Archaeological Site of Delphi

Delphi reached its height in the 4th century BC, when large numbers of pilgrims came to ask advice of its oracle. The oracle, an old priestess, was believed to be Apollo's mouthpiece. She answered the visitor's questions (via a priest), inhaling the fumes of a chasm.

In return, the pilgrims brought lots of votive gifts to the temple. Also city-states like Athens and Thebes contributed with treasuries and statues, thanking Apollo for supporting them in wars.

Delphi's fame dwindled in 191 BC, when it was taken by the Romans. It was totally closed down in the 4th century AD by Theodosius, who wanted to get rid of the pagan sanctuaries.

Sports Arenas . Celtic history .

Visit December 2001

Finally, after 10 days being a lonely visitor to Ancient Greece, I saw them: The Crowds. On Sunday all archeological sites have free entrance, and a lot of Greek families take this opportunity. Also quite a number of foreign tourists - maybe because of Delphi's relative proximity to Athens.

Ancient Delphi was built against a mountainside. An impressive setting, though not much remains. A steep walkway connects the monuments - The Sacred Way. This was once littered with gifts by graceful city-states, and made a promising entrance to the temple of Apollo.

Highlight nowadays is the sanctuary of Athena, across the street from the main site. The graceful "tholos" there features on many Delphi-pictures (including mine).

Reviews

Douglas Scully (USA):
The setting of this place is wonderful with its ruins, mountain backdrop, and vista down the deep olive tree strewn valley to the sea. The ruins are often photographed and described. What seems to be a secret are the remains of the stadium in the upper portion of this site. The banks of seats on the northern side and the starting blocks in the stadium field are very well preserved. This stadium is the best I have ever seen, except for the one at Aphrodisias in Turkey.

Date posted: April 2006

Emilia Bautista King ():
Delphi is indeed a lovely day trip from Athens. The Temple of Apollo is quite impressive and I'm glad I had a panoramic camera to capture the structure. The theatre (or stadium) is also spectacular. It's worth your time to go through the Delphi Museum. I was naughty and took a flash photo of the Charioteer of Delphi. It came out blurry (serves me right) but the statue had quite an impact on me during my visit.

Date posted: March 2006

Klaus Freisinger (Austria):
Delphi is one of those places whose ancient importance cannot really be seen today anymore, just felt and imagined. It is located in a beautiful mountain setting, on the Parnassus Mountain, and its remaining monuments don´t quite reflect its extreme significance in ancient Greece, when it was the site of its most important oracle and the "centre of the world". Many of the buildings and temples are similar to others all over Greece, but the walk along the Sacred Way is really special, and the setting of the site is unique. Definitely worth a visit when you´re interested in ancient Greece.

Christer Sundberg (Sweden):

Participating in “organised tours” is not really my favourite way of travelling. But sometimes there is an arrangement where the hassle of getting to your destination might become too much compared to signing up and paying a couple of Euros to a company with a ready-to-go-tour. Making an excursion to Delphi from Athens is exactly such a tour. Getting to Delphi by car is of course a non-issue but with only public transport as option it becomes quite a complicated task. So it was not long before I found myself in one of those comfortable air-conditioned bus with a guide constantly mumbling a lot of gibberish in broken English to an audience of half-asleep tourist due to the early morning departure time.

After first making its way through a quite boring Greek landscape we reached the first mountains after a couple of hours driving. And suddenly the trip took on a more exciting perspective - in which turn is the bus going to drive off the road and tumble down in the valley…? Now, not now, now….considering how they drive in Greece I’m amazed that there are no more cars and other motor vehicles lying in heaps on the side of the roads?

Having reached Delphi, one immediately notice how beautifully located is sits on the mountainside and it is said that when Zeus released two eagles from opposite ends of the world, their paths crossed in the sky above Delphi, establishing Delphi as the centre of the world. And on what was a very hot summer day (over +40), I stumbled out of an air-conditioned tour bus and almost collapsed in the sudden heat. After pouring a bottle of water over myself I proceeded up the Sacred Way, leading up to the temple and a beautiful view over the valley beneath and the mountains across. It’s a magnificent site that makes you think of solitude and contemplation and the fact that this also was the site for the famous Oracle is quite fitting.

Delfi is well worth a visit when you’re in Athens. And after touring the temple site you can easily walk the 250 meters north and you will reach the small town of Delphi, bursting with souvenir shops and good restaurants to end your day in a beautiful part of Greece.

Lefteris Theofanopoulos (Greece):
We kindly invite you to visit
http://www.gtp.gr/AncientDelphi

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