"Pan-Greek Holy Land" is a complex structure outside the city-state politics, which provides the only way for all Greeks to know themselves in a religious sense. It is said that the entrance of Apollo Temple is engraved with the motto "Know yourself".
History of this place
The name "Delphi" is said to come from the dolphin (Δ ε λ φ ι? /delphis): In Homer's poems, Apollo used the image of this animal to attract sailors from Crete to be the earliest priests in order to establish a sect in this place.
Archaeologically, the earliest signs of human habitation in Delphi can be traced back to the Paleolithic Age. A medium-sized village around 14 BC, named "Pytho", was excavated on the site of the Holy Land, which was also the old name of Delphi. It was abandoned between about 14 BC and 8 BC, and the holy land we see now may have started to develop during this period, and the first altar and the first temple appeared. They may have been placed in a natural fissure according to the traditions of Delphi and ancient Greece, so that natural gas can be exported (strabo: IX, 3, 5).
Especially during the period from the middle of the 8th century to the middle of the 7th century, the worship of Apollo gained a high reputation, because he was the patron saint of the colonial cause in full swing at that time.
373 years ago, an earthquake severely damaged the buildings of the holy land, which played a decisive role in its fate. It was in the second half of the 4th century that Greece experienced political turmoil, and the holy land gradually declined. Since Roman rule in the 1st century A.D., no new buildings have appeared in the Holy Land.
in 392 ad, the Roman emperor Theodosius I issued an edict prohibiting pagan beliefs, marking the end of Apollo worship. The site of the Holy Land was occupied by a village in the early Yuan Dynasty and rediscovered in the 15th century.
Oracle of Apollo
Main entry: Oracle of Delphi
The mythological origin of the holy land of Delphi (theater in the foreground, the temple of Apollo in the middle, and the temple of Athena in the distance) is worth a book. It is said that it was founded by himself after the temple of Delos was founded. When he came to Delphi, it was guarded by a Python, which was born by Gaia and guarded an Oracle belonging to themis. Apollo wanted to use his Oracle to guide people, so he shot Pitong with a bow and replaced it with a holy land.
This myth depicts Apollo as a conqueror/founder, which explains why he can be the patron saint of colonial activities and why his worship is spread all over the colonies. At the same time, it also puts the Oracle at the core of the holy land.
The holy land of Delphi is actually "Oracle-like", where the word of God reaches mortals through Pythia (the prophetess of Delphi). Traditionally, this priestess is an uneducated young virgin (who later evolved into an old woman, but still dressed as a girl). She sits on a tripod, and this shelf is supported in the ravine where the Oracle is produced. δυτον / Adyton? ), the following is the crack that produces natural gas. Petya is holding a "phiale?" (a flat plate for pouring sacrifices) and a laurel (the sacred tree of Apollo).
The consultation of the Oracle in the Temple of Apollo was originally annual, in the Delphi calendar "Bysius?" The Apollo Festival will be held on the seventh day of this month (from February to March in the Gregorian calendar). Later, it evolved into a year (legend) when Apollo lived in the local area for nine months and held a ceremony on the seventh of each month, which was named "polyphthoos?" A day of many problems.
There are some rituals to be performed before the inquiry, which are completed by the prophetess with the cooperation of two priests. The latter has served the temple all his life, and there are five "hosioi" (sacred people) and two male prophets under his jurisdiction. One of them assisted Pitiya in translating her predictions into a language that ordinary people can understand. God's language is usually translated into verse, using hexameter? ）。 We still don't know whether the prophetess can be seen, because there is no reliable witness on this issue so far.
According to ancient Greece, the study of the history of modern historiography may be traced back to the tradition of Delphi to find the origin of the language revealed by Pythia in the ceremony. There has always been a saying that she inhaled the gas dispersed in the stratum and was paralyzed. However, this statement has been questioned because the excavation of Athens College in France did not find the legendary cracks under the Apollo Temple, and they thought that the geology of local shale also prevented the gas from spreading out. However, a new study shows that the Delphi remains are indeed located at the intersection of two faults, and the asphaltene limestone rich in the ground may produce ethylene substances in the crustal movement, which has a nerve paralysis effect on people. These details coincide with Plutarch's historical records, providing a new explanation possibility [1].
