41. For discussion of Croesus’s offerings: Parke 1984, Flower 1991.
42. See Flower 1991: 67–68. Croesus may even have named one of his grandchildren Pythios after the oracle: Parke and Wormell 1956a: 139.
43. Parke and Wormell 53. Croesus went on to make Sparta his allies, an introduction possibly made by Delphi itself as the oracle told the Spartans to go to Croesus when they needed gold: Parke and Wormell 56. Croesus asked several other questions as well: Would he rule for a long time (Parke and Wormell 54), which received an equally ambiguous answer: “Till a mule becomes king of Persia.” He is also said to have asked about how to cure his dumb son (Parke and Wormell 55).
44. Further gifts to and from Delphi: Hdt. 1.54. See Kurke 2011: 58. For discussion of Croesus’s actions: Parke and Wormell 1956a: 135.
45. Glaucus: Parke and Wormell 35, 36. Aesop: Parke and Wormell 58. For discussion of Aesop as a test case of Delphic greed: Parke and Wormell 1956a: 398, Kurke 2011: 59–74.
46. Parke and Wormell 1956a: 331–39.
47. Prevalence of Dionysus in oracular accounts: Parke and Wormell 1956a: 331. Importance of Dionysiac cult and activity at Delphi: Roux 1976: 176. E.g., consultation of the oracle in the Hellenistic period by various guilds of Dionysiac actors: Parke and Wormell 349. See subsequent chapters for detailed discussion of Dionysus’s role at Delphi.
48. See Malkin 1987: 79.
49. Heracleia Pontice: Malkin 1987: 73–76. Chersonesus: Bowden 2005: 120.
50. Scott 22; Le Roy 1967: 70–76. In a site on a steep hillside, and in which over 80 percent of the roofs were of yellow Corinthian clay, the presence of a different roofing clay and style would have been very noticeable: Scott 2010: 51. In addition, in the 540s BC, Cyrene, founded thanks to an oracle from Delphi, would turn back to the oracle to ask for help during a period of political turmoil and for which the oracle helped appoint a mediator, Demonax of Mantinea: Malkin 1989: 139, Scott 2012: 14–44.
51. Scott 11, 12, 17. For discussion: Scott 2010: 49.
52. Scott 23 and 32. For discussion: Scott 2010: 50.
53. Bouleuterion: Scott 2010: 48–49. Cnidian Treasury: Scott 33. Scott 2010: 47. Naxian Sphinx: Scott 21; Scott 2010: 46.
54. Hdt. 2.134–35; Scott 9. Plutarch, in the first century AD, recounts how his friends were outraged that a dedication from a courtesan could have been accepted in a sanctuary like Delphi: Plut. Mor. 401A.
55. The discovery and initial report of the burial: Amandry 1939b, Amandry 1977, Picard 1991: 191–226, Luce 2008: 415.
CHAPTER 5. FIRE
1. Also to be included in the Delphic “portfolio” is the 150–200 km of “sacred land”—the territory around Delphi declared sacred following the “First Sacred War”—which Delphi administered. In the second half of the sixth century BC, there seems to have been a specific magistrate in charge of it, who may also have had a role in running the Pythian games: Rousset 2002a: 212, 285 and inscription 33 (550–25 BC).
2. For the ancient sources on the fire, see Hdt. 2.180; 5.62.2–3; Paus. 10.5.13. For the melting of Croesus’s dedications: Parke and Wormell 1956a: 143.
3. Hdt. 2.180. Herodotus chooses to use the word “automatos.”
4. Scott 2010: 56–60. For a recent discussion of the new boundary walls, see: Bommelaer 2011: 19–25.
5. For the stone quarries that fed the building programs at Delphi, see: Amandry 1981a: 714–21, Bommelaer 1991: 245–47.
6. Davies 2001a: 213.
7. Cost of temple rebuilding: the daily pay for an Athenian juryman was approximately half a drachma (by the end of the fifth century BC), whereas a skilled hoplite could expect a drachma. There were 6,000 drachmas in a talent. See Burford 1969: 109. Contribution from Egypt: Parke and Wormell 1956a: 143–44.
