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Knowing when to consult the oracle at Delphi

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2015

Alun Salt
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK, (Email: ams22@leicester.ac.uk)
Efrosyni Boutsikas
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK, (Email: ams22@leicester.ac.uk) School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK, (Email: eb42@le.ac.uk)

Abstract

The cities of Greece had their own calendars, so how did they all know when the god Apollo had returned from the northern realms and it was time to consult the oracle at Delphi? The authors show that the heliacal rising of the constellation Delphinus probably provided the annual marker, and that because of the mountains it appeared to rise a month later at Delphi than elsewhere, giving would-be visitors time to travel. The landscape of Delphi was itself instrumental in creating or enhancing the cosmology of Apollo.

Type
Research
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2005

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