The Oracle of Delphi

The Athena temple complex in the Pleistos River Valley.

The reconstructed Treasury of the Athenians, built to commemorate the victory at the Battle of Marathon of the Greeks over the Persians in 490BC. Buildings were dedicated across the site, built by the Greek city-states to commemorate victories and thank the Oracle for her advice which contributed to their success.

Remains of the Theatre at Delphi, where mystery plays were performed and festivals were held.

The Oracle of Delphi has long captured the imagination of researchers and students of ancient Greece. This ancient temple served as a focal point of spiritual wisdom and guidance to the people of ancient Greece for centuries. It was dedicated to Apollo, God of the Sun.

The Temple was likely established in the 8th century BC, at the latest, although some date the temple to as early as 1400 BC. The Temple may have been constructed upon the remains of an earlier Mycenaean settlement that collapsed sometime in the 9th or 10th centuries BC after the conclusion of the Trojan War. Traces of a cataclysm that affected the entire region of Bronze Age Greece, which was probably a massive earthquake, have been uncovered in Bronze Age kingdoms including Mycenae and Minoa.

The precise beginnings of ancient Greek culture, however, and her sacred traditions are a mystery. However, an Egyptian record that was discovered in the 19th century referred to as the “Medinet Habu” inscription (on an ancient pylon discovered in Egypt) speaks of a mysterious “Sea Peoples” from the North from whom the Egyptians successfully defended themselves, yet overran the rest of the Aegean. This inscription has been dated by archaeologists and historians to around 1175 BC.

The identity of the “Sea Peoples” has never been identified by historians but it is reasonable to speculate that they may have been early Celts from southern Europe who invaded the region (including Italy) and intermixed with the last of the Bronze Age Greeks. They became the founders of ancient Greece. The Celts brought their culture and spiritual Mysteries - and unique path to initiation - with them which would have influenced the construction and rebuilding of temples and Mystery Centers across Greece including Delphi.

Historians attribute the first of the mainland Greeks to have originated with the "Dorians" who conquered the Peloponnese between 1100 and 1000 BC. There were probably waves of migrations from the North prior to this time. The three tribes of the Dorians where the Hylleis, Pamphyloi, and Dymanes. These three tribes were apparently quite separate in origin from the four tribes found among the Ionian Greeks. It could be that the Dorians were, in fact, tribes of the Celts.

It is important to consider that the term "Celt" is an innovation of a historian in 1707 named Edward Lhuyd to characterize the languages and history of the early inhabitants of Great Britain. Historians traditionally refer to the tribes of Europe as "Gauls"; the Gallic peoples. The people of the ancient tribes would have identified themselves by their tribal names such as the "Hylleis" (or "Heracleidae" or "Herculeans"), Dorians, etc.

Above: A scene from the north wall of Medinuet Habu depicts the Egyptian campaign against the Sea Peoples, in what has come to be known as the Battle of Delta (c. 1175 BC), during the reign of Ramesses III. The heiroglphs on the tablet do not provide a proper name of this invading culture except to say that they originated from the "northern countries." These peoples numbered in the thousands, sailed by ship, and settled throughout the region after blending with local tribes.

The guidance of the high priestess, and those who served the Temple, was widely sought after in the ancient world and by leaders of the city-states. Her responses, as perceived by the Greeks of the ancient world, were uttered under the influence of spiritual forces ("enthusiasmos") that emanated from Apollo. The Apollo mysteries are the Sun Mysteries; the light of the spiritual sun, knowledge, initiation, and higher consciousness. The Oracle of Delphi emerged as a significant influence by the end of the 7th century BC and continued until the late 4th century AD. At its height, the Delphic Oracle was the most prestigious and authoritative Oracle among the Greeks.

The term "Oracle" is derived from the word "ocular" which means seeing or sight. The term carries with it a prophetic, visionary aspect. In the ancient world, the Oracles were also known as "Sybils." These priestesses were typically virgins in the same stream of activity as the initiates of the mysteries, and were genuine seers to varying degrees. They were revered and protected by law.

An Oracle, or Sybil, was typically a woman who was imbued with an inherited - and cultivated - form of clairvoyance that was spiritually connected to the elements. References to Sibyls and Oracles can be found throughout ancient Greek writings and in historical documents. Notable authors who mentioned the Oracle of Delphi include Aeschylus, Aristotle, Clement of Alexandria, Diodorus, Diogenes, Euripides, Herodotus, Julian, Justin, Livy, Ovid, Plato, Plutarch, Sophocles, Strabo, and Thucydides. In the 20th century, Dr. Rudolf Steiner provided deep insights into the ancient Oracles, Sybils, and Mystery Centers. Some of the leading personalities of the ancient world who consulted the Oracle include Philip of Macedon, Alexander the Great, Themistocles, and King Leonidas of Sparta.