8. De La Coste-Messelière 1946: 285.
9. Schachter 1994: 295–98.
10. Polycrates of Samos: Parke and Wormell 67. Archesilaus III of Cyrene: Hdt. 4.163; Parke and Wormell 69 and 70. See also Malkin 1989: 139, Parker 2000: 92.
11. Pactyes: Hdt. 1.157.2–160; Parker 2000: 92–93. Cnidians: Hdt. 1.174.4; Parke and Wormell 63.
12. Parke and Wormell 75, 76, 77, 78.
13. Murder of Cylon: Hdt. 5.71; Thuc. 1.126; Osborne 2009: 202. Alcmaeon: see Hdt. 6.125. Parke and Wormell 1956a: 144. For the Alcmaeonids and Delphi: Daux 1940: 42–44.
14. Factions in Athens: Osborne 2009: 268. Peisistratus achieving power in Athens: Hdt. 1.59–64; Arist. Ath. Pol. 13–17.
15. Claiming exile the entire time: Hdt. 6.123. Cleisthenes as archon: Lewis 2009: 53, Osborne 2009: 269.
16. Miltiades the Elder: Parke and Wormell 60, 61. Parke and Wormell 1956a: 145. Megacles and Apollo Ptoios: IG I3 1469; Schachter 1994: 291, Athanassaki 2011: 263. Schachter argues that this sanctuary was chosen in order to gain Theban support for the Alcmaeonids, who had traditionally supported Peisistratus: Schachter 1994: 293.
17. No dedications at Delphi, see Osborne 2009: 269. Cult of Apollo Pythios in Athens: Colin 1905. Later dedication of an altar to Apollo Pythios and the twelve gods: Meiggs and Lewis 1988: No. 11. Peisistratus responsible for burning the temple of Apollo: Schol. Pind. Pyth. 7.9b (FGrHist 628 F 115).
18. Contractors unable to finish: Parke and Wormell 1956a: 144–46. It is suggested that the Alcmaeonids may have used the money from the contract to bolster their campaign to overthrow the Peisistratids in Athens, and subsequently returned with their own cash to complete the temple: Parke and Wormell 1956a: 146.
19. Hdt. 5.61. They may also have been responsible for designing the theme of the pedimental sculpture (which was without doubt completed by Athenian sculptors): Knell 1998: 50–51, Athanassaki 2011: 250.
20. Hdt. 5.63.1; 5.90; 6.123; Parke and Wormell 79; Parke and Wormell 1956a: 147.
21. Part of wider negotiations: Parke and Wormell 1956a: 147. Attractive to Sparta: Osborne 2009: 277. Four separate campaigns: Hdt. 5.63–76.
22. Hansen 1992: 146–49.
23. As argued by Boëthius 1918. See Zahrnt 1989, Athanassaki 2011: 250. It also reflected the established of a permanent sacred way for visitors to Delphi from Athens: a processional route, which, especially at the time of the Pythian games, the Athenians knew as the Pythais: Roux 1976: 174.
24. Reuse of stones: Jacquemin 1999: 232. Boundary walls: Levi 1988. Sacred Way: Roesch 1984: 187–88, Jacquemin 1999: 32–33, Scott 2010: 24.
25. Area later to be occupied by stadium as work and living area for craftsmen: de La Coste-Messelière 1946: 283, Aupert 1977: 243, Aupert 1979: 17–20. Area of later theater established for worship of Dionysus?: de La Coste-Messelière 1969: 747. Area above temple terrace used for worship of Poseidon: Scott 2010: 61.
26. Expansion: Demangel and Daux 1923: 65, Jacquemin 1999: 28. Temple sculpture: Poulsen 1908: 337–41, Demangel and Daux 1923: 15. Another structure was also built at this time in the Athena sanctuary, possibly celebrating the worship of Athena and Artemis: Roux 1989: 62–63.
27. See Roux 1976: 184–95. See also the map with some of the sanctuaries to these divinities and heroes, which we can pinpoint in Jacquemin 1999: Planche 1.
