June 26 - Drove to the busy seaport of Patras, at Rion, we took the ferry across the Gulf of Corinth to Antirion and proceeded through the picturesque fishing villages along the south coast of the mainland. Driving through Nafpaktos, we arrived in Delphi. We toured the ancient sanctuary of the god Apollo on the slopes of Mt. Parnassus. In historical times the worship of Apollo succeeded that of Phoebe and Earth at the Delphic sanctuary which became famous for its Oracle.

June 27 - Toured the excavations and visited the museum of Delphi.

The cave where the divinity Gaia (Mother Earth) used to utter prophecies guarded by her son, the serpent Python, dates from the second millennium BC (Mycenaean period). It was located on the way from the Gulf of Corinth to Central and Northern Greece, in a region then called Pytho. When the god Apollo was an infant, he killed Python, at the same time abandoning Delphi to purify himself. After the purification took place, he returned to Delphi crowned and took over the Oracle, which from then on belonged to him.

Apart from the mythical implications, this act symbolized the introduction of the worship of Delphinios Apollo at Krisa (a town in Phokis, today Hrisso), by the seamen of Knossos. The god became known as Apollo Pythias and the area was called Delphi from that time on. At first the Oracle was under the strict domination of Krisa; It was liberated in 590 BC, and it is from this date that the true history and fame of Delphi essentially began. A number of Sacred Wars broke out for control of the Oracle.

The Phokians, Amphissans and even the Athenians vied to avail themselves of its great wealth, interfering with the independence of the priests and the little world that revolved about them. In 191 BC, the Romans became masters of Delphi. This was a period of waves of pillaging raids but also attempts to revive the Oracle. However, the coming of the Christian era was the beginning of Delphi's decline. In A.D. 381, the emperor Theodosius outlawed "paganism," and Delphi eventually passed into history and ceased to be regarded as the navel of the world.

The Prophecy Ceremony

Whoever wished to consult the Oracle was obliged to pay a tax, the “telono”, which gave him the right to approach the great altar of Apollo to offer sacrifices (boars, goats or bulls). There was a set of routine for the pythia to follow on pronouncement days (which at first took place only during February, the month of Apollo's birthday). First the woman had to fast for 3 days and then, on the set day, bathe in the nearby Kastalian Spring. Having purified herself in the water of the Kastalian Fountain, Pythia bent over the Navel of the Earth (the Sacred Stone), ate a laurel leaf and, inhaling the vapours emitted from the chasm, entered a state of ecstasy, uttering incoherent words. These were then composed into verses by the Priest, while the interpreters endeavored to render some meaning out of the prophecy. Sometimes the questions concerned banal personal problems and sometimes they concerned matters of state. But all got answers, usually so cryptic that they could be construed to mean anything at all, and seekers invariably went away happy.

A king who was told that if he crossed a certain river, a great empire would be destroyed, was chagrined to discover that the empire was his own. A man who came to ask about his stammer was instructed to go live in another country. The Roman emperor Nero was warned to "beware 73" - and died well before he reached that age at the hands of Galvus, who was 73.