Ancient Geography, a town of Phocis, situated on the south-western extremity of Mount Parnassus. It was famous for the temple and oracle of Apollo, the origin of which is ascribed to an accidental discovery. A number of goats which were feeding on Mount Parnassus happened, it is said, to approach a place which had a long and deep perforation. The vapour which issued from the cavity seemed to inspire the goats, and they played and frisked about in such an uncommon manner that the goatherd was tempted to lean over the aperture, in order to see what mysteries the place contained. But he was immediately seized with a fit of enthusiasm; his expressions were wild and extravagant, and passed for prophecies. This circumstance soon became known throughout the country, and many experienced the same enthusiastic inspiration. The place was revered; a temple was soon afterwards erected in honour of Apollo; and a city was built, which became the most illustrious in Phocis. The influence of this oracle afterwards controlled the councils of states, directed the course of armies, and decided the fate of kingdoms. The ancient history of Greece is full of its energy, and an early register of its authority. The circumjacent cities were the stewards and guardians of the god; and their deputies composed the famous Amphictyonic assembly which once guided all Greece.

The temple of Apollo was at first a kind of cottage covered with boughs of laurel; but the god was early provided with a better habitation. An edifice of stone was erected by Trophonius and Agamedes, and subsisted about seven hundred years, but it 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 Alcmenonidae, having fled from Athens and the tyrant Hippias, contracted with the deputies for the building of a new temple, and far exceeded their agreement. The front was raised with Parian marble, instead of the stone called poros, which resembled it in whiteness, but was not so heavy; the pediments were adorned with representations of Diana, and Latona, and Apollo, and the Muses, with the setting of Phoebus or the sun, Bacchus, and the women called Thyiades; and the architraves were decorated with golden armour, with bucklers suspended by the Athenians after the battle of Marathon, and with shields taken from the Gauls under Brennus. In the portico were inscribed the celebrated maxims of the seven sages of Greece. There was also 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 surnamed Leaders of the Fates. Near the hearth, before the altar at which Alexoetolmus, the son of Achilles, was slain by a priest, stood the iron chair of Pindar. In the sanctuary stood an image of Apollo. The enclosure was of great extent, and filled with treasures, many cities having consecrated tenths of the 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, by the labours of the sculptor and statuary, gods, heroes, and illustrious persons, were seen collected and arranged; the inequalities of the area of acclivity contributing to give a full display of the noble assemblage.

The oracles were delivered by a priestess called the Pythoress, 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 Castalia, mounted on the stool to receive the divine effluvia. She wore a crown of laurel on her head, and shook a sacred tree which grew near the aperture. Sometimes she chewed the leaves; and the frenzy which followed may probably 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, as was believed, of the god. Her part was an unpleasant one; 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 inquiry was in the spring; after which Apollo was supposed to visit the altars of the Hyperboreans.

The city of Delphi arose in the form of an amphitheatre, upon the winding declivity of Parnassus, the fantastic tops of which overshadowed it like a canopy on the north, whilst 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 Plistus, 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, a word signifying solitary, was rendered still more striking by the innumerable echoes which multiplied every sound, and increased the ignorant veneration of visitors for the divinity of the oracle. The artful ministers of Apollo also collected such objects in the groves and temple as were fitted to astonish the senses of the adoring multitude. The splendour of marble, the magic of painting, and invaluable statues of gold and silver, had not, to use the language of antiquity, the resemblance of an 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. 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, in order to receive the prophetic exhalations 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; and these sounds the Delphians collected, reduced them into order, animated them with sense, and adorned them with harmony. The Pythia, being 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 divinity. 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, and Delphi was conveniently situated for the resort of votaries, being in the centre of Greece, and, as was then imagined, also in that of the universe. It was customary for those who consulted the oracle to make rich presents to the god. His servants and priests feasted upon 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 after times, Croesus, the wealthiest of monarchs, was particularly munificent in his donations. This sacred repository of opulence therefore often became the object of plunder. Neoptolemus was slain whilst sacrificing, on suspicion of a design of this kind. Xerxes divided his army at Panopeus, and proceeded with the main body through Bœotia into Attica, whilst a party keeping Parnassus on the right, advanced along Schiste to Delphi; but it was seized with a panic when near Ilium, and fled. This monarch, it is related, was as well apprised of the contents of the temple, and the sumptuous offerings of Halyattes and Croesus, as of the effects which he had left behind him in his own palace. The divine hoard was seized by the Phocians under Philomelus, and dissipated in a long war with the Amphictyons. The Gauls experienced a reception similar to 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, namely, that the sound of a harp had been heard from within the sanctuary, the Roman replied, it was a sign that the god was happy to oblige him.

The trade in oracles, 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, which 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 became silent, except at intervals, when some efforts were made 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 having been given by him afterwards, but not without suspicion of forgery. An oracle of Apollo at another place informed those who consulted him that he should no more recover utterance at Delphi, but he enjoined the continuance of the accustomed offerings.

The city of Delphi became free under the Romans. In the time of Pausanias, who has particularly described it, there still remained an invaluable treasure of offerings within the court of the temple. The number, variety, and beauty of these gifts were prodigious; the store appeared inexhaustible; and the robbery of Nero, who removed no less than 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 had 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 in other parts of the temple.

Constantine the Great, however, proved a more fatal enemy to Apollo and to 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 conclusion of the war with the Medes, were extant when Sozomen wrote his history. Julian afterwards 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."