Keywords
Delphi, Oracle, Ancient Greece, Apollo, Mythology, Pythian Games, Political Center, Cultural Significance, Tourism, History
Summary
In this conversation, Monique Skidmore chats with Penny Kolonvotsou about the rich history and cultural significance of Delphi, the ancient Greek city known for its oracle. They explore the mythology surrounding Delphi, its role as a political center, the Pythian Games, and the decline of its importance over time. Penny shares personal anecdotes from her childhood in Delphi and offers insights into the modern-day experience of visiting this UNESCO World Heritage site.
Takeaways
- Delphi was once called Pytho and was considered the center of the world.
- The archaeological zone includes a magnificent temple of Apollo.
- Delphi hosted the Pythian Games and the Theoxynia festival.
- The Oracle of Delphi was a significant political center for dialogue.
- Apollo’s connection to Delphi includes the myth of killing the serpent Python.
- The oracle provided ambiguous guidance, fostering discussion among city-states.
- Delphi’s decline began in the 4th century AD with the rise of Christianity.
- Delphi remains a site of impressive monuments and history.
- Visitors should take time to engage with locals and enjoy the experience.
- Delphi’s lessons on decision-making and community are still relevant today.
Sound Bites
“Delphi was once called Pytho.”
“Apollo killed the serpent Python.”
“Spend more than a day in Delphi.”
Timeline
00:00 – Introduction
01:23 – A Center of Festivals and Games
02:16 – Meet our Expert Guide, Penny
02:56 – The Mythical Origins of Delphi
04:17 – The Oracle of Delphi: Communing With the Gods
06:14 – Delphi as the Political and Diplomatic Center of Ancient Greece
07:55 – The Oracle’s Role in Encouraging Discussion and Debate
09:01 – The Pythian Games and Cultural Events at Delphi
09:45 – The Decline of Delphi
10:16 – The Lasting Legacy of Delphi
11:20 – Highlights of Delphi
11:52 – Advice for Travelers to Delphi
12:24 – Conclusion
Transcript
Introduction (00:00)
Stephen Parker: Welcome to the Take Me to Europe podcast with your host, cultural anthropologist Monique Skidmore.
Monique Skidmore: Today, we’re off to commune with the ancient Oracle of Delphi, a figure that we all heard about as children, but really we didn’t learn a lot about it, and we’d learn even less about the ancient Greek city of Delphi. I’ll be talking with Penny Kolomvotsou, a child of Delphi, who is now an expert tour guide to the history and culture of the ancient city.
We’ll talk about the Oracle, but what you hear might surprise you. Delphi was once called Pytho, and it was considered to be the centre of the world. It’s an exciting place to visit. Like many of the sites of ancient cities, it has a beautiful location—it’s nestled on the slope of Mount Parnassus, and it looks out at mountain ranges and down upon the Pleistos Valley.
And like many of the largest ancient Greek sites, this UNESCO World Heritage Site consists of an archaeological zone next to a small city.
In addition to being the home of the Oracle, the archaeological zone has a magnificent temple of Apollo. Delphi is unlike all of the other major ancient Greek sanctuaries because of the volume of expensive goods that were brought to the site and later uncovered by archaeologists.
A Center of Festivals and Games (01:23)
Monique Skidmore: Delphi was found to have been settled from the late 9th century BCE. Delphi was the site of the Pythian Games. There were once four Pan-Hellenic Games that later became the Olympic Games.
In addition to the Pythian Games, each summer there was a large festival called the Theoxenia. It was a feast and celebration that drew representatives from around the Hellenic world.
So, as you can see, there was more going on at Delphi than simply an Oracle on a mountain in central Greece. So let’s go visit Delphi now and take a tour with Penny Kolomvotsou and find out why Delphi was one of the most important sites in all of ancient Greece.
Meet Our Expert Guide, Penny (02:16)
Monique Skidmore: Penny, I’m so delighted to have you here today. I know that you grew up in Delphi and, unlike most people, you actually got to be Indiana Jones as a child. So what did you do in Delphi as a child?
Penny Kolomvotsou: When I was very little, my aunt, older people, they used to tell me their stories. So what would you do? You’d go down to the basement. You would try to find anything that would have made any connections with the stories told.
