Delphi

Last night we spent the night in Delphi. The pool and view was beautiful. I took some pictures this morning to share with you. The camera of course does not do it any justice.

We rounded the corner a few minutes from our hotel to the site of the Sacred Way. This site is high in the Parnassos mountains and is the location of an oracle-shrine that began in 1600 B.C.. The Oracle is a spirit that lives in the area which people for thousands of years have come for answers to life.
Around 800 B.C. the worship of Apollo ( the God of harmony, music, and light) began and the shrine enjoyed great fame for 400 years. Many rulers and important person’s have come here as well as the local Greek’s and travelers from other countries.

This is Apollo’s temple.

There were secret entrances to the temple but the were labyrinths. Here I am at one of the entrances. They have been closed because they are dangerous now. Our guide said vipers like to hide in dark cool places.

I saw a drawing of what the site probably looked like then at it was incredible. As mentioned this was a shrine. Each region would have a shrine of statues and gifts that they brought and left for display for all to see.

Because of the location of this site it is referred to as the “navel” of the earth. This is a picture of the navel.

At the upper part of this site (and let me just say it was a hike!!!) there is another stadium where Olympic type games were held.

This site was famous and people from all over would come for music and theatre performance. There is also an arena for that.

The oracle was closed forever in 394 AD by Constantine the Great.