Delphi
09 July 2014
Virginia and Dennis Johns
Wed July 9 Weather forecasts were for mild conditions and our anchor had held firm the previous night in which we saw 25 knots, so we left the boat at anchor in the bay at Galaxidi while we made a day trip to the ancient site of Delphi. A couple on Chance Encounter we had met in a previous marina offered to give us a ride to Delphi but as they were meeting relatives there, they could not bring us back. Rather than chance not being in sync with the bus schedule we decided to take the bus both ways. We dinghied ashore at 0630 to catch the 0700 local bus at the town square. The smells coming from the bakery in the square were too much to resist and since we had been told that the bus wouldn't be coming until closer to 0730 we had time to indulge. It was a short walk to the site of Delphi from where the bus dropped us. It was a warm day, but we were prepared with our hats and water and we were glad we had taken the earliest bus to the site. The site was a bit spread out and was built on a hill, so there was some uphill walking involved, but there were trees providing shade in spots which made it pleasant. It is a beautiful area on the side of Mt. Parnossos.
Paraphrasing Wikipedia and our cruising guide - the site of Delphi was believed to be determined by Zeus when he sought to find the center of his "Grandmother Earth" (Gaia). He sent two eagles flying from the eastern and western extremities, and the path of the eagles crossed over Delphi where the navel of Gaia (the earth) was found.
It is home to the Delphic oracle which was famous throughout Greece. Early on, an oracle priestess was a young, virgin woman who responded to inquiries after placing herself in a trance by breathing the fumes of a volcanic vent. Because visiting men to Delphi often made off with the priestess, they soon required the priestess to be over the age of fifty. It is said that interpretations were vague and often obscene, but had the reputation of being more truthful than elsewhere. Apollo, Dionysus, and Athena are the gods associated with Delphi. It is thought the main temple was built over the volcanic vent but as the vent is no longer producing fumes, its location cannot be confirmed.
Apollo's sacred precinct in Delphi was a panhellenic sanctuary, where every four years, starting in 586 BC athletes from all over the Greek world competed in the Pythian Games, one of the four panhellenic games, precursors of the Modern Olympics. Delphi was set apart from the other games sites because it hosted the mousikos agon, musical competitions. These Pythian Games rank second among the four stephanitic games chronologically and based on importance. These games, though, were different from the games at Olympia in that they were not of such vast importance to the city of Delphi as the games at Olympia were to the area surrounding Olympia. Delphi would have been a renowned city whether or not it hosted these games; it had other attractions that led to it being labeled the "omphalos" (navel) of the earth, in other words, the center of the world. Of course the stadium where the games were held was at the very top of the hill, so you wouldn't want to be late to your event and not have a chance to rest from the climb up the hill.
In the inner hestia ("hearth") of the Temple of Apollo, an eternal flame burned. After the battle of Plataea, the Greek cities extinguished their fires and brought new fire from the hearth of Greece, at Delphi; in the foundation stories of several Greek colonies, the founding colonists were first dedicated at Delphi.
The French School began excavating the site in 1892 and have continued to do much of the work. There is a good museum on site which houses most of the important finds. It was nice to be able to see the items right after viewing the site. Many other ruins we have visited in Greece have their artifacts stored a distance away, such as in the National Museum in Athens. As we headed back to the bus stop for the return ride, we had a chance encounter with the couple from Chance Encounter. We exchanged details of our day and provided them with hints to organize their day at Delphi.
On the bus ride back to Galaxidi, we had to transfer to another bus in a town at the head of the bay. With a view of the bay while waiting for the bus, we could tell from the whitecaps that the weather was not as mild as the forecast had described. All the way back we were fighting visions of our boat dragging into the middle of the bay. Not until the dinghy rounded the point of the marina could we stop worrying as we discovered Libertad nicely weathering the increased blow. Out of the protection of the marina, in the dinghy we did not fare as well. We were both quite soaked by the time we reached the boat.