Study tour notes for Delphi part one
Jul. 29th, 2012 03:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hawkwing_lbPlease note: much of what follows is cribbed from a colleague.
- The Sanctuary of Apollo on the slopes of Parnassus overlooks a fertile plain. Its remoteness meant it mainly remained neutral territory
- Myth: Zeus sent two eagles out from Olympus in each direction & they met at Delphi, so it became the centre/navel of the world.
-First signs of human habitation of this site date to around 1400 BC, and this Mycenaean site was destroyed in 1200.
-The site remained uninhabited until 800 BC. Aeschylus relates the story that it was originally sacred to Earth (Ge) and Poseidon and that Ge gave her share to Themis, who gave it to Apollo.
- Euripides records the story that Apollo slew a either the serpent Python posted by Earth to guard the oracle and took the site for himself. For this he was forced into an eight year purificatory exile at Tempe.
- Pausanias says that Apollo slew here a violent son of Krius of Euboea and that the name Pytho comes from the verb pythesthai ‘to rot’ since Apollo left his victim here to rot.
- The site was originally known as Pytho (Homeric), lying in the territory of Krisa.
- According to myth the cult of Apollo Delphinios was imported to Krisa from Crete, leading to the introduction of his cult at Pytho. From then on the site became known as Delphoi and Apollo gained the epithet Pythian.
- Finds from the 8th including bronze dedications show that even at this point the fame of Pythian Apollo was rapidly spreading, eg bronze horses from Thessaly, tripods from the Peloponnese and stands from Crete.
- It is not clear when this site became the site of an oracle – the oracle here is said to have played an important part in the colonization of Sicily towards the middle of the 8th century.
- Towards the end of the 7th to two divinities, Athena and Apollo, were given temples of stone with Doric colonnades. The sole remains of both these temples survives in the material reused in the foundations of later buildings.
- It became an important centre for the display of Greek poleis' wealth, with a competitive element
- Site primarily excavated by the French since 1838
History
- Evidence for Neolithic and Mycenaean occupation, with figurines found at the site of the temple of Athena Pronaia, perhaps evidence of cult activity: some suggest it may have even been an oracle by then. There is a Middle Helladic site in modern Itea (ancient Kirrha), a town on the coast.
- More occupation took place in 10th C by settlers from Lykorea on the plateau above the sanctuary
- By 8th C the oracle was in operation. At the same time in Greece there is a large increase in the population & the establishment of newer city states ("colonies") overseas.
- By 6th C the Amphictyony (a federation of 12 Poleis form central Greece) was in operation & a council administered the Sanctuary
- Local city Krisa and its port Kirrha (Itea) levied charges on pilgrims, which led to the First Sacred War in 595-586 BC
- The first Pythian games were held between 591-585 BC while the Sacred War was still going on.
- Its reputation continued to grow internationally. Even the kings of Lydia & Egypt set up treasuries here.
- The temple burnt in 548 BC, and was rebuilt by a wealthy Athenian family, the Alkmaionids. This was expensive. In return for their investment, the Pythia told the Spartans to restore the Athenian democracy.
-During the first Persian invasion 490 BC Delphi was attacked by the Persians & according to Herodotus was defended by Apollo himself.
- After the victories over the Persians at Salamis and Plataea, many Greek states set up commemorative statues at Delphi
- A Phokian invasion in 448 BC led to the Second Sacred War. The Phokians were defeated by the Spartans.
- The 4th C saw little building activity, only the restoration of the temple after the earthquake of 373 BC.
- In 356 BC the Phokians raided the Sanctuary and used the gold to pay their troops, leading to the Third Sacred War
- In 339 BC the Amphissians cultivated part of the Sacred Plain, leading to the Fourth Scared war, which culminated in the battle of Chaironeia and Macedonian hegemony in Greece.
- After the Roman-Syrian War (when the Romans beat the Seleucids), in 189 BC the Aetolians who had controlled the sanctuary since 279 BC made submission to Rome, and Delphi came under the aegis of Rome.
- The sanctuary had rather mixed fortunes under the Romans, being plundered by Sulla and Nero, but benefacted by Domitian and Hadrian.
- Many treasures were carried to Byzantium under Constantine, included the famous Serpent tripod dedicated by the Plataians after the battle of Plataia.
- The oracle outlawed in 391 CE by the Christian Byzantine emperor Theodosius, who issued a decree closing all pagan sanctuaries.
- A Christian Basilica was built inside the temenos in the 5th C CE
We will continue with a description of the sanctuary proper later on today.
