Delphi (46 page)

Ultimately, it is in large part because Delphi continues to matter today that it is so important for us to continue to engage with the re­ ality of ancient Delphi and attempt to understand how it came to have the reputation it does, a process I hope this book has contributed to, but which is by no means yet complete. And, in doing so, for me, what Delphi offers is, as a result, more than just an extraordinary story of suc­ cess and survival. Scholars have argued that because Greece was never a dominant influence in the way Rome and Christianity have been, it has instead always been available to be used as a means of questioning the current values of society.
⁶
For me, there is no more perfect example than Delphi of Greece's role in keeping the ground insecure beneath our feet. It was a place in the ancient world that forced much of Mediterranean society to question its assumptions, interpretations, and identities (as the chapter epigraph from Xenophon's writings epitomizes). Just so, in the modern world, the unraveling story of Delphi's ancient reality forces us to question continually our own current position, progress, and ex­ pectations. The advice “know thyself” still rings true: Delphi, has, in many ways, never fallen silent.

GUIDE:

A Brief Tour of the Delphi Site and Museum

Here I pick out a few of the highlights of the site and museum at Delphi, which I would recommend you explore during your visit. If you want a full guide to the surviving remains on the site, the museum, and in the surrounding area, I recommend the
Guide de Delphes
vol. 1 (the site) and vol. 2 (the museum), produced by the French Archaeological School in Athens.

THE SITE:

The Approach (
figs. 0.1
,
0.2
): Many today will approach Delphi by bus and be dropped off right outside the Apollo sanctuary. But if you have time, be sure to walk back along the road either toward the modern Delphi town or toward the Athena sanctuary. Go right around the bend till ancient Delphi is out of site, and then walk back. This gives a better sense of what the ancient approach to Delphi must have been like. Marvel as the sanctuary suddenly is revealed from its hiding place in the folds of the Parnassian mountains, and imagine how, when it was full of bronze, silver, gold, ivory, and marble, it must have sparkled in the sunlight and dazzled those arriving here.

The Athena Sanctuary
(
plate 3
): This sanctuary is all too easy to miss and not normally included in the standard tour. But it is well worth
visiting. Take note of how, unlike in the Apollo sanctuary where the temples of Apollo were built one on top of the other, in the Athena sanctuary several temples of Athena seem to have been built side by side. Notice too the enormous rock lying in the middle of the temple at the far end of the sanctuary: this is left over from the rockfall in 1905 that devastated the newly excavated sanctuary and is a bleak reminder of the precarious position of Delphi clinging to the mountainside. Notice, too, how the remaining columns of this temple have been reinforced with walls connecting the columns. The tholos round structure in the Athena sanctuary has become one of the most emblematic images of Delphi and of Greece: yet we do not know for sure what this temple was: it remains one of Delphi's many mysteries.

The Gymnasium
(
fig. 7.3
): Again not often included in the standard tour, but worth visiting especially as it is connected to the Athena sanctuary. Practice a quick running race on the track at the top of the gymnasium and take note of the plunge pool below. It was on the site of the gymnasium that a church was built, which acted as the hostel for some of the first visitors to Delphi from the seventeenth century onward.

The Castalian Spring
(
fig. 0.2
): It is difficult now to access the Castalian spring, as recent rockfalls have made the area unsafe, and the Greek archaeological service in charge of the site has cordoned the area off to visitors. But it was here in these waters that the Pythian priestess bathed on the days of consultation, and still today residents of the area talk of the “good water of Delphi,” which is safe to drink. You can taste some of the Castalian water at the fountain running permanently by the entrance to the Castalian spring.

THE APOLLO SANCTUARY

The Entrance
(
fig. 6.2
): After buying your ticket, the path takes you first to the Roman agora built outside the entrance to the sanctuary of Apollo proper. This agora (which we met in part III of this book) was the focus of much attention in the last centuries of Delphi's ancient existence, and was not only a “market,” but also a place for tradesmen with small workshops, and a place in which Imperial statues were erected.

