Delphi (2014)
“—Pind. Pyth. 1.38–40 6 DOMINATION As the Persians retreated from Greece during 479 BC, the victorious cities turned to Delphi to consult the oracle on the right way to celebrate their triumph. The response integrated Delphi more than ever into the fabric of the Greek world. The Pythia instructed the cities to erect an altar to Zeus Eleutherios (the liberator), but not to sacrifice anything on it until they had extinguished every fire in the land (as the altars had all been polluted by the barba...rian invaders) and taken fresh fire from the sacred hearth at Delphi to relight the hearths and pyres of Greece. Euchidas of Plataea is said to have offered to run to Delphi and bring back the sacred flame to his city, completing the return journey in a single day, after which tremendous achievement he promptly dropped dead and was buried in the Plataean sanctuary of Artemis “of Good Repute” with an epitaph to commemorate his journey to Delphi.1 As a result, Delphi became—literally—the common hearth of Greece, the origin of its fire, the center of its world.MoreLess
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