Delphi: The Oracle’s Site and How to Visit It Properly

Geological studies published in 2001 found evidence of ethylene gas seeping through the fault lines directly below the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Ethylene at low concentrations produces a light-headed, dissociative state; at higher concentrations, it causes tremors and the inability to speak clearly. The Pythia, the priestess who delivered Apollo’s prophecies for nearly a thousand years, sat above an adyton in the temple floor that was directly over this fault. She inhaled whatever vapour rose from below, entered a trance, and spoke. Ancient Greeks attributed this to divine possession. The geology is, arguably, more interesting.

Delphi sits at 570 metres on the slopes of Mount Parnassus, 180 kilometres northwest of Athens. For roughly a millennium, rulers, city-states, and private individuals consulted the oracle here. Croesus of Lydia asked whether to attack Persia and received the famous response that a great empire would be destroyed. He invaded, his own empire fell, and the oracle’s reputation for ambiguity survived intact. Philip II of Macedon consulted it. Alexander the Great consulted it. The site was the effective religious capital of the Greek world until Christianity superseded it in the 4th century CE.

The Site

You enter from the southeast corner and walk up the Sacred Way, the ancient processional path that led pilgrims between the treasury buildings to the Temple of Apollo at the top. The route is steep and the site is exposed; sun protection in summer and sturdy shoes year-round are genuine requirements.

The Athenian Treasury is the most complete surviving building: a small Doric structure built to commemorate Athens’ victory at Marathon in 490 BCE. The sculptural metopes showing the labours of Heracles and the deeds of Theseus are worth stopping to examine.

The Temple of Apollo is the emotional centre of the site. Three columns stand; one has been partially re-erected. The Adyton, the inner chamber where the Pythia delivered her prophecies, is marked on the floor plan. Standing at the point where the world came to receive answers, with the ravine dropping away below and the twin Phaedriades cliffs above, is one of those moments where the scale of an ancient site does something that photographs cannot.

The Theatre above the temple has 5,000 seats and a view from the upper rows that encompasses the entire sanctuary and the olive groves of the Pleistos valley far below. This is the best single viewpoint at Delphi. The Stadium above the theatre, 10 to 15 minutes of steep walking further, is where the Pythian Games were held every four years, the second most prestigious games after the Olympics. The starting blocks and turning posts survive. Fewer people make the climb; it is worth the effort.

The Castalian Spring, outside the main sanctuary where the twin cliff faces meet, is where pilgrims purified themselves before consulting the oracle. The water still runs from the rock face. It is not dramatically signposted; look for it at the base of the cliffs between the sanctuary and the museum.

The Museum

The Delphi Archaeological Museum holds two objects that justify the entrance fee alone.

The Charioteer of Delphi (478 BCE) is a life-size bronze figure in near-perfect condition. It was buried in an earthquake in antiquity and rediscovered in 1896. The inlaid eyes (onyx and glass paste), the precisely rendered pleating of the robe, and the stillness of the face show what Greek bronze casting achieved at its peak. Most major Greek bronzes were melted down for metal in antiquity; this one survived by accident.

The Sphinx of Naxos is an archaic period sphinx on its original tall column, dedicated by the island of Naxos around 570 BCE. The combination of the archaic Greek smile and the Egyptian-derived sphinx form is unusual and arresting.

The museum also holds the omphalos stone (the navel of the world, the point the ancients identified as earth’s centre), an extensive collection of bronzes, coins, and architectural sculpture, and finds from the whole excavation history of the site.

Opening hours: 8:00am to 8:00pm from April to October; 8:30am to 3:30pm from November to March. Combined site and museum ticket; book online to skip the queue in peak season.

Getting There

KTEL buses run from the Athens Liossion terminal several times daily; the journey takes 3 hours and costs around EUR 18 one way. This is the practical option without a car.

By car: 180 kilometres from Athens on the E962 via Livadeia, about 2.5 to 3 hours. The advantage of a car is the Hosios Loukas Byzantine monastery, 30 kilometres east of Delphi, which is one of the finest 11th-century Byzantine buildings in Greece and receives almost no visitors because most people lack transport.

Organised day trips from Athens rush you through and spend too much time in parking areas. They are worth it only if you have no other option.

Staying

Hotel Acropole on Filellinon in the village of Delphi has views from front rooms, around EUR 60 to 90 per night. Staying overnight allows you to visit the site at opening (8:00am) before the tour groups from Athens arrive around 10:00. The experience of walking the Sacred Way before the crowds reach it is a different thing entirely from the midday version.

The village itself is pleasant and the taverna Vakhos on Apollonos Street does honest Greek cooking at reasonable prices: moussaka, grilled lamb, village salad, local wine.