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The Tholos Temple, Sanctuary of Athena Pronaia, Delphi
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One hundred miles northwest of Athens, soaring high above
the Gulf of Corinth, stands the holy mountain called Parnassus. Nestled
amidst the pine forested slopes and rocky crags of the sacred peak are the
beautiful and exceptionally well-preserved ruins of Delphi. A city of
wondrous artistic achievements and grand athletic spectacles during the
flowering of Greek culture in the first millennium BC, Delphi is best known,
however, as the supreme oracle site of the ancient Mediterranean world.
 According
to the earliest legends the site was originally a sacred place of the earth
goddess Gaia (also called Ge) and was guarded by her daughter, the serpent
Python. Later legends state that the site was the center of the world as
determined by the god Zeus. Two eagles (or ravens) had been released by Zeus
from opposite ends of the earth and following great flights across the skies
they finally met at Delphi. A still later legend relates that Apollo, the
son of Zeus, came from his home atop Mt. Olympus to Mt. Parnassus to slay
the great serpent Python. Fleeing from the peak Python sought safety in the
sanctuary of the Earth Mother at Delphi. Apollo relentlessly pursued Python,
however, and violently claimed the site. Later repenting of his crime,
Apollo purified himself (on the island of Crete) and, returning to Delphi,
persuaded Pan (the goat-god of wild places and evocative music) to reveal to
him the art of prophecy. Upon the site of his battle, Apollo erected his own
oracular temple and, at the exact place where he had 'speared' the serpent,
an omphalos stone was set in the ground.
This omphalos stone (meaning 'center of the earth' to the ancient Greeks)
later became the center of the inner sanctum of the shrine of the Delphic
oracle. The site was originally called Pytho, after the guardian serpent. It
was renamed Delphi after the dolphin (delphis in Greek) whose form Apollo
took in order to bring Cretan sailors to Delphi so that they might become
priests in his new temple. Regarding the omphalos, one legend tells that the
original stone, now lost, was a large meteorite fallen from the sky in
deepest antiquity, while another legend says it was the first physical
object to emerge on dry land after the waters of the Deluge had settled. The
omphalos stone currently on display in the Delphi museum, while very old and
indeed from Delphi, is thus not the original sacred stone. It is interesting
to inspect this exhibited stone however, for its conical form and sculptural
designs derive from the old pillar and tree worship of the prehistoric
goddess cults.
Archaeologically (as contrasted to the mythological discussion above) we
know but little about the early beginnings of Delphi. Excavations have
revealed the site was a Mycenean village from 1500 to 1100 BC, during which
time the primary religious emphasis was on an oracular cult of the Earth
Goddess. Around 1000 BC the worship of Apollo became dominant when this new
god was brought to the region by either Dorians from Crete or northern
tribes from Thessaly. The oracular use of the site continued during Apollo's
occupation and, through the endeavors of politically astute priests, Delphi
achieved Panhellenic fame as a major oracle shrine by the 7th century BC.
Women, who were considered more sensitive than men to the oracular powers of
the site, would first bathe in the waters of the nearby sacred Castalian
spring (said to have been created when the winged-horse Pegasus struck the
ground with his hoof, and to be favored by the Muses). Next they would drink
from the sacred Kassotis spring, inhale the fumes of burning laurel leaves
and finally, sitting in meditation near the omphalos stone, would enter into
a visionary trance state. Many archaic accounts of Delphi relate that the
oracular priestesses, known as Pythia, sat upon a chair situated over a
fissure in the earth from which emanated trance-inducing vapors. Plutarch, a
Greek philosopher who served as a priest at Delphi, and Strabo, an ancient
geographer had each told of geologic fumes, known as pneuma, that inspired
divine frenzies, with Plutarch noting that the gases had a sweet smell.
Until recently this matter was considered to be a fabrication from
post-Delphic times. French archaeologists began excavating the ruins in
1892, digging down to the temple's foundations, but no evidence of a fissure
or fumes was found. By 1904, a visiting English scholar, A. P. Oppé,
declared that ancient beliefs in temple fumes were the result of myth,
mistake or fraud. The Oxford Classical Dictionary in 1948 voiced the
prevailing view: "Excavation has rendered improbable the postclassical
theory of a chasm with mephitic vapours."
During the late 1990's however, a geologist, an archaeologist, a chemist and
a toxicologist teamed up to produce a wealth of evidence suggesting that the
ancient legends had in fact been accurate. The region's underlying rocks
turn out to be composed of oily limestone fractured by two hidden faults
that cross exactly under the ruined temple, creating a path by which
petrochemical fumes (methane, ethane and ethylene) could rise to the surface
to help induce visions. In particular, the scientists found that the women
communing with the oracle probably came under the influence of ethylene - a
sweet-smelling but psychoactively potent gas once used as an anesthetic. In
light doses, ethylene produces feelings of disembodied euphoria and
visionary insight.
