Our second day in Delphi and we were up early so we'd have plenty of time to consult with the Oracle (also so we could beat the heat and take an early bus back to Athens). The Delphi ruins were impressive, but not nearly as impressive as those in Ephesus. The ancient Greeks built the Sanctuary of Apollo on the side of Mt. Parnassos and boy, you really had to have had something pressing to talk to the Oracle about because it was a steep climb up! They definitely made you work for your prophecy. We also discovered that the Oracle (who was the mouthpiece of Apollo) was probably high on laurel leaves or some other mind-altering drug and mainly spoke in gibberish. The priests of the temple interpreted what the Oracle said. That being said, the Oracle correctly foretold the Athenian victory over the Persians at the Battle of Marathon (just a lucky guess?) and also foretold Nero's assassination (was this more a wish than a prophecy?), so I guess one can understand why people put their faith in the Oracle's prophecies.
We were able to grab a quick lunch in Delphi town and caught the 1:30 bus back to Athens and, of course, hit rush hour traffic on our way back into town. I don't think I've ever been on a more crowded subway train (Morgan and Ashley, this was even worse than the subways in Rome or the "cattle boat" in Venice!).
Tomorrow we're on our way to Catania, Sicily and the third leg of our trip and the great "Sicily Bike Tour". I'll write more when we reach Catania.
No comments:
Post a Comment