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Delphi
Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), in ancient times was a sacred precinct that served as the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world. The oracle had origins in prehistory and it became international in character and also fostered sentiments of Greek nationality, even though the nation of Greece was centuries away from realization. The ancient Greeks considered the centre of the world to be in Delphi, marked by the stone monument known as the omphalos (navel). The sacred precinct of Ge or Gaia was in the region of Phocis, but its management had been taken away from the Phocians, who were trying to extort money from its visitors, and had been placed in the hands of an amphictyony, or committee of persons chosen mainly from Central Greece. According to the Suda, Delphi took its name from the Delphyne, the she-serpent ('' drakaina'') who lived there and was killed by the god Apoll ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pythia
Pythia (; grc, Πυθία ) was the name of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. She specifically served as its oracle and was known as the Oracle of Delphi. Her title was also historically glossed in English as the Pythoness. The name ''Pythia'' is derived from ''Pytho'', which in myth was the original name of Delphi. Etymologically, the Greeks derived this place name from the verb () "to rot", which refers to the sickly sweet smell from the decomposing body of the monstrous Python after it was slain by Apollo. The Pythia was established at the latest in the 8th century BC, (though some estimates date the shrine to as early as 1400 BC), and was widely credited for her prophecies uttered under divine possession (enthusiasmos) by Apollo. The Pythian priestess emerged pre-eminent by the end of the 7th century BC and continued to be consulted until the late 4th century AD. During this period, the Delphic Oracle was the most prestigious and authoritative oracle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Delphi (modern Town)
The modern town of Delphi ( or ; , ) is situated immediately west of the archaeological site of the same name. The town was created as a home for the population of Castro, which was relocated to allow for the excavation of the site of ancient Delphi. The importance of the twin locations grew to the point where Delphi has also been made the name of the modern-day municipality, which includes the communities of the Plaistos valley system as far south as the Gulf of Corinth. The name Delphi came from the Oracle of Delphi, which was anciently accepted as a purveyor of truth revealed by the god Apollo. Town The twin sites are on Greek National Road 48 linking Amfissa with Livadeia. The town contains extensive facilities supporting the tourist trade at the ancient site. Like the ancient Sacred Precinct, the town preserves a vertical dimension by terracing the streets and buildings. The streets are narrow, and often one-way. The E4 European long distance path passes through the east e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amphictyonic League
In Archaic Greece, an amphictyony ( grc-gre, ἀμφικτυονία, a "league of neighbors"), or amphictyonic league, was an ancient religious association of tribes formed before the rise of the Greek '' poleis''. The six Dorian cities of coastal southwest Anatolia and the twelve Ionian cities to the north that formed the Ionian League after a Meliac war in the mid-7th century BC, were already of considerable antiquity when the first written records emerge. An amphictyony consisting of polities under the aegis of Apollo's shrine at Delos was apparently well-established in the seventh century, as the Homeric Hymn to Delian Apollo of that approximate date lists them, those cities and islands that trembled and refused to offer themselves for the birthplace of Apollo when pregnant Leto went to each in turn; the Homeric hymn presents an origin myth for the cult of Apollo on Delos. The joint Ionian festival celebrated there was the Delia. The Delian Amphictyony arose in the 4t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pleistos
The Pleistos ( el, Πλείστος, grc, Πλεῖστος, la, Pleistus) is a river in central Greece. It drains the Pleistos valley, named after it, a relatively recent rift valley north of the Gulf of Corinth, and parallel to it. They have the same geologic causes. Being situated in karst topography, much of the river runs or seeps through underground channels. The surface stream is intermittent. However, the limestone riverbed reflecting the light gives the appearance of a stream of water. The semi-arid valley floor, too inaccessible for urban development, is eminently suitable for dendriculture. Extensive olive groves, knicknamed the "sea of olives," have been in place since prehistoric times. The floor is flanked by precipitous elevations, notably a scarp on the north side. The primary access road to the valley runs on the side of the north scarp throughout its entire length. Near the lower valley the road intersects the site of ancient Delphi. Oracular temples hav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Omphalos Of Delphi
The Omphalos of Delphi is an ancient marble monument that was found at the archaeological site of Delphi, Greece. According to the Ancient Greek myths regarding the founding of the Delphic Oracle, the god Zeus, in his attempt to locate the center of the earth, launched two eagles from the two ends of the world, and the eagles, starting simultaneously and flying at equal speed, crossed their paths above the area of Delphi, and so was the place where Zeus placed the stone. Since then, Delphi has been considered by Greeks to be the center of the world, the omphalos "navel of the Earth." The original stone is held in the museum of Delphi; there is a simplified copy at the site where it was found. Description The marble-carved stone that constituted the omphalos in the monument with the tripod and the dancers troubled the excavators, because they could not decide if it was the original or a copy from Hellenistic and Roman times. In the 2nd century AD, Pausanias traveled to the a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amfissa
