The Oracle at Delphi

The Sanctuary of Athena Pronaia is one of three round temples, from the 4th century BC. (The others are at Olympia and the Agora in Athens.)

The Temple of Athena was down the mountain from where the oracles were given at Delphi. There used to be a natural gas that came out of the ground at Delphi which is how oracles were made. Today, however, there is no longer this leaking of gas. The day we went started out very cold and gloomy, but once we hiked all the way to the top the sun came out and it was nice and warm.

On the way up to the Temple of Apollo there were many ruins on the mountainside. These ruins were treasuries from different Greek cities where they kept offerings to Apollo. One of the first ruins we came upon was a Roman forum, or marketplace. Then we came across a reconstructed Athenian Treasury.

Athenian Treasury

Roman forum

At the Temple of Apollo was where the oracle used to be. It was here that the natural gas leaked out of the ground. The oracles would never give a straight answer. The reason for this was so people could make their own decisions and wouldn't be able to blame the oracle or Apollo.

After seeing the Temple we saw a theater, then headed further up the mountain.

I think its crazy that people from all around Greece would make the journey to Delphi to get a reading from the oracle. During those ancient times when transportation was severely limited. When we went up there I remember being tired from the hike, and we came on a bus and just had to walk up the mountainside. But to know that I've made the same trip as all those ancient people is pretty cool.

At the top was a stadium, and it was here that we had a break and another unique class setting. Joe read to us again from Herodotus.

Then we made our way back down to the Archeological Museum of Delphi. This museum was really cool because it had one of the very first friezes, according to Roula.

The museum also had a very famous piece of Greek sculpture, the bronze Charioteer.

Model of what Delphi looked like