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| DELPHI |
"Tomorrow" is the most fascinating time in everyone's life. It has been so since
time immemorial. Who in this world has not wanted to know what is
going to happen tomorrow?
Well,
Delphi in ancient Greece was one such place where all the high and
mighty people from all over the world came to know what lay in store
for them in the morrow.
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| ANCIENT GLORY IN RUINS TODAY |
Greece
is ancient. It's civilization is the oldest. Greek alphabets,
symbols, Gods, architecture, sports, theatre, warriors, thinkers,
still survive in our day to day lives. Who has not heard of
Archimedes or Plato or Socrates? Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Omega, Lambda,
Sigma, Pi? Alexander the Great, Seleucus?
Olympics?
The Oracle of Delphi? Sparta, Helen of Troy?
I
am and will always remain fascinated with Greece, its History, it's
theatre, its stadia, and its Gods.
I
was always very keen to see Delphi and know more about the Oracle!
Did you notice that the addition of the alphabet "P" turns
Delhi into Delphi? Never mind that bit of trivia! It has no
significance in today's story.
Delphi
is very ancient. It began as a Mycenaean village as long ago as from 1500 to 1100 BC.
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| THE NAVEL OF THE EARTH |
As
one enters the Center of the earth as Delphi was supposed to be, one
sees a stone which they say is the exact center of the earth. It is
the navel of the earth. A little further up we come across a lot of
squarish buildings. These were the treasuries which housed the
treasures of neighboring cities. It was customary for every city
state to donate a tenth of their earnings to the Delphi temple
of Apollo. As one goes further up one finds the ruins of the Aghora
or market place which is not as ancient as the rest of Delphi.
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| THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO |
Further up comes the fascinating place where once sat the Oracle of
Delphi. It was always a woman who was the oracle. She would go
into a trance and predict the future. What she said was incoherent
and incomprehensible to mere mortals. Therefore the Priest of the
Temple who would always be a man would interpret it and make the
prediction. These predictions were therefore open to
interpretation and often had dual and opposing meanings. The
Oracle spoke only one day in a month over a period of 9 months
when it was thought that Apollo visited Delphi.
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| THE ORACLE SAT HERE |
No
war was begun without the prediction of the Oracle. No voyage was
taken, in fact nothing was done without asking the Oracle. Great sums
of money was paid by the affluent people to bypass the long line of
pilgrims seeking a prophecy of their future.
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| GULF OF CORINTH FROM DELPHI |
A
seaport in the Gulf of Corinth is close by and everyone from far and
near came via the sea route or land route to know the future. The sea
is visible from the heights of Delphi. All that one can see
stretching from Delphi to the sea is a huge land mass filled today
with Olive trees. It is an amazing sight to see that vast carpet of
olive trees.
The world calls him "Alexander the Great”, however I interpret his greatness differently. I consider Alexander "great" because he was the one who wrote his own future. He did go to the Oracle as was the norm in those days, but instead of waiting for the Oracle to speak he went to the chamber where the Oracle sat and over powered her. He would not allow her to babble what she wanted to and instead was so strong in over powering her that as soon as the Oracle said, "You are unbeatable", he stopped her from speaking further and said I have heard enough. He then embarked upon his journey to conquer the world. A man who had destiny, the future, the predictions, and Oracle in his command, was truly unbeatable! It was his pursuit and not the support of Gods and the prophecy that made him great.
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| A TREASURY |
Delphi
was a sacred precinct of Apollo. In 776 BC started the Pythian games
which were held every 4 years at Delphi. The victors were presented
with a crown of Laurel leaves.There is a beautiful Stadium at
the topmost point of Delphi. I was quite fascinated by the starting
line of the race laid out in marble. Everything was so well defined
and clear.
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| THE THEATRE |
The
theatre at Delphi is also amazing. The background of the stage were
the hills and valley. The seating was in stone, semi circular, open
to the skies and nature. It could accommodate 5000 people.
What
amazing times! How far advanced were they in culture, sport, and
theatre. Those were peaceful times and so art, theatre, sports,
philosophy could develop and flourish.
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| THE TEMPLE OF ATHENA-THOLOS |
The
Tholos is a circular building which was created between 380 and 360
BC and was the sanctuary of Athena. There were 20 Doric columns in
this temple. There were a lot of treasuries here too filled with
offerings from the various rulers. One had to visit the Temple of
Athena or the Tholos before visiting the Temple of Apollo.
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| THE MUSEUM
There
is a nice museum at Delphi housing a number of statues, and artifacts
of that time. One statue that stands out as different is the bronze
statue of a charioteer. His size is life like, it is not gigantic.
His eyes, features and dress look very real and the statue is
beautiful. The Charioteer also holds the reins of the chariot in his
hand. The statue of the winged Sphinx too is huge and beautiful.
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| THE WINGED SPHINX |
The
wealth of money, History, beauty, that this navel of the earth had is
fascinating to behold. Today standing atop the hill and looking out
at the sea I can visualize a whole lot of ships sailing in with their
sails spread, an army of people walking across the land towards the
hill from where they would go back with hope, after coming to know of
what lay in store for them in the future.
I
was overwhelmed with the mystery of the oracle, and fumes from the
center of the earth which made a mere mortal become an Oracle. I was
fascinated with the mastery of the priest in making so many people
from all ranks believe that their future could be predicted and in
turn becoming the master of so much wealth! It was all a game of
interpretations, word play, and playing with the emotions of people
who would be willing to part with money to see for themselves a
better future with the help of a prophecy made by the Oracle.
So
since ages some people have always been making money out of the
naivety of the multitudes. Belief, trust, hope, aspirations of the
common man as well as powerful rulers and kings were twisted so that
someone could befool all the people all the time and become both
powerful, rich and famous!!
Time,
future,prophecy...hopes for the future! Looking at tomorrow
today....will this desire ever be over powered? Will we ever be
content with what we have?
Delphi,
Oh Delphi, Oracle will you speak up now and tell me, will it ever
happen?