The operation of Oracle has undergone many changes in history. According to Plutarch, one of the most authoritative witnesses, who used to be a priest in the temple, there was only one prophetess in the temple in his time (1st century AD), and she was requested once a month. Earlier, in the heyday of the ceremony, three priestesses were needed to take turns to replace them to cope with the long queue of requests. In another temple of Apollo, the Oracle was only transmitted to the spirit of the prophet through thoughts, which made it possible for him/her to play more freely.
In the Christian era, John Kinguchi thought that Petya was a woman possessed by the devil, and she got into the prophetess from the depths of the stratum under the tripod.
It should be added that in Greek mythology, Delphi is the center of the world. Therefore, in "Adyton", a cone-shaped stone pillar, called Weng fallows (meaning "navel of the earth"), supported by two golden eagles, symbolizes this position. Legend has it that Zeus once released two goshawks in opposite directions to measure the earth, and the place where they met was Delphi.
Every year, when Apollo left, there was naturally no Oracle, which caused countless believers to wait when the Oracle reopened every year. Therefore, the priests in the temple have the right to arrange the priority of attending the ceremony (∏ ρ οοντ ε? α / promanteia）。 Participants first offer appropriate gifts to God, and then the priest pours some cold water on a goat. If it doesn't tremble, it is considered an ominous sign and the ceremony will not be held. If the worshiper is accepted, the goat will be offered, and he can enter the temple to ask the prophetess questions. Of course, whether this question is answered or not depends on God's will.
Dionysus Sect
Mount Par Nasos, works by Adria Mantnia (1497) In the winter months, Apollo would leave the holy land of Delphi to go to Xibailier to purify himself, so he was replaced by Dionysus in Delphi. The latter appeared for three months in winter, and it was a religious ceremony on Mount Par Nasos. The raw (omophage) mention of Ades may be equivalent to the worship object of Menades/／Maenads. There is also a tomb of Dionysus in "Adyton".
The status of this god was gradually changed due to his relationship with Apollo. At first, he was lower than the sun god, but later, because of his equal status, he gradually merged into the divinity of Apollo, and the two became inseparable. Therefore, while Delphi's fame spread far and wide, the Dionysus Sect also gained the Pan-Greek belief.
the composition and structure of the pan-Greek holy land
the main feature of the holy land is its altar (bomos? ), which is the core part of the holy land, enables people to practice the sacraments.
A temple is a building that preserves gods, and people believe that gods will live here regularly. In Delphi, the position of the temple of Apollo is special, because the idol is only in a secondary position in the holy land, giving way to the existence of the Oracle. According to legend, the temple was built on a volcanic fault, which went straight to the depths of the earth, and it was through it that Apollo could communicate with mortals; The Oracle of Delphi, through the intermediary of Pythia, reveals the language of God to the world, which is the main function of the temple.
before the temple was built, its site was carefully surveyed so that it could be seen from any corner of the holy land, that is, a? πιφ? ν? στο? τ? πο? (the most prominent place) The Apollo Temple in Delphi is located on the hillside of Mount Pa Nasos with a peak of 2,459 meters, which overlooks the whole of central Greece. The hillside is very steep, and there is another temple dedicated to Athena ("Athena before the temple") not far below. She guards (and "precedes") this holy place.
visitors enter the holy land of Delphi from the "Shenlu", which is a road lined with various monuments, including more than 2 memorial buildings dedicated by various city-states, most of which are treasures (trésor? ), which displays the dedication to the gods (ex-voto). These offerings are either out of piety or for political purposes. In these small prayer churches, there are usually special places to store objects representing divinity; The storage place of another kind of prayer is a ditch, which is excavated on the ground of "open space", that is to say, in the sacred area.
There are also stadiums, racetracks and gymnasiums in the Holy Land, which are the venues of the four-year Jeux Pythiques. This sport is on a par with the Olympic Games, and it is also an important festival with the influence of all Greece, which is carried out according to a very strict religious calendar. Today, however, elegant demeanour in this sports meeting is completely overshadowed by the Olympic Games.
