SANCTUARY OF APOLLO - DELPHI GREECE
[Music] hi welcome to athens today we're going to explore one of the most picturesque ancient sites where the boundary between reality and illusion fades the ancient sanctuary and oracle of delphi let's go [Music] about 10 kilometers from the gulf of corinth in the forces region on the steep lower slope of the mount parnassus we can wander through the ancient site also known as the navel of the world for centuries it was a home of the legendary oracle more than four thousand years ago it was a sacred place where gaia the mother of earth and poseidon were worshiped and at that time it was goddess gaia who delivered [Music] prophecies [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] so around the 8th century bc the religion changed and according to a legend it was god apollo who by the way reached adulthood in just four days killed the terrifying dragon python the son of the mother of earth which was guarding her oracular fountain and now the story becomes even more interesting and shows us the shift of morality apollo knows that he needs to exile himself as punishment thus the vengeance known as the blood for blood no longer prevails restoration triumphs over retribution after seven years he came back from banishment with cretan sailors to erect the sanctuary he guided them under the form of a dolphin dolphin in greek is delphi thus the name of the site [Music] our exploration begins at the roman agora where pilgrims would purchase votive offerings and cultic objects in front of the colonnade altars and statues of benefactors of the sanctuary were erected from here pilgrims followed the sacred way to consult the oracle today we associate the oracle with pythia a woman who in order to issue a prophecy fasted for three days bathed in the castolian spring burned laurel incense drunk holy water sat on the tripod and went into a holy trance to deliver prophetic messages directly from apollo but there were actually three older oracles in delphi ancient greeks believe that god lives within his holy plant laurel and he issues prophecies with the swishing of the leaves then there was an oracle by lot lots had different shapes and colors thus different meanings another way to receive god's maxims was to sleep in the holy place the answer was revealed in a dream this is the umphalas of delphi it was thrown by zeus to mark the center of the world the most known treasury is the treasury of the athenians erected around 500 bc it's almost 10 meters high and around 7 meters wide wonderfully preserved doric in style that treasury was entirely built of parian marble originally it was adorned with 30 sculptures presenting exploits of heracles and tissues on a small triangular terrace athenians placed the loot from the battle of marathon and engraved an inscription with dedication to apollo [Music] [Music] this is the religious and spiritual center of the ancient world according to legends luke sent two eagles from two different parts of the universe to establish the center of the world also known as the navel of the world [Music] [Music] [Music] right behind the remains of the athenian store a retaining wall known as the polygonal wall of delphi brings our attention [Music] in 548 bc after the burning of the temple of apollo the wall was built to strengthen the land of the dyke its seika 87 meters long and its height varies from 2 to 4 meters several centuries later between the 2nd century bc and the 1st century a.d the wall was carved with hundreds of inscriptions of freed slaves so their freedom was secured by apollo the wall is made of stones with curved joints which are perfectly fitted and due to their irregular shape a lifeless wall gets a vibrant and decorative appearance doesn't it resemble another wall maybe in peru [Music] there it is the principal temple in the sanctuary the temple of apollo with a great altar in the front [Music] however it is the third temple made of stone and if you would count the buildings of a very early date it is the sixth one according to delphic traditions the first temple was built of laurel wood the second of biwaks b-walks and feathers and the third one of bronze or copper the construction of this temple began in 369 bc and is attributed to the architect spin taurus from corinth even though the temple wasn't finished it started to function in 330 bc [Music] the temple measures about 60 by 24 meters and was built in doric order with paris style which means surrounding colorade with 6 by 15 columns probably three of the delphic maxims know thyself nothing in excess and surety brings rune were inscribed on the front column the variety of materials used for construction is just astonishing great stone cypress wood paria marble limestone and white stucco a scouting for columns and tablature [Music] presumably in the chamber cella were two altars one of poseidon and one of hestia with the immortal flame as well as statues of zeus and apollo and many other precious objects at the back of the cellar was probably a crypt where the famous oracle issued prophecies [Music] this is a part of the huge gold tripod almost 7.5 meters high it was an offering made to apollo by almost all greeks together after they triumphed in platya in 479 bc this battle was of enormous significance as after this victory greeks became masters of europe unfortunately what we see today is only a copy of appella which was set up in 2015. the original column along with one of the snake's heads was moved to constantinople by constantine the great in 324 a.d this huge monument is the stillie of prusias it reaches 9.7 meters in height and was built after 182 bc at the tops to the statue of the king of bethunya prusias ii on the horse [Music] the delphic oracle was the highest religious authority of the ancient world it attracted not only greeks but people from asia egypt or italy [Music] initially anyone who sat on the tripod could convey the maxim later on their prophecies were issued by priests on tripods inside the sanctuary they inhaled gas from a crevice under their feet and drank water from the sacred spring and fell into trance [Music] [Music] centuries later the prophecies were delivered by fimono a young and beautiful virgin but in the late 3rd century bc fimono was kidnapped and violated since then pythia a woman older than 50 years old dressed like a young maiden girl served as the oracle of delphi the ancient stadium of delphi as well as the ancient theater in front of us hosted the pythian games one of the four panhellenic competitions of the ancient greek world [Music] [Music] the participants of the few first pythian games competed only in music and the games were held every eight years after some time sports competitions were added and the pythian games were organized every four years as the games were dedicated to apollo their champions were crowned with a laurel wreath [Music] [Music] the theater had a capacity of 5 000 spectators whereas the stadium 6.5 thousand
there's a theory saying that pythia knew what prophecy she should utter as the sanctuary area was almost always crowded and pithia had some kind of helpers hearing what people say [Music] i am now at the top with the most breathtaking view even though nero wrapped votive offers and took them to rome their sanctuary continued to function until the 2nd century a.d and finally lost its importance in 4th century a.d when all ancient worship and rituals were banned by the roman emperor theodosius the thirst it became the seed of a bishop but was forsaken in the early 7th century eventually the village castri was built over it [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] the last but for sure not least is the talos of delphi in the sanctuary of the athena [Music] pronaya it's one of the most recognizable monuments of the telfie archaeological site built between 360 and 380 bc the epithet pronaya the one before results from the fact that the pilgrims reached athena's temple before apollos and according to mythology athena's theory was to protect her half-brother apollo the exterior of the thalas was built in the doric order with 20 columns from which only three remain today [Music] on the exterior and around the top of the cellar there were two large freezes each containing 40 metabs the other ones displayed scenes from mythological battles against amazons and centers [Applause] based on the archaeological findings it's believed that a female goddess a kind of mother deity was worshiped here since the bronze age it was the time when mediterranean people recognized that descent from the mother and not the father as a whole delphi archaeological site are many more structures and monuments which i didn't mention it's like disneyland for ancient sites maniacs like me thank you for watching i hope you enjoyed this video if so please subscribe to my channel and see you on another ancient site [Music] you
2021-07-31 11:10
