Page 33 of Delphi


  Arist.

  Aristotle

  Ath. Pol.

  Constitution of the Athenians

  Pol.

  Politics

  Rh.

  Rhetoric

  Ath.

  Athenaeus

  Aul. Gell.

  Aulus Gellius

  BaBesch

  Bulletin Antieke Beschaving

  BCH

  Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique

  BICS

  Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies

  Cae.

  Caesar

  B. Civ.

  Bellum Civile (Civil War)

  Callim.

  Callimachus

  Hymn 4

  Hymn to Delos

  Ia.

  Iambi

  C&M

  Classica et Mediaevalia: Revue Danoise de Philologie et d’Histoire

  Cic.

  Cicero

  Div.

  On Divination

  Font.

  For Fonteio

  CID

  Corpus des inscriptions de Delphes

  ClAnt

  Classical Antiquity

  Claud.

  Claudian

  IV Cons. Hon.

  De Quarto Consulatu Honorii Augusti

  Clem. Al.

  Clement of Alexandria

  Protr.

  Protrepticus (Exhortation)

  Cod. Theod.

  Codex Theodosianus

  CPh

  Classical Philology

  CQ

  Classical Quarterly

  CRAI

  Comptes-Rendus des Séances: Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres

  Dem.

  Demosthenes

  Dio Cass.

  Dio Cassius

  Dio Chrys.

  Dio Chrysostom

  Diod. Sic.

  Diodorus Siculus

  Diog. Laert.

  Diogenes Laertius

  Dion. Hal.

  Dionysius of Halicarnassus

  Ant. Rom.

  Antiquitates Romanae (Roman Antiquities)

  Eur.

  Euripides

  Andr.

  Andromache

  IT

  Iphigenia in Tauris

  Phoen.

  Phoenissae

  Euseb.

  Eusebius

  Praep. evang.

  Praeparatio evangelica (Preparation for the Gospel)

  FD

  Fouilles de Delphes

  FGrH

  Fragmente der griechischen Historiker F. Jacoby. Berlin.

  1923–

  G&R

  Greece and Rome

  GRBS

  Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies

  Heliod.

  Heliodorus

  Aeth.

  Aethiopica

  Hes.

  Hesiod

  Theog.

  Theogony

  Hdt.

  Herodotus Histories

  Hom. Hymn Apollo

  Homeric Hymn to Apollo

  Hom. Hymn Hermes

  Homeric Hymn to Hermes

  HSPh

  Harvard Studies in Classical Philology

  IG

  Inscriptiones Graecae

  JDAI

  Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts

  JHS

  Journal of Hellenic Studies

  JRS

  Journal of Roman Studies

  JRGZ

  Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums

  Julian.

  Emperor Julian (the Apostate)

  Gal.

  Against the Galilaeans

  Or.

  Orations

  Just.

  Justinus of Trogus

  Epit.

  Epitome

  Juv.

  Juvenal

  Luc.

  Lucan De Bello Civile (On the Civil War) or Pharsalia

  Lucian

  Lucian

  Bis. Acc.

  Bis Accusatus (The Double Indictment)

  J. Conf.

  Jupiter Confutatus (Jupiter/Zeus cross-examined)

  J. Trag.

  Jupiter Tragoedus (Jupiter/Zeus rants)

  Philopat.

  Philopatris (The Patriot)

  Mart.

  Martial

  MDAI

  Istanbuler Mitteilungen (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut)

  MEFRA

  Mélanges de l’École française de Rome (Antiquité)

  MHR

  Mediterranean Historical Review

  NC

  Numismatic Chronicle

  Origen

  Origen

  C. Cels.

  Contra Celsus (Against Celsus)

  Paus.

  Pausanias Description of Greece

  Philoch.

  Philochorus

  Pind.

  Pindar

  Pyth.

  Pythian Odes

  Nem.

  Nemean Odes

  Pl.

  Plato

  Ap.

  Apology

  Chrm.

  Charmides

  Leg.

  Leges (Laws)

  Phdr.

  Phaedrus

  Resp.

  Respublica (Republic)

  Plin.

  Pliny

  HN

  Naturalis Historia (Natural History)

  Plut.

  Plutarch

  Mor.

  Moralia

  Vit. Aem

  Life of Aemilius Paullus

  Vit. Ant.

  Life of Anthony

  Vit. Demetr.

  Life of Demetrius

  Vit. Flam.

  Life of Flamininus

  Vit. Lyc.

  Life of Lycurgus

  Vit. Marc.

  Life of Marcellus

  Vit. Nic.

  Life of Nicias

  Vit. Num.

  Life of Numa

  Vit. Sol.

  Life of Solon

  Vit. Sull.

  Life of Sulla

  Vit. Them.

  Life of Themistocles

  Vit Thes.

  Life of Theseus

  Vit. Tim.

  Life of Timoleon

  Polyaenus

  Polyaenus

  Strat.

  Strategems

  Polyb.

  Polybius Histories

  Prudent.

  Prudentius

  RA

  Revue Archéologique

  REA

  Revue des Études Anciennes

  REG

  Revue des Études Grecques

  RFIC

  Rivista di Filologia e di Istruzione Classica

  SCI

  Scripta Classica Israelica

  SEG

  Supplementum epigraphicum Graecum

  SGDI

  Sammlung der griechischen Dialektinschriften H. Collitz and Fr. Bechtel. Gottingen. 1899.

  Syll3

  Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum (third edition)

  Simon.

  Simonides

  Soph.

  Sophocles

  OT

  Oedipus Tyrannus (Oedipus the King)

  Stat.

  Statius

  Theb.

  Thebai

  Silv.

  Silvae

  Strabo

  Strabo Geography

  Tac.

  Tacitus

  Ann.

  Annales

  Theopomp.

  Theopompus Historicus

  Thuc.

  Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War

  Val. Max.

  Valerius Maximus

  Varro

  Varro

  Ling.

  De lingua Latina

  Verg.

  Virgil

  Aen.

  Aeneid

  Xen.

  Xenophon

  An.

  Anabas
is

  Ap.

  Apology of Socrates

  Cyr.

  Cyropaedia

  Hell.

  Hellenica

  Mem.

  Memorabilia

  ZPE

  Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik

  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 a
nswer in oral and written form: Eur. Ion 100; Hdt. 1.48; IG II2 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.