For the organization of festivals, especially the management of pan-Greek holy places, the Greeks usually form an "Amphictyonic League", that is, a federation of neighboring city-states, for joint management. Delphi's close-neighbor alliance is called "Great Close-neighbor Alliance", which is the most important equivalent organization in Greece. It has been organized since the first 59 years, including a dozen city-states. It was this alliance that funded the construction of holy places and supervised the renovation or reconstruction of temples, as was the case at the end of the 6th century.
Just like modern tourist attractions, the small city where the Holy Land of Delphi is located has maintained its prosperity because of visitors from all over Greece since the 6th century BC.
The Temple of Apollo
The ruins of Apollo Temple in Delphi. In his works, Pausanias mentioned that six temples of Apollo were built on this site one after another. At first, it may be a thatched cottage made of cassia twig. The last two may also be made of non-durable materials, and archaeological excavations have not found any traces of them. The fourth temple was built with ashes by Trophonios and Agamedes, and was destroyed by a fire in 538 BC. The layout of the fifth and sixth temples is similar, and they are also the best known. The first one is made of stone, which adopts the style of ancient times, and some parts of it are reused on the base of the sixth temple.
The pillar of Apollo Temple (Phase VI) remains today as the sixth temple, which was built in the 4th century. Its layout is rectangular, with the length and width of 6.32 meters and 23.82 meters respectively. There are six Taurik columns on the front and back sides, and 15 stone columns with the same style are arranged on the sides. Its architect, Spintharos of talos of Corinth, deliberately imitated the previous example. This version is relatively simple, which may be caused by the limited economic conditions during reconstruction.
The altar where the sacrificial ceremony was held was located in front of the temple and rebuilt in the 2th century with the support of Chios. Because the ancient altar was a gift from Theos, probably for the reconstruction of the fifth temple destroyed by the earthquake in 373 BC.
Other sites
There are many other sites in Delphi, some of which are more spectacular than the Temple of Apollo, and most of them have the nature of praying or commemorating. Therefore, the site covers an extremely long area; It should be pointed out that not all these memorial buildings existed in the same period, but many buildings are redrawn in the modern presentation of the site.
Similarly, in order to explain the evolution of the site, the topography of the site must be taken into account (the layout of the holy land can be divided into three steps: theater, temple and other buildings). Natural disasters (fires, earthquakes, etc.) and political events that greatly affect the level of worship and construction projects also need to be taken into account.
The spatial distribution of buildings is very uneven. Some areas are densely arranged, while others are very empty. There are many differences in the size of buildings, but most of them are medium in size, which may be due to the consideration of cost and space use.
At the same time, it is necessary to pay attention to the space demand of numerous worship services on the religious calendar, especially some public ceremonies (such as "religious lectures"/／Panégyries? ）； Various ceremonies, music competitions and theatrical performances may also have their own needs for architectural arrangements.
the prayers stored in the temple square
are in the open space of the Apollo temple square (? Aire? In fact, there are two ditches on the ground flush with the square in the 5th century. They may be excavated because people have no other place to put personal sacrifices, or they are the foundation of a burnt-out building in ancient times. A considerable number of "ex-voto" were excavated in this ditch in the 2th century.
These sacrifices are the marks left by the most glorious period of the site, dating from the 9th century to the 5th century. There are quite a few bronzes among them: this alloy was quite rare in the 8th century, so it became a precious material, and was presented in a large number in the form of figurines and tripods in Delphi.
These bronze figurines, dated from the 9th century to the 8th century, were made by lost wax casting. The general process of this disappearing technology is: using wax to make the prototype, making a mold on this basis, melting the wax and taking it out, then pouring the melted bronze into the shape, and finally breaking the mold to take out the finished product. In this process, the prototype and the mold are disposable, so that each finished product is unique. These figurines show that there was no image of a god at that time, but they generally represented men, women and soldiers, of which the latter was the image of a man sitting on a chariot or immediately; Their shapes are very similar to those in painting materials.
Many sacrificial offerings in the form of bronze tripods were also found (Pitiya usually sits on tripods). At first, tripod was used to place a small pot for cooking sacred dishes, which was very symbolic. Sometimes the tripod and the pot are presented together, and sometimes they are presented separately.