Heritage sites, Archaeological discoveries, History of Archaeology

Delphi

Location

valley of Phocis

Country

Greece

Year of Research

1600

Culture

Delphi is an archaeological place and a modern town in Greece on the south western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis.

Delphi was the place of the Delphic oracle.It is the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, when it was a significant place for the worship of the god Apollo after he slew the Python, a deity who lived there and prevented the navel of the Earth.

His frightened precinct in Delphi was a panhellenic sanctuary, where every four years athletes from all over the Greek world disputed in the Pythian Games, one of the four panhellenic games, precursors to the Modern Olympics.

Delphi was respected throughout the Greek world as the place of the omphalos stone, the centre of the earth and the universe. In the inner hestia of the Temple of the Apollo, an eternal flame burned.

After the battle of Plataea, the Greek cities extinguished their fires and brought new fire from the hearth of Greece, at Delphi; in the basic stories of several Greek colonies, the colonists were first dedicated at Delphi.