Getting to find all this stuff, all these artifacts that would have made the connections, it was like getting to know the story of the people, the place you grew up. So it was fascinating.
Monique Skidmore: Then, when you became a big girl, you studied museum studies and now you show people about the history and heritage of Delphi.
Penny Kolomvotsou: Yeah, because I do believe that there is so much to discuss with people. It’s so rewarding.
The Mythological Origins of Delphi (02:56)
Monique Skidmore: Well, I’d love to get stuck into a bit of mythology of Delphi now, and I know that you’re the right person to ask. So can you tell me what is this about? Eagles, Zeus, Omphalos, eternal flames—what was going on?
Penny Kolomvotsou: In ancient times, the Greeks believed that the Oracle of Delphi was the center of their Greek world. Of course, they had to justify that with Zeus, and this is when they said that Zeus let the eagles fly from the opposite ends of the world, and that’s where they met. Right above Delphi, immediately, Zeus threw the stone from the sky—the Omphalos stone—to mark the exact location where the eagles met.
And I think that was a wise thing to do because, considering how much hate there was and how much they were fighting each other, the Oracle of Delphi gave them the opportunity to come together, make it a common ground, and maybe then behave.
Monique Skidmore: And you told me, I think, that whilst there was an eternal flame everywhere, the initial eternal flame came from Delphi.
Penny Kolomvotsou: That is correct, Monique. It’s the center, it’s the most sacred site in Greece. The eternal flame was burning inside the temple of Apollo.
The Oracle of Delphi: Communing with the Gods (04:17)
Monique Skidmore: What people really know, of course, is that there was an oracle. So can you tell me, please, what was the Oracle of Delphi?
Penny Kolomvotsou: The Oracle of Delphi is Apollo’s home. What makes it even more interesting is that even before Apollo’s time, the same place was the Oracle of Mother Earth. It’s important to remember that Earth was here first, and that is because immediately you make the connection with the serpent Python, that gave the name to the priestesses communicating with Apollo’s spirit or, later on, with the Pythian Games.
Monique Skidmore: So here we get layers of mythology and periods of history—from a Mother Earth to serpents or Pythians, if you like, being slain, and then to Pythian priestesses relaying the words of Apollo to the population. Do I have that right?
Penny Kolomvotsou: Yes, another name for Apollo was Pythios Apollo, so the one who killed the serpent. And it’s very, very interesting because most probably what it means is the rotting serpent, trying to explain the vapours coming out from the ground. It’s fascinating how much we can do with our imagination.
Monique Skidmore: And it is true that many of the earlier reports about why people may have spoken, in sort of speaking in tongues or a sacred sort of language, was attributed to the vapours that came out of the mountain there.
Penny Kolomvotsou: Most probably. Yes, this is what they told us, and maybe that’s the reason why then came Apollo—because we need much more than the vapours.
Delphi as the Political and Diplomatic Center of Ancient Greece (06:14)
Monique Skidmore: And in fact, I think we actually needed more than just an oracle as well, because Delphi—even right now, it’s a little bit off the tourist trail in Greece, but thousands of people come every year.
But way back then, lots of people still came to Greece. They came from not just Greece and the great city-states, but kings and emperors came from neighbouring countries to consult the oracle before any major decision.
So one reading of that, of course, is that people wanted to be given guidance from Apollo. So can you tell me why Delphi became the center of the political world during this period of the rise of the Greek city-states?
Penny Kolomvotsou: When I hear you saying it is a political center, then immediately it makes me aware of the responsibilities humans bear towards themselves.
And why am I telling you this? Because that’s exactly why Apollo and Delphi was called Loxias, and that meant the one who never gave humans direct answers.
My ancestors, our Greek ancestors, used to be very impulsive and very unconventional, so of course they needed Apollo. They needed him for the right directions, but at the same time, an open-ended answer would have created space for them to discuss issues further.
So no city-state would have gone back home and told people, “That’s Apollo’s will.” No, there’s always space for some different interpretation, and that’s exactly what makes it a political center—it creates dialogue.
The Oracle’s Role in Encouraging Discussion and Debate (07:55)
Monique Skidmore: I learned so much when we were talking about this the other day because I hadn’t really understood that if an Oracle told the Spartans to go and create war, and then the Oracle told a different group to go and create war, there wouldn’t have been much of Greece left.
