Saturday 7 March 2009

Eagles and Delphi.




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Click to enlarge.
This week is dedicated to Greece, so therefore this legend of Delphi!

Eagles often play an important role in ancient history.
Legend tells us that Delphi was the point where two eagles, which had been released by Zeus at different ends of the world, had met again after their flights across the skies. Zeus threw the Sacred Stone at this exact point, and Delphi became known as the centre of the world.
All those wishing to consult the Oracle would come here. The Oracle of Delphi was a spiritual experience, in which advice and questions were asked to the spirit of Apollo.
The reply from Apollo would be channelled through priestesses, known as Pythia, who would be seated on a tripod over a mysterious chasm that expelled mystic vapours, said to enhance the channelling of Apollo. The priestess, who hadn't eaten nor drunk for three days had to chew then laurel leaves and became as we say in modern words "high" by the leaves and the vapours and said a lot of cryptic words, which were then translated by the priests.

9 comments:

Miss_Yves said...

De grandioses images d'un site chargé d'histoire et de culture.
La mythologie est toujours pleine d'enseignements.

Carol Murdock said...

Wil.....wonder how good her advice was being that she was "high" ?
xoxo,
Carol

Anonymous said...

Can't tell you how much I love all your pics of this trip - it was certainly worth it!! I also enjoyed your slide show, with all the art - you have a good eye for it (of course, it's because you are Dutch - een beetje vaderlandse trots mag wel hoor:) )

Michele said...

Oh this is quite interesting... I have something in my education of this but have forgotten... it was nice to relearn of this...
Such wonderful images...

Hugs♥

Arija said...

Thank you for your pictures of Delphi, we lost all ours in the fire so it is nice to look out fromt the temple again.

Renie Burghardt said...

What a wonderful legend of the two eagles meeting at Delphi! And what beautiful images. Thank you for sharing them with us, Wil. It is always interesting to learn something about other parts of the world.

Have a good weekend!

Renie

George said...

Thanks for all the information about Delphi. I knew some of this, but didn't know about the eagles. The pictures are wonderful, especially when enlarged.

Barbara Martin said...

Wonderful history behind the photos. And your header picture is grand.

pictureeachday said...

Ooh, I knew about the Oracle, but never knew the legend of the eagles. Thank you for sharing it!