The views from our hotel, the Santa Marina in Arachova, Greece, were incredible. We are high up in ski country. Before we left for Delphi, Wyck and Martha took a lot of photos.

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Delphi, Greece: overall map 1. Sanctuary of Apollo 2. Stadium 3. Gymnasium 4. Sanctuary of Athena (Pronaia) at Marmaria 5. Phaidriades - Castalia Spring 6. Museam of Delphi 7. Delphi 8. To Itea 9. To Athens 3/22/07 Thursday We drove to Delphi, which was set up by Apollo, the son of Zeus and Leda. It was abandoned in ~ 390 AD. It was an important international place, “the navel of the world.” The first signs of human habitation at Delphi was about 1400 BC. Figures found from that time indicate that this was the religious center of a cult. Around 1200 BC the Mycenaean settlement was destroyed. Delphi was not abandoned, but remains and graves found dating from 1200-800 BC show evidence of poverty of the settlement. This changed starting in the 8th c BC as the shrine expanded, and relics showed the growing importance of the oracle. The priests at the temple to Apollo were male Delphians. The oracle, or Pythia, was always a woman from Delphi. At the beginning of the 6th c BC, the Amphictyonic League was established at Delphi and the Pythian Games were reorganized. The Amphictyonic League was a religious association of twelve groups, almost all from central Greece: Thessalians, Peioikoi, Boeotians, Locrians, Phocians, Ionians of Attica and Euboea, and the Dorians. The Pythian Games were held every 4 years, were international, and were the precursor to the Olympic Games. The Games included athletic contests, music contests, and poetry contests.

Kerstin Trawick and the stone where the Pythias sat on a 3-legged stool (you can see the 3 holes where the stool sat), a channel around the stool through which the water from the sacred spring would flow, and a hole to the right of the water trough where gases could come up. The gas hole was usually plugged up with a stone navel, but the Pythia could remove the stone in order to prepare for a prophecy.