To the ancient Greeks, the power of the Sibyls and Oracles was perceived as a valid means of spiritual perception and communication. It was a bridge to divine guidance that extended beyond mere opinion, analysis, or reflection as is the case today. There was a non-thinking aspect to the prophecies that was rooted in a genuine psychic ability. In art, for example in Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel, the Sybils are portrayed as being connected to the primordial elements; earth, air, fire, and water. In a lecture delivered in 1913, Dr. Rudolf Steiner informed his listeners that:

“…Michelangelo places the Sibyls, who are open to the elemental powers of the Earth. Thus, the hair of one Sibyl is blown about by the wind; even her blue mantle billows in the wind, and under the influence of the wind she utters her prophecies. We see another Sibyl seized by inner fire; in the typically assertive gesture of her hand, we see the fire, the earthly element. We could look again at these Sibyls one by one and we should find that they live in the midst of the forces which play into their souls from the elemental surroundings of the Earth. These Sibylline forces, which so to speak draw into their souls the spirit of the elements and bring it to expression.” -Steiner, Rudolf. Christ and the Spiritual World: The Search for the Holy Grail, Lecture 4. December 31, 1913.

Details on precisely how the Pythia operated are scarce, missing, or non-existent from surviving works. It is clear that she used a Tripod and was attended to by servants and colleagues; both men and women. Historians and writers who recorded information about the Oracle in any detail are from the 1st century BC to the 4th century AD and gave conflicting accounts. One account claimed that the Oracle-Pythia delivered messages in a frenzied state of mind induced by vapors rising from a chasm in the rock and that she spoke gibberish which priests interpreted as the enigmatic prophecies. Herodotus, writing in the fifth century BC, described the Pythia as speaking in dactylic hexameters (a form of dialectics and poetry used in ancient Greek myths).

The earliest account of the origin of the Delphic oracle is provided in the Homeric Hymn to Delphic Apollo, whose scholarship dates to the mid-6th century BC. The mythic tale describes how Apollo chose his first priests - who were surely initiates - whom he selected in their "swift ship." They were "Cretans from Minos city of Knossos who were voyaging to Pylos. But Apollo, who had a certain Delphinios as one of his apostles leapt into the ship in the form of a dolphin.

Dolphin-Apollo revealed himself to the terrified Cretans and bade them to follow him to the "place where you will have rich offerings." In light of Anthroposophy, most references in the ancient myths to the ocean or sea refer to activities and events that occurred in the spiritual worlds; either between death and rebirth or during higher states of consciousness that the initiates - including the Oracles - possessed and attained through deep states of meditation. It was certainly the case that the ancient Oracles spent time in meditation, and expanded their awareness, to such a degree that they could deliver a genuine message from the spiritual spheres.

In the traditions associated with Apollo, the Oracle gave prophecies during the nine warmest months of each year. During the winter months, Apollo deserted his temple, and his place was taken by his divine half-brother Dionysius, whose tomb was also within the temple. The symbol and mystery of Dionysos in the ancient world, which carries within it a unique stream, is the grape or grapevine which can be seen on coins, pottery, and carvings in Greece and Rome. Contrary to popular belief today, the mystery of Dionysos carries within it a valid and deeper mystery connected to the evolution of the human Ego to the human soul. Dionysos is not synonymous with the God Bacchus; the God of intoxication and wine. -Refer to Rudolf Steiner, An Esoteric Cosmology, GA 94, VII. Occultism and the Gospel of St. John, https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA094/English/SGP1978/19060531p01.html

There is also a mystery connected to the stream of Apollo; the God of the Sun. This high spiritual individuality, who plays the most vital role in the evolution of the world was called by a different name during the Greek period than he is today. Dr. Steiner informs us that:

"It was out of the Hyperborean land, from the North, that Apollo came to the Oracle at Delphi. Through the Pythia, in summer, he spoke the most important things that the Greeks wished to hear. In the autumn he returned to his Hyperborean land. We connected this journey of Apollo with the journeys of the sun; but it is the spiritual sun that speaks through Apollo, and the spiritual sun goes away to the north, while the physical sun goes to the south.