Walking through the agora, you go up some steps, and it is here that you enter the Apollo sanctuary proper. Notice the huge walls spanning left and right that comprised the boundary of the sanctuary constructed in the sixth century
BC
(see
chapter 5
). You are now at the beginning of the “sacred way”—again an anathema because this zigzag path dates only to the very last phases of Delphi's ancient life, when the path was created to serve the inhabitants living in the sanctuary. But it does connect some of the paths along which the Greeks would have moved through the sanctuary in the archaic, classical, Hellenistic, and Roman periods. Immediately on entering the sanctuary, you are witness to one of the greatest “keeping up with the Joneses” shows the sanctuary has to offer, although sadly little of it remains today. It was here that the Athenians built their statue group in honor of Marathon, and here that the Spartans choose to oppose Athenian domination of the sanctuary by building an even bigger statue group right next to it, as well as a stoa on the opposite side of the path (the huge foundations of which you can still see today). For more detail on this area, see
chapters 6
and
7
.

The Siphnian Treasury
(plate 2,
figs. 5.2
,
5.3
): It's easy in some ways to miss the Siphnian treasury nowadays as you continue up the modern pathway. All that remains are the lowest levels of the building. But this was once the most ornate treasury at Delphi, offered in the sixth century
BC
by the island of Siphnos after it had discovered silver and gold mines on the island. What remains of the fantastic sculpture that decorated this treasury can be seen in the museum at Delphi and is well worth spending some time over (see the Museum section of this guide for its sculpture, and
chapter 5
for more detail on its construction).

The Athenian Treasury
(
fig. 5.4
): Just around the corner from the Siphnian treasury is the rebuilt Athenian treasury. Dedicated after the Athenian victory at the battle of Marathon, this treasury was rebuilt with money from the modern city of Athens in the early twentieth century. Notice how it uses the natural inclination of the hillside to become even more imposing to the visitor: its south wall literally towers over you as you move up toward it. Notice too the remains of the inscription that covered the top level of the triangular plinth in front
of it, alluding to the victory at Marathon (for more details, see
chapters 5
and
6
).

The”Aire”
(
plate 2
): This is easy to walk past as you continue up toward the temple. As you continue along the sacred way path in the area directly opposite the Athenian stoa, you are in an open space known today as the “aire.” Though it does not look it today, it was likely an important space at Delphi, not least because it is pretty much the only space within the Apollo sanctuary that was never built on. Instead, all the monuments around it hug an invisible roughly circular line keeping an open space at their center (the impression today is ruined somewhat by the modern sacred way path going straight through it). It was here, we think, that important parts of many of Delphi's religious festivals took place (see
chapter 10
for more details on religious festivals).

The Chian Altar
(
fig. 1.3
): As you walk up toward the temple, you pass the Chian altar, indeed it is fairly impossible to miss. Not least because of the inscription neatly set to face visitors as they approach the altar from below telling us that the Delphians gave the Chians “promanteia”—the right to consult the oracle first—in return for the Chians' dedicating the altar in the sanctuary in the sixth century (see
chapter 5
). The altar was in part reconstructed following a donation from the modern island of Chios in the twentieth century. As you pass the altar, look out also for the second inscription that runs along the top line of stone on the long side of the altar: another reminder that the Chians made this dedication.

Just before you pass by the Chian altar, you will see lots of stones lined up on your left, and also a series of structures on your right. The ones on your right are the remains of treasuries packed into this area, but you can also see one of the ancient “doorways” through the Apollo sanctuary boundary wall at this level (another indication that the modern sacred way was not the only way in and through this sanctuary). On the left, the neat lines of stones (many of them belonging to the temple of Apollo) were created by the archaeologists when excavating the sanctuary. If you wander through this area, you can peer down at different places to catch glimpses of some of the oldest buildings in the sanctuary
dating to the seventh and early sixth century
BC
(see
chapters 3
and
4
), which have traditionally been associated with the mother goddess Gaia.