28. See Roux 1976: 196–206.
29. Roux 1976: 165. See also: Maass 1997: 76–88, Amandry 2000. The Labyadai, a phratry (civic unit of the polis) at Delphi, known through an inscription dating to the fourth century BC, had to participate in fifteen sacred banquets a year, in addition to rituals for their own cults, as well as those of the city as a whole and those of the Amphictyony celebrated at Delphi: Rhodes and Osborne 2003: No. 1.
30. Scott 57. See Thuc. 1.13.6; Daux 1958b: 252, 285, Jacquemin 1999: 72, 85, 142, 248, 252.
31. Reuse of old boundary walls: Structures Scott 42, 43, 47, 49. See Partida 2000: 119, 129–30, 195. New Sicyonian treasury: Scott 50. See Laroche and Nenna 1990. Compare the more desultory treasury built at Olympia by the Sicyonians in the same period: Scott 2010: 163–69.
32. Siphnian story: Hdt. 3.57; Parke and Wormell 1956a: 150–51. The Gigantomachy relief: de La
Coste-Messelière and Picard 1928: 126, 143. For discussion of the decisions taken regarding the Siphnian treasury in the context of the wider issues surrounding the degree of control dedicators at Delphi had over where their dedications were placed and what they looked like, see Scott 2007, Scott 2010: 62–65.
33. New treasuries: Scott 2010: 68–69. For the importance of Croton in the West in this period: Dunbabin 1948: 355–63. For Etruscan desire to link itself more closely with the Greek world (a goal now achievable through a presence at Delphi): Briquel 1984: 218, 220–21. Name change of Corinthian treasury: Plut. Mor. 400D-F for Delphi agreeing, but Olympia refusing; FD III 3 153–54 (inscription 153 is dated to 540 BC and confirms the name change to “Corinthian treasury,” and 154 is a promanteia inscription from mid-fifth century BC confirming it is the Corinthians who have the right to skip the oracle queue).
34. Siphnian question to oracle: Parke and Wormell 65 and 66. Outcomes: Hdt. 3.57.3; Paus. 10.11.2.
35. Hdt. 5.66.2. See Parke and Wormell 1956a: 147.
36. Cleomenes’s interventions in Athens: see Hdt. 6.106–107; Lewis 2009: 54. Cleisthenes’s reforms: see Hdt. 5. 63–76; Osborne 2009: 278–79.
37. Pythia picking ten heroes: Parke and Wormell 80; Parke and Wormell 1956a: 148, Bowden 2005: 95. See also Hdt. 5.66, 6.131; Arist. Ath. Pol. 21.6. Fighting against the Boeotians and Chalcidians: Meiggs and Lewis 1988: No. 15. Sanctioning a fighting force: Bowden 2005: 98–99.
38. Thebes: Parke and Wormell 81; Parke and Wormell 1956a: 148–9. Aeginetans: Parke and Wormell 82; Hdt. 5.89.2.
39. See Scott 2010: 68–69. For the craftsmen dedication: Homolle 1909: 54. For the Chian altar: Amandry 1986: 209, 218. It had a dedicating inscription along its top edge facing visitors as they approached the temple (FD III 3 212) carved into a layer of black Chian stone. For the Phocian oracular consultation and subsequent dedication of shields (they dedicated half their booty at Delphi and half at the sanctuary of Apollo at Abae): Hdt. 8.37; Parke and Wormell 68; Parke and Wormell 1956a: 157.
40. The Athenians in particular seem to have dedicated a particular kind of figurine at the cave, which, while similar to those dedicated at and near the Acropolis in Athens, are different to those found in the Apollo and Athena sanctuaries below. Athenians it seems were making dedications specifically tailored to their intended location of dedication within the Delphic complex: Picard 1991: 245, Luce 2008: 413.
41. See Hdt. 5.74–75; Osborne 2009: 278.
42. In contrast, the dedication of the Chian altar is often interpreted as a strong statement by Chios that it intended to defy Persia: it was tying its trousers to the Greek mast by dedicating at Delphi: Hdt. 6.8, 15–16, 20, 31.
