Evening star., 1934-09-04
ANCIENT DELPHI
MAY Be RESTORED
RebuiIderS Plan to Make
City Center Of Grecian
Art and Letters.

Delphi is staging a comeback. This
ancient city, once an artistic center
OF Greece, long in ruins, may again
become an intellectual hub Of Greece
and a meeting place for scholars of
all nations. The erection Of a large
library, auditoriums and probably a
new hotel, will make this community,
its rebuilders hope, "a Geneva OF
thought and the arts"
"Thus history stages another re-
vival," says a bulletin from head
quarters of the National Geographic
Society. For the desolate ruins OF
Delphi, bleaching on the southern
slope Of Mount Parnassus. were once
q crowded city, beautiful with temples
and thousands of statues. A symbolic
central stone in the temple Of Apollo
marked the supposed center of the
world, and so Delphi must have
seemed to the early Greeks.
Merchants Consulted Oracle.
"Here fiocked merchants, over the
great network of trade roads that led
to the city; pilgrims to consult the
famous oracle, athletes to compete in
the Pythian games. Delphi became
enriched by votive statues of pilgrims
and temples built by Greek states.
To protect the riches of Delphi, IL
states north of the Gulf of Corinth
united in what was the oldest league
of Greece. Delegates from rival states
came under flags Of truce to settle
disputes by arbitration. Interchange
of ideas among these visitants from
different sections of the country made
Delphi rich in geographic information.
In the eighth and seventh centuries
BE-, when Greece was founding nu-
merous colonies, none were established
without first consulting the oracle as
to the best locations.
According to tradition, the ubi-
quitous Greek goats were partly re-
sponsible for the oracle at Delphi.
Legend relates that stream flowing
through a crevice on Mount Parnassus
exhaled intoxicating vapors. Goats
inhaling these cavorted until their
goat herd also breathed the vapors.
Hearing his mutterings, Greeks
deemed them inspired by Apollo and
built temple over the stream. They
seated a priestess on a golden tripod
over the chasm and surrounded her
with priests who interpreted her raw
ings in ambiguous verse. In the Win
ter months, when Apollo was on his
vacation in the land of the Hyper
boreans, Dionysus, also prophetic, was
worshipped instead.
Delphi Shaken by Quakes.
'Most important temple Of the sun
god in Greece, the Delphi temple was
for centuries the greatest of Greek
shrines, thronged with thousands of
pilgrims. The oracle was consulted
for decisions on everything from mar
riage to wars until the end OF the
fourth century, when the Byzantine
Emperor Theodore stopped the ccn-
situations by Staying those who con-
suited.
To-day, the temple lies in ruins.
the magic stream has drleu up, and
there no longer exists even any trace
of the chasm through which it is
said to have flowed. Some doubt the
chasm's former existence. Others
claim the chasm was welded together
by the earthquake which destroyed
the temple, probably in 373 b. G.
Earthquakes are frequent In Delphi.
and one, tradition has it, was caused
by Apollo to drive away Persian
plunderers Of the temple. :
''It is not surprising that the temple
was destroyed by earthquakes when
one remembers that the west side of
Mount Parnassus, and the south side,
to which Delphi clings, forms one of
the earthquake centers of Greece.
Only seven miles above Delphi is the
famous Corycian Cave, so large that
it can hold 5000 people. Here wild
Dionysian orgies we're held, and here
the inhabitants of Delphi hid, when
attacked by the Persians in 490 BIC.
Greeks Great Runners.
"Almost as important as the oracle
to Greek life were the Pythian games,
which were celebrated every fourth
year. Various Greek states sent dele
gates to compete for laurel crowns in
what originated as a song competi-
ton, turned to foot races in the
stadium, and ended in chariot races
on the plain below Delphi. What
splendid runners the ancient Greeks
were may be judged by the record Of
the fire. bringing Euchidas who ran
Ill mile in single day, to take the
sacred fire from Delphi to Plataea.
'The stadium was built in the
highest part of Delphi, itself 1000
feet above sea level, and breathing