But Delphi became this great meeting place of people who were all sitting around discussing the ambiguities of the advice they’d been given by the Oracle. And I hadn’t quite understood really, the importance of creating this place for dialogue and communication amongst city-states when there wasn’t any sort of overarching government to stop war.
Penny Kolomvotsou: Yeah, you’ve placed it very, very well. For another reason—because immediately you understand that the ancient Greek religion was created by poets like Homer, like Hesiod.
So I’d also add to what you said—creative ambiguity. That’s how I would rephrase it.
Monique Skidmore: It’s beautiful.
Penny Kolomvotsou: It is nice, isn’t it?
Monique Skidmore: Yeah, it’s lovely and creative.
The Pythian Games and Cultural Events at Delphi (09:01)
Monique Skidmore: I guess, too, though, that there were lots of other things that were going on, weren’t there, that this was a place for games, festivals, rituals. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Penny Kolomvotsou: That is correct. I mean, when people come, they do not expect to see a stadium here in Delphi, as impressive as it is.
So they had the athletic competitions in Olympia, but this was because of the Oracle of Delphi having advised them to organize them there. And in Delphi, we had musical, poetical competitions, and that was for Apollo. Later on, they had athletic competitions like in Olympia.
So that’s the reason why we’ve got the theater. These are the Pythian Games. The Pythian Games—in memory of Apollo, having killed the serpent—taking us back to the very origins of the ancient site.
People meeting, not killing each other, but making the best out of themselves in an artistic way as well.
The Decline of Delphi (09:45)
Monique Skidmore: So what happened to Delphi and when did it stop being an important site?
Penny Kolomvotsou: The simple answer is that in the 4th century AD, the emperor Theodosius – he decided not to leave space for any other older religion but Christianity.
There was no space left for the ancient religions, no good understanding anymore. The games had no place in what was happening back then. So this is the simple answer to the question—what made it decline?
The Lasting Legacy of Delphi (10:16)
Monique Skidmore: You know, as you said, it was a long time ago and the passage of history has changed the site, but I think it’s hard to find another place like Delphi.
And I think that’s because maybe it existed just at that moment when the Greek city-states needed to be able to come together in trade and commerce and intermarriage and all of those other things that anthropologists talk about, without killing each other.
What do you think? Do you think there’s a parallel with Delphi?
Penny Kolomvotsou: In modern times? I don’t think I can find any parallel to Delphi, because these are practical issues to discuss but at the same time very, very spiritual.
So I think that Delphi is in everybody’s heart. Really, it’s always about the desire to know the future, but at the same time, we have to appreciate what we learned from Delphi—know thyself, don’t go to the extremes.
Highlights of Delphi (11.20)
Monique Skidmore: Well, that’s a pretty powerful thing to take away from an ancient site, isn’t it? Yes, there are a lot of remaining impressive monuments at Delphi, many more than at many of the great sites in ancient Greece.
Penny Kolomvotsou: So you get to see the temple, you get to see the theater, you see the stadium, you see the lower side where Athena was worshipped, and the Rotunda building, the gymnasium.
You see the Treasury of the Athenians, the fountain where they purified themselves, where we always drink water before entering the site.
Advice for Travelers to Delphi (11:52)
Monique Skidmore: What’s your one piece of advice you can give travellers to Delphi?
Penny Kolomvotsou: Spend more than a day, walk up and down the ancient trails, mix with the locals, drink and eat with them, start a conversation with them, let them tell you their Indiana Jones story.
Listen to people trying to speak Greek, and allow yourself time to enjoy the light, breathe in, breathe out, and then you do realise, here in Delphi, how lucky we are to be alive.
Conclusion (12:24)
Monique Skidmore: You are lucky to be a Delphinian, Penny, and we are lucky to have had you here today. Thank you very much for your time.
Penny Kolomvotsou: Thank you, Monique, and hope I see all of you in Delphi someday.
Monique Skidmore: So that’s what really happened at Delphi and why Oracles speak, if not with forked tongues, at least with a high degree of ambiguity.
Stephen Parker: Thanks for listening to this episode of Take Me to Europe podcast. Hop onto our website, takemetoeuropetours.com, and sign up to our newsletter to learn more about Europe’s hidden and most exciting destinations, and don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast series.
