Archaeological Site of Delphi
Apollo's oracular sanctuary on Mount Parnassus, with temple, treasuries, theatre and stadium.
Delphi occupies a terrace of Mount Parnassus above the Pleistos valley, at the spot where the Greeks placed the omphalos, the navel of the world. From the 8th century BC a sanctuary of Apollo grew around an oracle whose priestess, the Pythia, was consulted by cities and rulers across the Mediterranean. Along the zig-zagging Sacred Way the city-states raised treasuries, statues and victory monuments, among them the small marble Treasury of the Athenians of about 490 BC, re-erected by the excavators.
The ruins were cleared from 1892 by the French School at Athens, which had the village of Kastri moved so that the sanctuary could be reached. Visitors climb past the Temple of Apollo, whose standing columns belong to a rebuilding of the 4th century BC, to the theatre and, higher again, the stadium. The gymnasium and the round tholos of the Athena Pronaia precinct lie below the road, and the site was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1987.
Highlights
- The Sacred Way climbing past the treasuries of the city-states
- Temple of Apollo, seat of the oracle delivered by the Pythia
- Theatre and stadium high on the slopes of Mount Parnassus
- The round tholos of Athena Pronaia in the Marmaria precinct
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