43. Hdt. 6.49.
44. Hdt. 6.66; Parke and Wormell 1956a: 94–98, 160–61. Demaratus would return to Greece as an advisor to King Xerxes of Persia, in particular advising him not to underestimate the Spartans at Thermopylae.
45. Consultation after the battle: Parke and Wormell 90. Treasury: Amandry 1998, Neer 2004, Scott 2010: 78–79. Statue group alongside the treasury and inscription: FD III 2 1; Audiat 1930, Audiat 1933: 61. Shields and inscription on the temple: FD III 4 190; Paus. 10.19.4.
46. See Osborne 2009: 312.
47. Pind. Pyth. 7. See Parke and Wormell 1956a: 150. For the conciliatory tone: Athanassaki 2011: 236–45. The “learning curve” for the Alcmaeonids is clear. In Pind. Pyth. 8, also probably commissioned by the Alcmaeonids, but written sometime in the decade before Megacles’s win (and Pind. Pyth. 7), the Alcmaeonids’ own role in constructing the Apollo temple at Delphi is made clear: Hubbard 2011: 362.
48. Debates in Athens: Thuc. 1.93.3. Argos: Parke and Wormell 92. Crete: Parke and Wormell 93. Spartans: Parke and Wormell 100. Delphians: Parke and Wormell 96. This is the explanation for the cult of the winds worshiped at Delphi: Roux 1976: 200. The altar for the cult was situated inside the sanctuary of Thyia, location of the latter uncertain, but probably near the Castalian fountain: Jacquemin 1992b.
49. Parke and Wormell 1956a: 165.
50. Hdt. 8.3; Xen. Hell. 6.4.30; Diod. Sic. 11.14.2; Paus. 10.8.7; Parke and Wormell 1956a: 172. These heroes subsequently became the focus of cult practice at Delphi: Roux 1976: 196–67.
51. Hdt. 7.163.2.
52. Hdt. 9.42.2; Parke and Wormell 98; Bowden 2005: 35.
53. Original response: Parke and Wormell 94. Second question and response: Parke and Wormell 95; Hdt. 7.139.5–144; Parker 2000: 87. See Bowden 2005: 100–103.
54. Thucydides’ argument: Hdt. 8.51.2. The decree: Meiggs and Lewis 1988: 23, Bowden 2005: 104–105, Lagogianni-Georgakarakos and Buraselis 2009: 74–77.
55. The historian Robert Parker argues that Delphi’s prestige was never higher than in the immediate aftermath of the Persian Wars: Parker 2000: 98.
56. Hdt. 7.132; Rhodes 2007: 34. A fourth century BC copy survives: Rhodes and Osborne 2003: No. 88.21–51.
57. Parke and Wormell 102.
58. Osborne 2009: 312.
CHAPTER 6. DOMINATION
1. Oracle’s response: Parke and Wormell 104. Euchidas’ run: it is about a 125-mile round trip: Parke and Wormell 1956a: 176.
2. Oath to dedicate at Delphi, see Hdt. 7.132. Amphictyonic statue group at Delphi: Paus. 10.19.1. Price on Ephialtes’ head: Parke and Wormell 1956a: 178.
3. Statue: Hdt. 8.151; Paus. 10.14.5. Statue base: Block inv. 1198 (formerly FD III 1 2). See Laroche and Jacquemin 1988, Bommelaer 1991: 169.
4. Asking Pythia if Apollo was satisfied: Hdt. 8.121–22; Parke and Wormell 105. In an effort to deny the accusation of Medism, show off their pro-Greek credentials, and retell history in the process, the Aeginetans also seem to have put up a monument at Marathon to commemorate that victory, even though they had had no role in the battle: Jacquemin 1999: 251.
5. E.g., the Preparethians and the Epidaurians: Scott 2010: 83–84.
6. Commemoration at other sanctuaries: Hdt. 9.81. Pausanias hijacking column: Thuc. 1.132; Bonner and Smith 1943: 2. Punishment of Pausanias: the Plataeans demanded that Sparta should be fined one thousand talents for Pausanias’s misdemeanor, and that Pausanias should remove the inscriptions: Thuc. 1.132; Diod. Sic. 11.33; Plut. Mor. 873C; Roux 1979: 54. Serpent column inscription: Meiggs and Lewis 1988: No. 27.