Amfissa ( el, Άμφισσα , also mentioned in classical sources as Amphissa) is a town in Phocis, Greece, part of the municipality of Delphi, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 315.174 km2. It lies on the northern edge of the olive forest of the Crissaean plain, between two mountains, Giona to the west and Parnassus to the east, northwest of Athens and of Delphi, as well as northeast of Naupactus and south of Lamia. Amfissa dates back to antiquity, with its history spanning around 3,000 years, and has been traditionally the largest and capital city of Phocis. It was the most important city of the ancient Greek tribe of the Ozolian Locrians and one of the most powerful cities in Central Greece. In the Middle Ages, Amfissa came to be known as Salona, it declined after several foreign conquests and destructions, but emerged as an important city in the region and played a major role during the Greek War of Independence. Origin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Delphyne
In Greek mythology, Delphyne ( el, Δελφύνη) is the name given, by some accounts, to the monstrous serpent killed by Apollo at Delphi. Although, in Hellenistic and later accounts, the Delphic monster slain by Apollo is usually said to be the male serpent Python, in the earliest known account of this story, the ''Homeric Hymn to Apollo'' (6th century BC), the god kills a nameless she-serpent ('' drakaina''), subsequently called Delphyne. According to the ''Suda'', Delphi was named after Delphyne. Mythology The ''Homeric Hymn'' describes the serpentess as "the bloated, great she-dragon, a fierce monster wont to do great mischief to men upon earth, to men themselves and to their thin-shanked sheep; for she was a very bloody plague", and says that "whosoever met the dragoness, the day of doom would sweep him away". According to the Hymn, she was the foster mother of the snaky monster Typhon, who was given to the dragoness, "an evil to an evil" (''κακῷ κακόν''), by hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oracle
An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination. Description The word ''oracle'' comes from the Latin verb ''ōrāre'', "to speak" and properly refers to the priest or priestess uttering the prediction. In extended use, ''oracle'' may also refer to the ''site of the oracle'', and to the oracular utterances themselves, called ''khrēsmē'' 'tresme' (χρησμοί) in Greek. Oracles were thought to be portals through which the gods spoke directly to people. In this sense, they were different from seers (''manteis'', μάντεις) who interpreted signs sent by the gods through bird signs, animal entrails, and other various methods.Flower, Michael Attyah. ''The Seer in Ancient Greece.'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008. The most important oracles of Greek antiquity were Pythia (priestess to Apo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tholos Of Delphi
The Tholos of Delphi is among the ancient structures of the Sanctuary of Athena Pronaia in Delphi. The circular temple, a tholos, shares the immediate site with other ancient foundations of the Temple of Athena Pronaia, all located less than a mile east of the main ruins at Delphi, in the modern Greek regional unit of Phocis. The tholos is part of the Delphi UNESCO World Heritage Site. Architecture The architect of the "vaulted temple at Delphi" is named by Vitruvius in ''De architectura'' Book VII as Theodorus Phoceus (not Theodorus of Samos, whom Vitruvius names separately). Externally, twenty Doric columns supported a frieze with triglyphs and metopes. The circular wall of the cella, the central chamber of the building, was also crowned by a similar frieze, metopes, and triglyphs, but to a lesser extent. Inside, a stone bench was positioned on which stood ten Corinthian style pilasters, all of them attached to the concave surface of the wall. The manifold combination a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phocis (ancient Region)
Phocis was an ancient region in the central part of Ancient Greece, which included Delphi. A modern administrative unit, also called Phocis, is named after the ancient region, although the modern region is substantially larger than the ancient one. Geopolitically, Phocis was the country of the Phocians, who spoke their own version of Doric Greek, one of the three main dialects of ancient Greek. They were one of several small mountain states of Central Greece, whose dialects are classified as Northwest Doric. It was from their region that the Dorians crossed the Gulf of Corinth at the beginning of the Greek Iron Age to burn Pylos and other southern Greek strongholds and seize control of the Peloponnesus. The dialects of the two groups of Dorians north and south of the Gulf then began to diverge. One of the states around Phocis was still called Doris in classical times. As there is considerable evidence that the invasion began about 1000 BC, the ancestors of the classical Phocia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Python (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Python ( el, Πύθων; ''gen''. Πύθωνος) was the serpent, sometimes represented as a medieval-style dragon, living at the center of the earth, believed by the ancient Greeks to be at Delphi. Mythology Python, sometimes written Pytho, presided at the Delphic oracle, which existed in the cult center for its mother, Gaia, "Earth", Pytho being the place name that was substituted for the earlier ''Krisa''. Greeks considered the site to be the center of the earth, represented by a stone, the '' omphalos'' or navel, which Python guarded. Python became the chthonic enemy of the later Olympian deity Apollo, who slew it and took over Python's former home and oracle. These were the most famous and revered in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. Like many monsters, Python was known as Gaia's son and prophesied as Gaia's son. Therefore, Apollo had to eliminate this opponent before establishing his temple in Delphoi. Versions and interpretations There ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Desfina
Desfina ( el, Δεσφίνα) is a town and a former municipality in the southern part of Phocis, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Delphi, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 148.992 km2. At the 2011 census, its population was 1,988. It is situated on a plateau at 680m elevation, 5 km from the Corinthian Gulf. It is 7 km southeast of Delphi, 9 km east of Itea and 30 km west of Livadeia. History Ruins near Desfina have been identified as those of the ancient towns Echedameia ( grc, Ἐχεδάμεια) and Medeon (Μεδεών). Both towns were destroyed by King Philip II of Macedon around 355-346 BC during the Third Sacred War and were never rebuilt. 4 km to the east, the Late Mycenaean ruins of Kastrouli have been equated with Homeric Anemoreia (Ἀνεμώρεια). One of the most important rebels of the Greek revolution, Bishop Isaias of Salona, fought for the liber ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