Questions regarding the future would be asked of the oracular priestesses.
The answers, interpreted by male priests and then spoken in verse, proved so
accurate that the Delphic oracle came to exercise enormous political and
social influence in the Greek empire for nearly a thousand years. Historical
sources indicate that the Delphic oracle was open only one day per month
during the nine months of the year when Apollo was considered to be resident
at the site. For a variety of reasons the Delphic oracle was in decline by
the 1st century AD and the last recorded oracle was in 362 AD. The Christian
emperor Theodosius officially closed the vast temple in 393 AD, thereby
signaling the end of the ancient tradition of Greek oracles and the
ascendancy of the new god of Christianity. Delphi was abandoned to the
elements and gradually fell into ruins.
Peering through the veils of legend and myth we may discern at Delphi the
story of an ancient goddess site being later taken over by a culture whose
primary deity was a male god. The 'spearing' of the serpent may be
interpreted as the marking of the energy beam point (a small area of
concentrated energy at a power place) with a spear of stone and also the
symbol of the masculine usurpation of a feminine deity shrine. The omphalos
stone, and the earlier marker stone it replaced, were used to gather,
concentrate and emanate the energies of the power place for the benefit of
the local people. From earliest times the particular energy of the site, as
well as the chemical vapors rising from deep within the earth, had been
recognized to induce prophetic visions in people and as a consequence a
quasi-religious cult had developed over time.
The photograph shows remains of the Tholos temple at the Sanctuary of Athena
Pronaia, with sacred Mt. Parnassus in the background. Located roughly
one-half mile from the main concentration of buildings at Delphi, Athena
Pronaia was the gateway to Delphi. The site, having been occupied since the
Neolithic Period (5000-3000 BC) and later by the Myceneans, may actually
predate Delphi as a sacred place. Originally dedicated to the worship of an
Earth Goddess, the shrine was eventually occupied by Olympian deities,
Athena in particular. A guardian of wisdom and spiritual consciousness,
Athena continued the ancient veneration of the feminine principle and
brought devotion to the Earth Mother into the Classical Age of Greece. The
Tholos temple, built in the early 4th century BC, has an unusual circular
shape. This shape, and the leaf-adorned capitals of its Corinthian columns
are a representation of the sacred forest groves of the old Earth Goddess
religion. Writing in The Earth, The Temple, and The Gods, Vincent Skully
comments that "The omphalos, or navel, which was supposed to mark the center
of the world, was kept in the sanctuary of Apollo's temple itself (in the
center of nearby Delphi), but the Tholos of Athena's sanctuary more clearly
seems to evoke the navel of the earth than does any other building there."
Mt. Parnassus, in addition to its other mythological associations, holds a
similar position in Greek legends as Mt. Ararat holds in the Old Testament.
After the waters of a great flood receded, an ark-like boat carrying
Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha landed on Mt. Parnassus. High upon the
mountain, Deucalion sought advice from Themis, the resident earth goddess,
regarding how to repopulate the earth with humans. Themis instructed
Deucalion and Pyrrha to throw rocks over their shoulder, these being the
"bones" of the Earth Mother, and that the stones would be transformed into
the first human beings. Themis (who was another daughter of Gaia, by Uranus)
also figures in an alternate legend of the Delphic oracle. In this account,
Themis succeeded Gaia as the guardian of sacred Mt. Parnassus and later
instructed Apollo in the arts of prophecy. In these myths, Apollo does not
kill the serpent Python, but rather an evil dragoness known as Delphyne.
Python then becomes the guardian of Apollo's oracular temple, while Themis
continues to reside upon Mt. Parnassus. Mt. Parnassus is also the legendary
home of the Muses (three or nine in number according to different legends),
these being divine singers and musicians whose music enchanted the gods. The
association of the Muses with the mountain has made it a source of poetic
inspiration and the favored pilgrimage destination of poets.
Further adding to the mystery of Delphi are the studies of ancient mysteries
researchers, Paul Broadhurst and Hamish Miller. Following their exploration
and mapping of alignments of sacred sites along the so-called St. Michael
and Mary lines in southern England (chronicled in their book The Sun and the
Serpent), Broadhurst and Miller spent ten years studying another alignment
that passes through the temple of Delphi. Beginning at Skellig Michael in
Ireland, the remarkable alignment stretches 2500 miles, passing through
numerous ancient holy sites in Cornwall, France, Italy, Greece and Israel.
Readers interested in learning more about this alignment of sacred sites and
its fascinating relationship to the oracular temple of Delphi will enjoy The
Dance of the Dragon by Broadhurst and Miller. |
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