The Oracle of Delphi—Was She Really Stoned?

https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org ^ | July 18, 2023 | Jelle Zeilinga de Boer and John R. Hale

[Beowulf9]

Archaeologists are good at recovering things left behind by the past, such as buildings, incense altars, tools and relief carvings. What they are not so good at recovering are the ideas, feelings and emotions—the innerness—of sentient ancient beings. It’s one thing to examine a temple’s holy of holies; it’s another thing to understand what went on there and what people experienced. Sometimes, however, there’s an exception to the rule.

[Beowulf9]

Numerous classical authors report that natural phenomena played an essential part in one of their most sacred religious rituals: the oracle at Delphi. According to the geographer Strabo (c. 64 B.C.–25 A.D.), for example, “the seat of the oracle is a cavern hollowed down in the depths … from which arises pneuma [breath, vapor, gas] that inspires a divine state of possession” (Geography 9.3.5). Over the past five years, a team of researchers—a geologist, an archaeologist, a chemist and a toxicologist—has put that claim to the test, making it much more likely that we will actually understand what happened at Delphi. When ancient Greeks and Romans had to make decisions, they consulted the gods—by drawing lots, casting dice, interpreting dreams and analyzing such signs as sneezes, thunderbolts and flying birds. But for matters of the utmost importance, they sought to hear the words of the gods in the mouths of oracles.

[thesligoduffyflynns]

...at this point in time anything is possible

[mountainlion]

Ddidn’t this go on for 400 years?

[DannyTN]

Maybe instead of stoned, she was gifted, or maybe even possessed.

[beethovenfan]

Did they find a bong?

[marktwain]

Maybe instead of stoned, she was gifted, or maybe even possessed.

Or some combination thereof.

[Joe 6-pack]

A couple years back, there were some researchers that threw out a theory regarding ghost sightings in old haunted houses. They proposed that at least some older structures, particularly those that had been abandoned or unoccupied, were subject to the cultivation of molds and fungi that may cause visual or auditory hallucinations.

IMHO, it's a thought that bears at least some consideration and may also be at play in a dank Greek cave a few millennia ago.

[Beowulf9]

I found it interesting in this youtube video about Vespasian that “Nero consulted the Delphic Oracle, asking how long he might expect to live. The reply, cryptic and ironic as ever, was “beware the age of 73”. Being 31, Nero rejoiced that he had 42 years to live, meanwhile the governor of Spain, Sulspicius Galba, was drilling his soldiers to march on Rome. Galba’s age was 73”.

I found it so interesting I began to read about the Oracle and it led me to this article.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUdotxA0ws8

[Albion Wilde]

Very interesting, thorough and believable article, especially when they compared the likely chemical composition of the gases to those inhaled by modern druggies who huff or inhale similar chemicals, and noted the similarity of their trance-like reactions.

I’ve never been to Delphi, but I have visited the cave of the Oracle of Cumae in Southern Italy, which was settled by Greeks and mentioned in the postscript to this article. Unforgettable experience.

[Albion Wilde]

Ping!

[Trumpet 1]

Eucalyptus leaves smoldering. Inhaled by the priestess. Then she has a vision. She relates the vision to the important person.

[Beowulf9]

That sounds like a really interesting trip. To visit one of those caves. Wow. I’d love to feel the atmosphere there.

[Celtic Conservative]

I had a friend that was a sound engineer and he thought ghosts were an electromagnetic phenomenon. He thought the electromagnetic properties of the brain were somehow “impressed” on a certain area with the right conditions and “played back” when conditions were right.

CC

[Beowulf9]

Beautiful.

[Joe 6-pack]

While I don't discount people having encounters with spiritual entities, i.e. demons or angels, I think there are also any number of other plausible explanations.

I had a philosophy professor in college that also explored parapsychology. He believed that just as some people seem to display precognitive abilities, some people may be postcognitive and get a sense of events after they occurred, i.e. a visitor to a civil war battlefield may report seeing a ghost of a union or rebel soldier in 2023, but it's not the soldier's ghost that wandered forward in time, but rather, the mind's eye of the 2023 visitor that has wandered backwards (or maybe just a re-enactor that missed his tour bus ;)

[Spacetrucker]

Mushrooms, FRiend ... mushrooms.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Ergot mold on bread used in the Delphic mysteries and fumes together probably induced hallucinations in the slave girl priestess (the oracle) in the tripod seat over the opening in the worlds navel.

Picture of Temple at Dephi Greece. I think it was located this side of the bush in the center in this picture.

Amphitheater at Delphi

Stadium at Delphi

Pythia (/ˈpɪθiə/; Ancient Greek: Πυθία [pyːˈtʰíaː]) was the name of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. She specifically served as its oracle and was known as the Oracle of Delphi. Her title was also historically glossed in English as the Pythoness. (From wikipedia)

[SunkenCiv]

The rest of the keyword, sorted:

• The Oracle of Delphi -- Was She Really Stoned? [06/03/2020]
• Archaeologists find oldest Greek relic in Slovak area [06/05/2018]
• 'Eternal flames' of ancient times could spark interest of modern geologists [05/18/2015]
• Ancient oracles offered guidance and allayed fears [ Oracle of Delphi ] [08/07/2011]
• Secret of Delphi Found in Ancient Text [07/25/2010]
• The Return of the Bicameral Mind [03/11/2010]
• Questioning the Delphic Oracle [12/30/2007]
• Greek sculpture 'from throne of Midas' [2002] [04/24/2007]
• Questioning the Delphic Oracle [07/15/2003]

[Kartographer]

Behold the New Oracle of Delphi!

[NWFree]

She was tripping