to Apollo
, see Parke and Wormell 1956a: 107, Fontenrose 1959: 13, Miller 1986.

2
.
Hom. Hymn Apollo
300–304.