Delphi by Scott Michael

Author:Scott, Michael
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2014-10-15T16:00:00+00:00

Figure 10.1. Bust of a man of Delphi, often identified as Plutarch but now labeled simply as a philosopher type, dating to the second century AD (© EFA/Ph.Collet [Guide du musée chapter 2, fig. 101])

The second treatise concerns the issue of why the Pythian priestess no longer gives oracles in verse.35 Plutarch is not present in the discussion, which takes place just outside the temple of Apollo at Delphi. Instead, his friends meet, one of them having been on a tour of the sanctuary that included in the group a rather overzealous questioner from the city of Pergamon in Asia Minor. The tour discussion is repeated ranging over a series of issues including the particular color of bronze at Delphi (said to be affected by the unique quality of the air); reasons for the bad verse responses of the Pythia and particular statues and dedications within the sanctuary. The final treatise has been entitled “On the obsolescence of oracles” and also does not include Plutarch, but is a discussion once again among his friends in the sanctuary.36 The occasion for the discussion is the meeting at Delphi of Demetrius, who is at Delphi en route from Britain to Tarsus in Asia Minor; and Cleombrotus, who is en route to Sparta having come from the Red Sea. The discussion is once again far ranging—covering issues of spiritual inspiration, depopulation in Greece, Demetrius’s experiences in Britain—and ending with a discussion about how the Pythian priestess at Delphi is inspired.

These texts have been fundamental (as we have seen in earlier chapters) for our reconstruction of how the oracle at Delphi functioned, and particularly how it continued to function in Plutarch’s time at the end of the first century AD.37 Yet what I want to concentrate on here is how these texts are also fundamental in opening up for us a sense of how the sanctuary as a whole was engaged with, understood, and enjoyed by visitors and locals at the end of the first century AD. Most important, Plutarch’s dialogues show us that there were a steady stream of visitors to Delphi, and that Delphi still acted in some ways as the center of the world (the meeting point of a man coming from Britain and another from the Red Sea). There were enough people coming to Delphi to ensure the need for guides to lead tours, even if those guides are characterized by Plutarch as being fairly ignorant and unwilling to engage in serious philosophical discussion. The dialogues also show us that there was a huge range of interpretation over the practices of the sanctuary, and the many dedications that were on display there. Some visitors reacted with horror and disgust to dedications such as the iron spits offered by the prostitute Rhodopis, which had lain at Delphi since the sixth century BC; and others were mystified by the artistic and architectural choices made by dedicators, such as the island of Tenedos choosing axes as their symbol.38

What this opens up for us

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