Episode 3 - The Oracle of Delphi

You have come a long way, with great purpose.

Your journey crossed land and sea, and carried you to the outskirts of a city.

Resting just outside the city is the large, beautiful temple to

Apollo, god of the sun.

God of music, of healing, of poetry.

And… the god of prophecy.

There is a line of supplicants there.

Waiting, hoping, praying, that the members of the temple will see fit to accept their query.

You join the line, and wait, your question burning in your mind.

Welcome, listeners, to a story that will carry us back to the eighth century BC, in Ancient Greece. To a place full of mysticism and divinity. A holy place to Apollo. The story of The Pythia, high priestess of Apollo.

Better known as the Oracle of Delphi.

I am Andrew Eagle. And I invite you to join me as I pass Through the Veil.

The Pythia was the name given to the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.

She served official purposes, but holiest and most important among them was fulfilling her role as the Oracle of Delphi.

The role of The Pythia came into existence sometime before the Eighth century BC,

And by the end of the seventh century BC the Oracle of Delphi had become the pre-eminent oracle in all of Greece.

And she would be consulted by the people of Greece for the next thousand years.

Only fading out of use in the 4th century AD.

Whenever a Pythia died, a new Pythia was chosen from among the priestesses of the temple.

If a chosen woman was married, or had a family, she would relinquish all familial ties and duties.

And devote herself fully to the duties of the role of Pythia.

Although tradition dictated that the most important factor of selecting a Pythia was morals, they tended to be women from high-class families who were educated and well-read.

You wait a long while in Delphi. Each day returning to the temple to pose your question.

Each day, you are told that it is not yet your time.

Until, one day just like any other, the priest does not turn you away.

You have offered enough sacrifice, and shown enough devotion.

He leads you into another chamber, a small room, and introduces you to one of the head priests of the temple.

The head priest will interview you about your query. To determine if your case and cause is genuine.

Your request will be weighed, and if it is found worthy, it will be brought before the Oracle.

There are many stories about how the office of the Oracle came to be.

Related by many Greek writers and thinkers over time, and assessed by scholars to this day, it remains unclear how exactly this temple gained the importance it held.

One story of its origin describes its discovery by a goat herder, Coretas.

He noticed, one day, that a goat of his which had fallen into a large crack in the earth was behaving strangely.

He entered the cavern and later would describe the experience as being filled with a divine presence.

He claimed that he could see outside of time, gazing backward and forward through events.

Coretas returned to his village, sharing the knowledge of the chasm and a shrine was erected at the site as early as 1600 BC.

Eventually, the town chose a single, young woman, to be the spokesperson for the gods at the site.

That shrine grew and grew and would eventually become the temple that would house the Oracle.

As difficult as it is to gain an audience with the Oracle, your request has been accepted.

You have gone through a series of rituals with the help of the priests.

The rituals define the words you may use, and the framework of your request.

One is used to define the gifts that you will offer to the Oracle, and the method of presentation.

Until finally, the last ritual, a journey along the Sacred Way carrying a bundle of laurel leaves.

The path ends at the temple, and a visit with the Oracle.

As you walk, carrying the leaves, with servants and priests carrying the remainder of your offerings,

You let yourself settle into a meditative state. You prepare your mind as the priests described, with the goal of receiving the message of the Oracle clearly.

When you arrive at the temple, the doors are opened slowly by two priests and you are led into the chamber of the Oracle to pose your question, and receive your answer.

Over time, there have been many possible explanations offered as to what granted the Oracle her abilities of prophecy.

The most common explanation offered is based on writings from one of the head priests of the temple, Plutarch.

Plutarch posited that the Oracle’s abilities were associated to vapors that rose from the spring waters that flowed under the temple.

The spring, in an area heavy with seismic and geologic activities, could have produced vapors with hallucinogenic properties.

Another theory is that these famed vapors that provided the divine spirit to the Oracle were not from the spring’s waters.

Instead, they were produced by burning the leaves and flowers of oleander in a secret underground chamber beneath the Oracle’s chambers.

