The ancient Greeks had many beliefs and worshipped a pantheon of gods, but probably the most widely known of all the legends is the Oracle at Delphi. The oracles were known since about 1400 BC and continued into the days of Christianity. The town of Delphi was believed to be the center of the Greek universe and was very important to their civilization. It was the home of the eternal flame and was used for dedication ceremonies when founding new colonies.
Delphi is situated on Mount Parnassus, close by to the shrine of Apollo. The name comes from Delphoi, which translates as womb or hollow. Some historians believe this may be a reference to Gaia, the earth goddess. But whatever the origins, the mysterious abilities of the oracles, or Pythia, to give strangely worded advice to those who sought their words, became famous throughout Greece and most of Europe.
The Pythia did her work from the interior of a shrine. She would sit on a seat atop a tripod, straddling a chasm. A sacred spring ran beneath the temple and some accounts say the Pythia would bathe in the spring to cleanse her prior to her performance. The words she spoke were the words of the god Apollo. This was his medium to contact the people directly.
When the Pythia spoke, she generally said things in a cryptic manner, which left her words open to interpretation. Sometimes there would be an interpreter present to translate what they believed the Pythia meant. People would travel great distances to ask her important questions about their future, wars or any other important facets of their lives. There are even tales of some of the women dying, presumably overcome by their prophetic abilities to dispense the wisdom of Apollo.
The famous Plutarch wrote that the oracle's prophecies were assisted by strange vapors that seeped up from the chasm beneath her chair. While some accepted this idea as fact, since Plutarch claimed personal knowledge, others dismissed it. Not until the 20th century did scientists find evidence of faults under the temple of the oracle. These faults, one running east-west and one running north-south, join right at the site of the temple.
According to scientists, when tectonic faults interact with one another, small passageways can open up and allow groundwater and gases to congregate together at the confluence. Studies have also shown that millions of years ago, the bedrock supporting the oracle's temple structure, would have been underwater. What this means is that organic matter would have been deposited, creating layers of hydrocarbon substrates. These compounds, millions of years later, could well have emitted hallucinogenic fumes once the spring water eroded the rock. These toxic gases, when concentrated, could have actually caused the death of some of the Pythia when they were exposed for too long.
If the Pythia sat over the opening where these fumes were dispensed, breathing in the gases, then her state would be altered and she could very well respond to questions in an odd manner. She was said to have sat in a small chamber, separated by a veil or wall, on her tripod seat over the split in the rocky foundation. With recent scientific discoveries and studies, it seems plausible that Plutarch was indeed correct. It may just be a coincidence that in the late AD 300's, the oracle began to lose favor until she faded away altogether. More likely was the fact that the numerous earthquakes around Greece shifted the underground faults and closed off the seepage of the gases.
Once the Pythia lost the source of her visions, the people stopped coming. But, for almost 2,000 years, the women who performed their duty as Pythia were revered and held a very important place in Greek society. While they might be gone, their memory lives on.
