DELPHI (Gk. AEXcpoi. De/phoi). An nneiew town of Iliad:, Greece. eelebrated for its oracle of Apollo. It was situated about eight miles r. rr. f indentation in the northern -1.4.ne of t. t . ru II 1 III ...lit. In the llom•rie mums it is ; tilt.. It on the utht n1 slope \bona tt here above the -is up and the rise 'he twin tints .1 tin Piccdriaffie. Tin." are "pa 1.itt.,1 nnly by a cha-an. t. m %thick hones th/ %alum', fountain of t as temple, theatre, and stadium .ere situtted at the foot of the We,tel'il d •tbout thtm the town must have gathered, though the gvuunnnasium and a sanetuary of the Delmv the terrace mi thick the town lay, the lalid ,lope- abruptly to the led of the brook. The natural surroundings r, full of wild grandeur: front Under:1'01111d ear .111- streamed void vapors,and the region wit-.
to violtut from Under these circumstances. the place seems early to have become the seat of a worship of the earth-shaker. Poseidon. and the earth-mother, Somewhat later. but still at a very early date, the worship of Apollo was introduced. and took the place it these cult-. Apollo was a pre p, etje god. and Delphi Imeame the seat of an ratio, which soon attained great fame. At first the responses seem to have given from the rustlings of the laurel, as at liodona from ill. 1 a k • but la ter, prolmbly with the 1'1111(.41mi ion of the worship of 1)iollysiet, the orgiastic propli appears. The l'yt hia, a woman leer fifty years 41.1. ;titer drinking from the holy spring, and chewing laurel-leaves. took her seat upon a „ grmind, was li,ved to issue in intoxicating vapor. Iler t. were taken down and put into hewn . tors by poets attached to the temple. During I le greatest prosperity of the oracle three ‘‘ omen relieved one another in this exhausting task. ‘t the head 1if the temple service stood two rie-ts. holding (Alive for life, and seemingly in charge of oracle. The oracle was ly States and kings in matters of national pol icy. and also by private persons on all manner .1 personal matters, such as voyages, business s•ntures. marriages, and other details of daily life. Its faille brought it great wealth and splendid among which those of •)esus nd I:clon of "jyraense were especially famous. In the earliest source, the llonterie hymn to .\ Itelphi appears in dependent,. Upon the lit' of crisa. near the l'o•inthian tlnitll controlled from the set, and throligh the later political history of the place early claim of the l'hoeions to the control the oracle keep. It enrring until the 1 f 19111111 ..f Ilaeedon. The power Ilf '1'1,1 led ‘1.1 11 e first saer.41 ar. in whirl. the nil' I 1111M it I of •herniopyl.e lint .• a guardian of the or wk. In ti.r. :;‘,” fell. and the tin-I I the BIIhao oat. es oceurnd; in Kr, I he f 4rt was ...num.f, the harbor tilled up. and the ? hole pl in placed ands r .1 curse. tio tlris oeca st• c,i.bration ..f the gam.- occurred.
nd fro, this time th41, w. re celebrated every n the -tore It mph'. said lii 1,1N, I ..11 Mu- and ;111.1 1111 psi, at "nee eolly•ted Hs l'..11) .111 1111.1 • ven front for . Ion f. r rec. rnet ion. The work way
rtals,n I,‘ i t., \I. tn... II %%11• Ili II • it Tonn• lov• ing Parian marble f the east front. Some fragments 411 scalpinre f11111111 bt t he Vrellell to belong 141 this building. Dining the Persian wars tin oracle showed it pro-Persian spirit. though later tile priests declared that natural aid had turned to flight a Persian plun dering e In late of prophecies of defeat, Delphi richly rewarded by the (:reeks from the Persian homy. During the fifth cen tury Delphi Ma, adorned by the t:reek state, with to contain their offerings. as well a, %%ill) many works of art commemorative of victories mer their enemies. About lac. 373 the temple sii•ered severely. and once more eol• oert• finite(' from the (4(.0; fur its restoration. which not seem to have been eianpieted till HA 3'2S. Before that time, how (qt.., an attempt of the Plmeians reassert their control of the oracle led to the Third Sacred \Vat. (ha.. whi•li ended in the triumph of Philip II. of \lacedon n.c. 300 Delphi Tutut he power of the .Etolian League, and when. arse. -278, the IIallie invasion was repelled. we hear onee more of the super natural powers that drove back the robbers from the Temple of Apollo.
Diming the years that followed Delphi seems to have lost much of its old importanee, though the show that offerings were :still made there, and honors besnmed on benefactors of the eonnininity. Crider the Romans it (al io:V(11 only spasmodic. prosperity. One Pythia sufficed for the inquirers of the oracle, and while some ..1 the emperors endeavored to re• store some of the fallen splendor. others found in the mass of statues and works of art a con venient source for the Iletilrat 1011 of the capital. Nero is said to have carried (or .100 statues, %%dill.. Constantine. along with inati3 other treas ures. removed to Constantinople the serpent col unut had formed part of the offering after Platwa, itml still bears the names of those tireek States which fought against the Persians. Later Delphi became the site of a Christian church, but the ruins finally vanished, and until 1:Sle.°. the site was occupied by the village of In that year the Preneli School at Athens, under the direction of llontolle, began c\cavation,, which have resulted in laying bane the entire sacred precinct. including ninny treasuries and other buildings. as well as the altar. temple, theatre, and stadium. The inscriptions found number over Wally of them documents of importance for history of Ilreeve. The sculpture also has thrown much light upon the history of art during the later sixth and early fifth 14..c., while it seems almost certain that in a marble statue we have a copy of a bronze by the great Lysipptis. The reports of the-e excavations are to be found in the /tall, dr I'fIrl"/ rhoohut.
\VII. el 'eq. Park. I:03. it -4.0, and the rotai•t, wfuR de r t cod, ln.scriptinnA t Bell, x Li t r, ‘: I Paris, et Consult also: llominsett. ft. fidliku I Leipzig. IS78.
Pon tow. ll• it 1.,nt 1 i0l : and Diller von (:aertritwen and in R11111 't‘ fee /lb 11e//k11//0 /die tt I I ( nsrhu f t, vol. iv. Istuttgart. frill t.