(anc. geog.), a town of Phocis situated on the south-west extremity of mount Parnassus. It was famous for a temple and oracle of that god, of which the following was said to be the origin: A number of goats that were feeding on mount Parnassus came near a place which had a deep and long perforation. The steam which issued from the hole seemed to inspire the goats, and they played and frisked about in such an uncommon manner, that the goat-herd was tempted to lean on the hole, and see what mysteries the place contained. He was immediately seized with a fit of enthusiasm, his expressions were wild and extravagant, and passed for prophecies. This circumstance was soon known about the country, and many experienced the same enthusiastic inspiration. The place was revered; a temple was soon after erected in honour of Apollo; and a city built, which became the chief and most illustrious in Phocis. The influence of its god has controlled the councils of states, directed the course of armies, and decided the fate of kingdoms. The ancient history of Greece is full of his energy, and an early register of his authority. The circumjacent cities were the stewards and guardians of the god. Their deputies composed the famous Amphictyonic assembly, which once guided Greece.

The temple of Apollo, it is related, was at first a kind kind of cottage covered with boughs of laurel; but he was early provided with a better habitation. An edifice of stone was erected by Trophonius and Agamedes, which subsisted about 700 years, and was burned in the year 636 after the taking of Troy, and 548 before Christ. It is mentioned in the hymn to Apollo ascribed to Homer. An opulent and illustrious family, called Alcmeonidae, which had fled from Athens and the tyrant Hippias, contracted with the deputies for the building of a new temple, and exceeded their agreement. The front was raised with Parian marble, instead of the stone called Porus; which resembled it in whiteness, but was not so heavy. A Corinthian was the architect. The pediments were adorned with Diana, and Latona, and Apollo, and the Muses; the setting of Phebus or the sun; with Bacchus, and the women called Thyades. The architraves were decorated with golden armour; bucklers suspended by the Athenians after the battle of Marathon, and shields taken from the Gauls under Brennus. In the portico were inscribed the celebrated maxims of the seven sages of Greece. There was an image of Homer, and in the cell was an altar of Neptune, with statues of the Fates, and of Jupiter and Apollo, who were furred named Leaders of the Fates. Near the hearth before the altar, at which Neoptolemus the son of Achilles was slain by a priest, stood the iron chair of Pindar. In the sanctuary was an image of Apollo gilded. The inclosure was of great extent, and filled with treasuries, in which many cities had consecrated tenths of spoil taken in war, and with the public donations of renowned states in various ages. It was the grand repository of ancient Greece, in which the labours of the sculptor and statuary, gods, heroes, and illustrious persons, were seen collected and arranged; the inequalities of the area or acclivity contributing to a full display of the noble assemblage.

The oracles were delivered by a priestess called Pythia, who received the prophetic influence in the following manner. A lofty tripod, decked with laurel, was placed over the aperture, whence the sacred vapour issued. The priestess, after washing her body, and especially her hair, in the cold water of Calithea, mounted on it, to receive the divine effluvia. She wore a crown of laurel, and shook a sacred tree, which grew by. Sometimes she chewed the leaves; and the frenzy which followed may with probability be attributed to this usage, and the gentler or more violent symptoms to the quantity taken. In one instance the paroxysm was so terrible, that the priests and suppliants ran away, and left her alone to expire, it was believed of the god. Her part was unpleasing; but, if she declined acting, they dragged her by force to the tripod. The habit of her order was that of virgins. The rules enjoined temperance and chastity, and prohibited luxury in apparel. The season of enquiry was in the spring, during the month called Boeotus; after which Apollo was supposed to visit the altars of the Hyperboreans.

The city of Delphi arose in the form of a theatre, upon the winding declivity of Parnassus, whose fantastic tops overshadowed it, like a canopy, on the north, while two immense rocks rendered it inaccessible on the east and west, and the rugged and shapeless mount Cirphis defended it on the south. The foot of the last-named mountain was washed by the rapid Pliptus, which discharged itself into the sea at the distance of only a few leagues from the sacred city. This inaccessible and romantic situation, from which the place derived the name of Delphi (signifying, as explained in the glossaries, solitary alone), was rendered still more striking, by the innumerable echoes which multiplied every sound, and increased the ignorant veneration of visitants for the god of the oracle. The artful ministers of Apollo gradually collected such objects in the groves and temple as were fitted to astonish the senses of the admiring multitude. The splendor of marble, the magic of painting, the invaluable statues of gold and silver, represented (to use the language of antiquity) not the resemblance of any earthly habitation, but rather expressed the image of Olympus, adorned and enlightened by the actual presence of the gods.

