We roamed Delphi in Greece today, walking among majestic ruins and modern interpretations of what one of the great cultures of the world was up to in constructing this place.
The quick backstory is that ~1700BC the area was deemed to be a sacred place, or Oracle, and Gaia assumes control. She is believed to be the source of all life on Earth to the Greeks. Phiobe takes over next, then Apollo. Once a year, people traveled there to ask for predictions and advice. If you were late, or there were too many people in line, then you waited until next year, so folks lined up for days. It was a tougher ticket to get than Taylor Swift!
The people asking for advice tended to be upper echelon folks, like generals, politicians and wealthy folks. They also brought expensive thank you gifts, like the sphinx shown above that rested atop a 42 foot pillar.
Eventually the number of requests grew so large that they went to monthly, except for the three that Apollo went north, because even gods need a vacay.
Here's where it gets interesting. Apollo also handed over this process to goddesses, but they were kept in a room and in a constant high from sulphur fumes and laurel. So a dude received the request for a prediction and takes it to her. She lets out screams and wails. He decides what that means, and takes the answer back to the requestor.
It was not uncommon for the answer's wording to be left open to interpretation, but because these are wise folks that you've traveled a long way for, you take the answer without question and decide what it means.
An example we were give was a child prediction of "girlnotboy". Notice the lack of punctuation and capitalization, for none was given. It could mean "girl, not boy" or "girl not, boy".
Most likely, the questions were more important: Should we go to war? Should we settle for peace? What should we grow next year?
Anyhow, the whole place is spectacular, with some well-preserved artifacts and wonderful guides and workers. Plan of spending the day, as it took two hours each way to get there from Athens.
Note: All pictures were taken by the author.