The fumes of oleander are toxic and produce symptoms similar to epilepsy including inducing seizures.

This theory earned some weight with the discovery, during archaeological excavations, of an underground space beneath the central temple.

Still, other theories hold about how the Oracle was imbued with the so-called Spirit of Apollo.

Some people believe that nothing at all was happening, and it was an elaborate hoax by the temple performed to cause more people to offer greater and greater sacrifices and more and more influence to the temple.

The chamber is wide and filled with a thick smoke. The smell is terrible. A sickly sweet combination of rotten-egg and apricot.

The old woman within is the Pythia. She enters, wearing the traditional white shawl and purple veil.

After she enters, a black ram is led in by two of the priests.

It is a sacrifice, provided as part of the rituals you have completed.

With its sacrifice, Apollo’s spirit will enter the Oracle and she will provide prophecy.

The priests set up a strange device in the center of the smoke filled chamber.

Something like a cauldron, upside-down and lifted on three legs.

Censers releasing a concentration of the vapors that fill the space are placed under the structure, and the Oracle joins them.

She inhales deeply and you wait. You wait to see what will happen next, breathing in the foul-smelling smoke.

Then. Suddenly, she seizes. Her limbs shudder and twist. Only the help of one of the priests in attendance keeps her from falling.

The fit is abrupt, but short. When it passes, the Oracle turns to you and she speaks.

With her words, she provides you an answer to the question that burned so fierce in your heart.

She provides a way forward.

With your advice in hand, confident of the action you must take, you return home.

You carry now the knowledge of the gods.

According to early myths, the power of oracle was originally held by two goddesses: Themis and Phoebe.

And the site of the temple was sacred not to Apollo, but instead to Gaia.

Eventually, Gaia’s influence over the area became a sacred-site of Poseidon. Particularly devoted to his aspect as the Earth-shaker and god of earthquakes.

Then, the site was seized by Apollo, a new god of prophecy. He expelled the guardian serpents of Gaia, and has held the site ever since.

Later myths claim that Themis and Phoebe gave Apollo the site, but this is widely considered a rationalization of the later worshipers of Apollo.

In any case, the priests and priestesses of the temple received queries from across Greece.

They reportedly offered advice to many kings throughout the history of the temple.

The Oracle was considered infallible.

Any failing came from misinterpretations of the prophecies offered, never from a mistake on the part of the Pythia or Apollo.

There have been several sources for prophecies offered by the Pythia, most from writers and philosophers of the time.

And they demonstrate a powerful ability for equivocation. The records we have show that many of the prophecies offered by the Oracle could have many possible meanings.

Often those disparate meanings could be direct opposites.

The most famous example of this comes from a story about a young man who asked the Oracle if he should go and join a military campaign.

The Pythia responded with the words “You will go you will return never in war will you perish.”

This statement can mean exact opposites depending on the placement of a single comma.

Did she mean “You will go, you will return. Never in war will you perish?” Or perhaps “You will go, you will return never. In war will you perish.”

The identity of that particular petitioner is lost to time and legend.

We can only hope that he made the right choice.

The Oracle of Delphi is a rare occasion where the practices and processes of divination were recorded with diligence.

Although each writer and story-teller adjusts and tweaks the truth with their telling, all together they paint a relatively complete image.

An image of a social order that through mysticism, and faith, and tradition, wielded vast influence.

In spite of over a thousand years of recorded practice, and despite research and excavations over the centuries, we may never know the secrets of the Pythia.

But to tell you the truth, I kind of prefer it that way.

I prefer to let her keep her secrets, just between her and Apollo.

I hope that you have enjoyed this episode of Through the Veil and I’m glad you joined me.

If you found your time well spent, I hope you will subscribe to get new episodes weekly wherever you listen as we continue our journey through folk lore, legend, myth, and magic.

If you are enjoying the show, and you have topics you would like to hear covered: Do not hesitate to email me at throughtheveilpodcast@gmail.com or reach out on Twitter by finding me @ThroughVeil

And as always, thank you for listening.