Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, the Phaedriades (Φαιδριάδες, meaning "the shining ones") are the pair of cliffs, ''ca'' 700 m high on the lower southern slope of Mt.

Parnassos Mount Parnassus (; , ''Parnassós'') is a mountain range of central Greece that is, and historically has been, especially valuable to the Greek nation and the earlier Greek city-states for many reasons. In peace, it offers scenic views of the c ...

, which rise above the sacred site of

Delphi Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), was an ancient sacred precinct and the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient Classical antiquity, classical world. The A ...

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

and Pausanias all mentioned the Phaedriades when describing the site, a narrow valley of the

Pleistos The Pleistos (, , ) 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 topograp ...

(today Xeropotamos) formed by Parnassos and

Mount Cirphis Cirphis or Kirphis or Kirfis (, ) is a mountain in Greece north of the Bay of Antikyra in the Gulf of Corinth. It is separated from Mount Parnassus by the valley of the Pleistos. In antiquity, it was reckoned as part of the district of Phocis ...

. Between them rises the Castalian Spring. Even nowadays, at noontime, the rock surfaces reflect a dazzling glare.

Geology

The Phaedriades consist of dark limestone formed in the

Jurassic period The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 143.1 Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the second and m ...

Historical narrations

Herodotus mentions that during the

Persian invasion of Greece The Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the Persian Wars) were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire and Polis, Greek city-states that started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC. The collision between the fractious political world ...

in 480 B.C. Apollo sent an oracle to the priests of Delphi saying that he would defend his sacred site himself. The priests thus refused the offer of the Athenians to help. Indeed, as the Persian army approached, thunderbolts fell from the sky and killed several of the enemy. Defensive weapons appeared magically in front of the temple of Apollo and of that of Athena Pronaia. Finally, as the Persians reached the Phaedriades, boulders cleaved from the cliffs and, without hitting the monuments and the sacred site, fell on the Persians and crushed them. Herodotus mentions that in his day, one could see these rocks embedded in the ground within the sacred precinct of Athena Pronaia. It is also claimed that in antiquity, those who committed sacrilege against the sanctuary were thrown from the cliffs.

References

External links

Delphi Cliffs of Europe Landforms of Phocis Limestone formations {{CentralGreece-geo-stub