Many of you know the basics of Delphi: Dedicated to Apollo, it was an oracle, a place people went to ask the gods a question about what they should do and listen to the answer given. There were many such sites in ancient Greece, but this was the center of the world, so determined by Zeus and the most important such site.

Like all serious religious phenomena, however, it turns out to be rather difficult to figure out what "really" happened. Did the priestesses who gave the oracles do so by means of trance-inducing vapors issuing from rocks, by means of hallucinogenic drugs or not at all? Did the male priests change priestess' ramblings to serve their own agenda or did they merely order the ambiguous divine words and help seekers to understand? I've heard all of these theories and more.

Returning to earth, however, does not end the mysteries. Delphi was undoubtedly collaborationist during the Persian wars, continuously telling Athens and other cities to give up, yet, once victory was obtained, the cities freely gave Delphi the first-fruits of their spoils of war. The shrine accepted bribes on more than one occasion to deliver oracles in one desired direction or another, but at the same time, it was revered and consulted by Greeks of every station in life including kings and other leaders. And of course, the oracles themselves were famously elliptical, capable of many interpretations as well.

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