Edited Aug 2, 2012
- The Sanctuary of Apollo on the slopes of Parnassus overlooks a fertile plain. Its remoteness meant it mainly remained neutral territory
- Myth: Zeus sent two eagles out from Olympus in each direction & they met at Delphi, so it became the centre/navel of the world.
-First signs of human habitation of this site date to around 1400 BC, and this Mycenaean site was destroyed in 1200.
-The site remained uninhabited until 800 BC. Aeschylus relates the story that it was originally sacred to Earth (Ge) and Poseidon and that Ge gave her share to Themis, who gave it to Apollo.
- Euripides records the story that Apollo slew a either the serpent Python posted by Earth to guard the oracle and took the site for himself. For this he was forced into an eight year purificatory exile at Tempe.
- Pausanias says that Apollo slew here a violent son of Krius of Euboea and that the name Pytho comes from the verb pythesthai ‘to rot’ since Apollo left his victim here to rot.
- The site was originally known as Pytho (Homeric), lying in the territory of Krisa.
- According to myth the cult of Apollo Delphinios was imported to Krisa from Crete, leading to the introduction of his cult at Pytho. From then on the site became known as Delphoi and Apollo gained the epithet Pythian.
- Finds from the 8th including bronze dedications show that even at this point the fame of Pythian Apollo was rapidly spreading, eg bronze horses from Thessaly, tripods from the Peloponnese and stands from Crete.
- It is not clear when this site became the site of an oracle – the oracle here is said to have played an important part in the colonization of Sicily towards the middle of the 8th century.
- Towards the end of the 7th to two divinities, Athena and Apollo, were given temples of stone with Doric colonnades. The sole remains of both these temples survives in the material reused in the foundations of later buildings.
- It became an important centre for the display of Greek poleis' wealth, with a competitive element
- Site primarily excavated by the French since 1838
History
- Evidence for Neolithic and Mycenaean occupation, with figurines found at the site of the temple of Athena Pronaia, perhaps evidence of cult activity: some suggest it may have even been an oracle by then. There is a Middle Helladic site in modern Itea (ancient Kirrha), a town on the coast.
- More occupation took place in 10th C by settlers from Lykorea on the plateau above the sanctuary
- By 8th C the oracle was in operation. At the same time in Greece there is a large increase in the population & the establishment of newer city states ("colonies") overseas.
- By 6th C the Amphictyony (a federation of 12 Poleis form central Greece) was in operation & a council administered the Sanctuary
- Local city Krisa and its port Kirrha (Itea) levied charges on pilgrims, which led to the First Sacred War in 595-586 BC
- The first Pythian games were held between 591-585 BC while the Sacred War was still going on.
- Its reputation continued to grow internationally. Even the kings of Lydia & Egypt set up treasuries here.
- The temple burnt in 548 BC, and was rebuilt by a wealthy Athenian family, the Alkmaionids. This was expensive. In return for their investment, the Pythia told the Spartans to restore the Athenian democracy.
-During the first Persian invasion 490 BC Delphi was attacked by the Persians & according to Herodotus was defended by Apollo himself.
- After the victories over the Persians at Salamis and Plataea, many Greek states set up commemorative statues at Delphi
- A Phokian invasion in 448 BC led to the Second Sacred War. The Phokians were defeated by the Spartans.
- The 4th C saw little building activity, only the restoration of the temple after the earthquake of 373 BC.
- In 356 BC the Phokians raided the Sanctuary and used the gold to pay their troops, leading to the Third Sacred War
- In 339 BC the Amphissians cultivated part of the Sacred Plain, leading to the Fourth Scared war, which culminated in the battle of Chaironeia and Macedonian hegemony in Greece.
- After the Roman-Syrian War (when the Romans beat the Seleucids), in 189 BC the Aetolians who had controlled the sanctuary since 279 BC made submission to Rome, and Delphi came under the aegis of Rome.
- The sanctuary had rather mixed fortunes under the Romans, being plundered by Sulla and Nero, but benefacted by Domitian and Hadrian.
- Many treasures were carried to Byzantium under Constantine, included the famous Serpent tripod dedicated by the Plataians after the battle of Plataia.
- The oracle outlawed in 391 CE by the Christian Byzantine emperor Theodosius, who issued a decree closing all pagan sanctuaries.
- A Christian Basilica was built inside the temenos in the 5th C CE
We will continue with a description of the sanctuary proper later on today.
Edited Aug 2, 2012