7. Carystians: Hdt. 9.30–31; Jacquemin 1999: 261. Alexander’s pro-Persian role?: Hdt. 8.142 and 9.44–45. The style of his offering (a large statue of himself) would, without doubt, have looked particularly inappropriate to the antityrannical city-states of Greece: Hammond and Griffith 1979: 103. For a wider discussion of the relationship between Macedon and Delphi: Miller 2000.
8. Refusing Themistocles’ dedications was later explained by way of the fact that Themistocles would soon find himself chased out of Athens and into the Persian court, whose acceptance of him might have been more difficult if he had been allowed by the Pythia to dedicate victory offerings from a Persian defeat. In reality, however, the Pythia’s choice is still not fully understood: Paus. 10.14.5; Parke and Wormell 106; Parke and Wormell 1956a: 177. Arguing against Sparta’s proposal: Plut. Vit. Them. 20.3.
9. The attachment between the Western Greek world and Delphi (and Olympia) in this period is striking: the other periodos sanctuaries—Isthmia and Nemea—do not receive any Western dedications in this period: Jacquemin 1999: 252. Gelon’s offerings: Scott 2010: 88–91.
10. Croton’s tripod: Jacquemin 1999: 173. Hieron’s victory dedications: Hieron offered a victory column next to Gelon’s for his victory at the battle of Cumae (474 BC), a statue of himself on the temple terrace, and a statue base in the southern half of the sanctuary: Bommelaer 1991: 188, Rougement 1991. Charioteer dedication: FD III 4 452. Reinscription by Polyzalus: Rolley 1990, Adornato 2008. Cyrene dedication: Valavanis 2004: 202.
11. See Fontenrose 1988: 128. We have a surviving inscription from the mid-fifth century BC with a list of those who gave hospitality to the theoroi on their journeys: Daux 1968: 629–30. It is interesting to note the balance of responsibility
between the city and the Amphictyony for the organization. The city sent out the theoroi: CID 10.45–46; Sourvinou-Inwood 2000: 16. But the Amphictyony were responsible for getting the sanctuary in order (CID IV 1: 380 BC), and both groups could create new events in the Pythian games.
12. Hoplitodromoi race: Fontenrose 1988: 126. Painting: Plin. HN 35.9.58. In the first competition a man called Timagoras apparently beat Panainus, the brother of the famous sculptor Pheidias. Mime and pantomime: Valavanis 2004: 194–95.
13. Pind. Pyth. 1, 4, 5, 6, 7 (alongside Pyth. 2 and 3 also most probably for chariot races). Also commemorated by Pindar were winners in the wrestling, the hoplite race, running races, and flute-playing competition. The iron chair in which Pindar sat and sang his hymns when he visited Delphi was dedicated inside the temple of Apollo after his death: Paus. 10.24.5. A religious cult was established in 442 BC to Pindar after his death, at the behest of the Delphic oracle, and the choice portion of sacrifice was set aside for the spirit of the poet and could be claimed by his descendants: Paus. 9.23.3; Parke and Wormell 119; Parke and Wormell 1956a: 399, Johnston 2005: 284.
14. For the various versions of Neoptolemos’s death and their discrepancies, see Parke and Wormell 1956a: 315–18. The Aenianes at Delphi: Paus. 10.24.4, 6. The cult tomb of Neoptolemus at Delphi: Pouilloux and Roux 1963: 102–23, Pouilloux 1984. Neoptolemus fighting to protect Delphi: Roux 1976: 197.
15. The oracle was involved in this period in setting up honors for historical individuals, such as Orrhippus of Megara, the athlete who had been the first to run naked at the Olympics (720 BC). His tomb in his home city carried an inscription saying the monument had been set up with Delphic approval: Parke and Wormell 89. Several other such instances of Delphic involvement with the establishment of honors are known: Parke and Wormell 1956a: 352–57.
Delphi Page 36