The protection and superintendence of this precious depository of riches and superstition belonged to the Amphictyons, as already noticed. But the inhabitants of Delphi, who, if we may use the expression, were the original proprietors of the oracle, always continued to direct the religious ceremonies, and to conduct the important business of prophecy. It was their province alone to determine at what time, and on what occasion, the Pythia should mount the sacred tripod, to receive the prophetic dreams by which she communicated with Apollo. When overflowing with the heavenly inspiration, she uttered the confused words, or rather frantic sounds, irregularly suggested by the impulse of the god; the Delphians collected these sounds, reduced them into order, animated them with sense, and adorned them with harmony. The Pythia, appointed and dismissed at pleasure, was a mere instrument in the hands of those artful ministers, whose character became so venerable and sacred, that they were finally regarded, not merely as attendants and worshippers, but as the peculiar family of the god. Their number was considerable, and never exactly ascertained, since all the principal inhabitants of Delphi, claiming an immediate relation to Apollo, were entitled to officiate in the rites of his sanctuary; and even the inferior ranks belonging to that sacred city were continually employed in dances, festivals, processions, and in displaying all the gay pageantry of an airy and elegant superstition.

Delphi was conveniently situated for the conflux of votaries, lying in the centre of Greece, and, as was then imagined, of the universe. It was customary for those who consulted the oracle to make rich presents to the god; his servants and priests feasted on the numerous victims which were sacrificed to him; and the rich magnificence of his temple had become proverbial even in the age of Homer. In aftertimes, Croesus, the wealthiest of monarchs, was particularly munificent in his donations. This sacred repository of opulence was therefore often the object of plunder. Neoptolemus was slain, while sacrificing, in suspicion of a design of that kind. Xerxes divided his army at Panopeus, and proceeded with the main body through Boeotia into Attica, while a party, keeping Parnassus on the right, advanced along Schihi to Delphi; but was taken with a panic when near Ilium, and fled. This monarch, it is related, was as well apprised of the contents of the temple. temple and the sumptuous offerings of Halyattes and Cresus as of the effects which he had left behind in his own palace. The divine hoard was feised by the Phocians under Philomelus, and dissipated in a long war with the Amphictyons. The Gauls experienced a reception like that of the Persians, and manifested similar dismay and superstition. Sylla, wanting money to pay his army, sent to borrow from the holy treasury, and when his messenger would have frightened him, by reporting a prodigy, that the sound of a harp had been heard from within the sanctuary, replied, it was a sign that the god was happy to oblige him.

The trade of Apollo, after it had flourished for a long period, was affected by the mal-practices of some concerned in the partnership, who were convicted of bribery and corruption, and ruined the character of their principal. The temple in the time of Strabo was reduced to extreme poverty; but the offerings which remained were very numerous. Apollo was silent, except some efforts at intervals to regain his lost credit. Nero attempted to drive him, as it were by violence, from the cavern; killing men at the mouth and polluting it with blood; but he lingered on, and would not entirely forsake it. Answers were reported as given by him afterwards, but not without suspicion of forgery. An oracle of Apollo at another place informed the consultors, that he should no more recover utterance at Delphi, but enjoined the continuance of the accustomed offerings.

The city of Delphi was free under the Romans. In the time of Paufunias, who has particularly described it, there still remained an invaluable treasure of the offerings within the court of the temple. The number, variety, and beauty of these were prodigious. The store appeared inexhaustible; and the robbery of Nero, who removed five hundred brazen images, was rather regretted than perceived. The holy treasuries, though empty, served as memorials of the piety and glory of the cities which erected them. The Athenian portico preserved the beaks of ships and the brazen shields; trophies won in the Peloponnesian war. And a multitude of curiosities remained untouched.

Constantine the Great, however, proved a more fatal enemy to Apollo and Delphi than either Sylla or Nero. He removed the sacred tripods to adorn the Hippodrome of his new city; where these, with the Apollo, the statues of the Heliconian muses, and the celebrated Pan dedicated by the Greek cities after the war with the Medes, were extant when Sozomen wrote his history. Afterwards Julian sent Oribasius to restore the temple; but he was admonished by an oracle to represent to the emperor the deplorable condition of the place. 'Tell him the well-built court is fallen to the ground. Phoebus has not a cottage, nor the prophetic laurel, nor the speaking fountain (Cassotis); and even the beautiful water is extinct.' See DELPHOS.