The myths are seen to be endlessly full of wisdom if they are considered in the light of true occultism. But in revering Apollo the Greeks did not look on the sun as his visible sign in the heavens; Apollo was not a sun god in this sense. For a god symbolized by the external sun the Greeks had Helios; it was he who regulated the course of the sun in the sky. Even if we take only the physical sun into account, we find that its influence on earth-life is not confined to the direct effects of its rays. The sun works in the first place through air and water and water-vapour, and so through the vapours which (as we have seen) rise from the site of the Castalian spring and coil round the neighboring hillsides like a dragon—the dragon killed by the Greek St. George.

The sun works in all the elements, and after it has worked into them, inoculated them, its activity plays out from them on to human beings, through the servants whom we call elemental spirits. In the elements the Sun-Spirit is actively alive, and this is the activity the Greeks saw in their Apollo."

-Rudolf Steiner, Christ and the Spiritual World - The Search for the Holy Grail, GA 149, Lecture IV, https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA149/English/RSP1963/19131231p01.html

The "Hyperborean" land was most likely in the region of Ireland which is also referred to as "Hibernia" in ancient texts. At one point, before the Great Flood which occurred around 9500 BC, the region of Ireland extended far into the West from her present location and served an important role in carrying the Spiritual Mysteries - which were referred to as "Oracles" during that time, out of Atlantis and the founding of antediluvian cultures including India. Dr. Steiner referred to the sacred mysteries of Ireland as a unique impulse that moved throughout the world throughout ancient history. He referred to Ireland's spiritual mysteries, which were carried forward by the Druids and the Celts in the European region, as the "Hibernian Mysteries."

"Priestess at Delphi" by John Collier 1891

The guidance of the high priestess, and those who served the Temple, was widely sought after in the ancient world and by leaders of the city-states. Her responses, as perceived by the Greeks of the ancient world, were uttered under the influence of spiritual forces ("enthusiasmos") that emanated from Apollo. The Apollo mysteries are the Sun Mysteries; the light of the spiritual sun, knowledge, initiation, and higher consciousness. The Oracle of Delphi emerged as a significant influence by the end of the 7th century BC and continued until the late 4th century AD. At its height, the Delphic Oracle was the most prestigious and authoritative Oracle among the Greeks.

The term "Oracle" is derived from the word "ocular" which means seeing or sight. The term carries with it a prophetic, visionary aspect. In the ancient world, the Oracles were also known as "Sybils." These priestesses were typically virgins in the same stream of activity as the initiates of the mysteries, and were genuine seers to varying degrees. They were revered and protected by law.

An Oracle, or Sybil, was typically a woman who was imbued with an inherited - and cultivated - form of clairvoyance that was spiritually connected to the elements. References to Sibyls and Oracles can be found throughout ancient Greek writings and in historical documents. Notable authors who mentioned the Oracle of Delphi include Aeschylus, Aristotle, Clement of Alexandria, Diodorus, Diogenes, Euripides, Herodotus, Julian, Justin, Livy, Ovid, Plato, Plutarch, Sophocles, Strabo, and Thucydides. In the 20th century, Dr. Rudolf Steiner provided deep insights into the ancient Oracles, Sybils, and Mystery Centers. Some of the leading personalities of the ancient world who consulted the Oracle include Philip of Macedon, Alexander the Great, Themistocles, and King Leonidas of Sparta.

To the ancient Greeks, the power of the Sibyls and Oracles was perceived as a valid means of spiritual perception and communication. It was a bridge to divine guidance that extended beyond mere opinion, analysis, or reflection as is the case today. There was a non-thinking aspect to the prophecies that was rooted in a genuine psychic ability. In art, for example in Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel, the Sybils are portrayed as being connected to the primordial elements; earth, air, fire, and water. In a lecture delivered in 1913, Dr. Rudolf Steiner informed his listeners that:

“…Michelangelo places the Sibyls, who are open to the elemental powers of the Earth. Thus, the hair of one Sibyl is blown about by the wind; even her blue mantle billows in the wind, and under the influence of the wind she utters her prophecies. We see another Sibyl seized by inner fire; in the typically assertive gesture of her hand, we see the fire, the earthly element. We could look again at these Sibyls one by one and we should find that they live in the midst of the forces which play into their souls from the elemental surroundings of the Earth. These Sibylline forces, which so to speak draw into their souls the spirit of the elements and bring it to expression.”

-Steiner, Rudolf. Christ and the Spiritual World: The Search for the Holy Grail, Lecture 4. December 31, 1913.