Chapter 10 Temple motto

Woke up early today and headed to Delphi.That place is 170 kilometers northwest of Athens, and it is the second holy place in Greece besides Olympia. For a long period of time in ancient times, the states of Greece believed, the people of Asia Minor, and even the people of Sicily believed that Delphi was the center of the world and the center of the world's spiritual culture.There is indeed a stone there, which is regarded as the navel (Omphalos) of the earth. Why did this place name, which is not well-known to the world today, gain such a high status?When you get there, you will understand.Delphi is on the mountain, with a higher mountain wall in the background, facing the Gulf of Corinth. From the perspective of momentum, it must have become a stronghold of some primitive religion in ancient times.

In the age of Mycenaeans of which we have spoken, it was the place of worship of the goddess of the earth, Gis.At the end of the twelfth century BC, another more powerful god came from Crete, that is, Apollo, the sun god known to everyone.Apollo was handsome and strong, and soon replaced the goddess of the earth, and Delphi became his holy place.From then on, whenever the rulers near and far wanted to decide a major event, they always came here to ask Apollo for an oracle, and even whether a war broke out was decided here.Since Apollo was so important, all the states tried their best to offer gold, silver, ivory and other precious treasures as offerings. As a result, Delphi's financial resources ruled the roost for a while.

The procedure of asking for an oracle is as follows: at a certain time, a priestess of about fifty years old is selected, and she first goes to the holy spring to bathe, and then let her inhale the steam of the laurel tree burned in the temple, and she will be able to make Apollo possess him. body, and wrote the oracle in rhyme. Most of the oracles are ambiguous. According to historical records, the king of Lydia in West Asia did not know whether he should go to war with Persia, so he came to ask the oracle. The oracle said that once there was a war, a great empire would perish.The king of Lydia was overjoyed, and immediately used troops, but was defeated, so he came to question the priest. The priest explained: The great empire mentioned by the oracle was your country.

Divination and asking questions are the common cultural ecology of almost all ancient human communities. Our Chinese nation clearly engraved this process on oracle bones, but a public altar in a vast Eurasian region like Delphi is unique in the world. I wanted to see the navel of the earth, and when I asked, it was moved to a museum.Hurry up to the museum, and you will see it when you enter the gate. It is a small stone pier, drum-shaped, engraved with diamond-shaped patterns, but this is a replica after AD.He also wanted to see the holy spring where the priest bathed, and replied that it had already dried up because it was blocked by gravel.

In fact, I know that Delphi has long since dried up spiritually.When the rational Athenian civilization began to shine, its bleakness was doomed.Its final annihilation was during the prohibition of paganism in the Roman Empire, but between the sixth and fifth centuries BC, the spiritual and cultural center of Greece had undoubtedly moved to Athens. There are also clear signs at Delphi.Just outside the Temple of Apollo, there are engraved mottoes of the seven wise men, one of whom is called Talles, and his motto is: O man, know yourself! This sentence may seem ordinary, but engraved on the temple, it is obviously challenging.It at least shows that some people already have a lot of mistrust of oracles.

Who to trust?According to past practice, change to another god.But this time, it was people who were going to be replaced.Nor is it a deified man, but man himself.Then, this motto becomes a signpost pointing to another civilization leading to Athens. It was originally thought that such signposts had already become common signposts in the world, but after years of observation, it was discovered that many civilizations did not leave their Delphi to find their own Athens. October 3, 1999, Delphi, Greece, stayed overnight at the Royal Olympic Hotel in Athens