It Sure is a Big World For a Little Coffee Drop!

The Delphic Oracle

GREECE | Thursday, 3 July 2008 | Views [45]

There is plenty to feast one's eyes upon here.  From the tholos at the sanctuary of Athena to Apollo's gargantuan temple, the site has a sort of mystique surrounding it.  But sadly, as is the case with so many sites of great antiquity, a lot of imagination is required to picture it as it once was.  Delphi,for those who don't know, was the spot where "the Delphic Oracle" presided.  Simply put, a female of tragically young age was relegated to a career of inhaling semi-toxic fumes seeping from the earth (and possibly ingesting laurel leaves, for hallucinogenic effect I believe).  This unsurprisingly put her in a, shall I say, inebriated state, in which she then babbbled incoherently to priests whom then "interpreted" the divine message to whomsoever inquired. Essentially, a conduit for the the deity of Apollo. Inquiries ranged from when, or upon whom to wage war, who to marry, legal and financial advice,etc. etc. A modern day analogy would be a psychic, except with a whole lot less theatrics, travel, and potentially lethal noxious fumes. I am currently enroute to the village of Larissa, from where I transfer buses to Kalabaka, and then breath-taking Meteroa, a group of monasteries perched high upon clifftops.  I am surrounded by mountains, dappled with evergreens and ancient olive groves.  Kalinikta.

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