Every year in the month of August, for the anniversary
of the liberation of Priene following the victory of
the Greeks over the Persians in Micale in 479 BC. C,
celebrations took place in honor of Apollo at the
temple of Delphi.
The city, located on the slopes of Parnassus and then
considered the center of the world, was known
throughout Greece for the presence of the Oracle,
located near three sources, of which the main one was
called Castalia, and a deep crack in the rock. From
this fissur...(+)
Every year in the month of August, for the anniversary
of the liberation of Priene following the victory of
the Greeks over the Persians in Micale in 479 BC. C,
celebrations took place in honor of Apollo at the
temple of Delphi.
The city, located on the slopes of Parnassus and then
considered the center of the world, was known
throughout Greece for the presence of the Oracle,
located near three sources, of which the main one was
called Castalia, and a deep crack in the rock. From
this fissure, during the rituals, inebriating vapors
emanated which involved the visitors, who accessed it
after having presented an offer in cash or in kind.
In front of the chasm, which established the limit
between the sacred area and the one open to the public,
sat on a high seat, in the shade of a laurel, a mostly
elderly priestess wrapped in vestments that made her
almost unrecognizable as a human form (the symbolist
painting that we propose on the title page is not very
reliable in this regard). She, named the Pythia, after
having listened to the questions that the faithful
asked her, replied with obscure and enigmatic sentences
that were intended to put the questioner in contact
with her unconscious, finding the answer within
herself.
A scribe, present at the rite, noted down the Pythia's
words and, after translating them into a couplet,
transcribed them on parchment which he gave to the
faithful in exchange for a further donation. Generally
those who had been to the temple of Delphi always
carried that written response with them, considered as
a precious talisman of divine origin.
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