The Temple Terrace
(
fig. 1.3
): The temple terrace is awash with monuments. To your right as you emerge up onto the terrace, having gone past the Chian altar, are the remains of many of the monuments associated with celebrating victory in the Persian Wars. If you search for it here, you can find the dark gray block of stone with the incomplete inscription that once belonged to the Salamis Apollo statue: potentially the first surviving inscription to mention the Hellenes, “the Greeks” (see
chapter 6
). Here too are the remains of the foundation of the Plataean serpent column. It was in this area that the last major excavations at Delphi were conducted, excavations that allowed us to understand some of Delphi's earliest history (including the maison noire discussed in
chapters 2
and
3
).

Straight ahead as you emerge onto the temple terrace are the monuments offered by the Sicilian tyrants in the early part of the fifth century
BC
(see
chapter 6
), as well as a number by later Roman dedicators. But most imposing is the temple of Apollo itself with its Corinthian-style ramp leading up to the front entrance of the temple. The temple you see is the one built in the fourth century
BC
(see
chapter 7
) and later restored by numerous Roman emperors. If you walk along the long side of it, you see the northern retaining wall and lots of travertine garnishing the wall (a telltale sign of the unstable geology of the area), which can also be glimpsed by going to the far end of the temple, aligning yourself with its foundation wall, and looking back. You will be able to see a strong bend in the line of the foundation blocks leading away from you that has been caused entirely by seismic activity over the centuries, forcibly buckling the once straight line of the temple's foundations (I thank Professor Iain Stewart who first pointed this out to me).

The Theater
(
plate 2
): Taking the modern stairway (which leads you technically outside the boundary wall of the Apollo sanctuary), you climb to the north terrace of the Apollo sanctuary and reenter through its theater. This stunning piece of construction in such difficult terrain provided a permanent home for Delphi's famed musical contests as part of its Pythian games, and also served as the meeting place for the
assembly of the polis of Delphi in the Roman period. It is also at this level that you get an excellent view of the temple, parts of the lower sanctuary and of the valley below Delphi.

The Stadium
(
fig. 11.2
): It is a fairly long climb up to the stadium but well worth it. Due to recent rockfalls it has been closed off to visitors in recent years, but you can still get a good view of the whole structure by heading to the far end of the stadium and using the natural raised bank to look back at the ensemble. And on the way back, be sure to look out for the inscription set into the walls of the stadium, which describes an important ancient regulation for stadium use: that wine could not be taken out of the stadium (because it was sacred property used as part of the religious rituals undertaken before the athletic competitions).

THE MUSEUM

Outside the Museum
(
fig. 11.3
): Before you take the ramp up to the museum entrance, look for the giant sarcophagus of Meleager, which was one of the earliest finds at Delphi, discovered in the period before the big dig (see
chapter 12
); it stands as testament to the wealth of Delphi in the second century
AD
(see
chapter 11
). The evidence suggests it was reused for an incredible fifteen further burials between the second and fifth centuries
AD
).

The Entrance
(cover): Take a moment to look at Albert Tournaire's extraordinary 1892 drawing of Delphi at its height: it gives you a good sense of the packed nature of the Apollo sanctuary. All the items in the first room link to some of Delphi's earliest history, including the Cretan shields on display and the huge cauldrons (tripods).

Room III
(
figs. 3.1
,
12.5
): Greeting you in this room are the “Argive twins,” often referred to as Cleobis and Biton. We know relatively little about the sculptures apart from the fact they seem to have been made in an Argive style and dedicated at the sanctuary early in the sanctuary's history. But many would like to believe they represent Cleobis and Biton, who helped their mother who in turn prayed to the gods to give them a great blessing, whereupon they died in their sleep. The god's explanation: it was a great blessing to die at the height of their prowess and fame as good sons.