The Maxims of Delphi

DELPHI IN CLASSICAL TIMES

This link with prophesy, of course, extends to the main site itself.

According to Aeschylus in the prologue to The Eumenides in  Oresteia, circa 485BC, the temple was originally dedicated to Gaia, the primordial mother Goddess and was guarded by her son, Python, or in older myths, her daughter, Delphyne both represented as dragons or serpents, later killed by Apollo before his temple was built over the older sites. According to the Homeric Hymn to Delphic Apollo, the original name for Delphi was Krisa.

There were two temples at Delphi. The sanctuary of Athena Pronaia (Athena before the temple) and the sanctuary of Apollo. Within the sanctuary of Apollo an eternal flame was kept lit, an interesting echo of Zoroastrian and Mithraic traditions. 

THE DESTRUCTION OF DELPHI

The temples and oracle itself seem to have survived in some from at least around the 1400BC until 381AD with the persecution of pagans, in particular, Theodosius I “the Great”. He was central to the fall of Western Rome. It was not long after the shutting of the temple that the Western Empire began its final collapse. This is an interesting parallel to the collapse of the First Temple after the rejection of the Wisdom of Solomon.

The Eastern Empire, in which the wisdom traditions still survived (albeit in occulted form) continued until around 1453. We can see the reemergence of their wisdom tradition in the work of Botticelli as transmitted by Pletho.

The Oracle was aware of their incoming destruction. In the time of Julian, the last great Emperor of Rome, and his attempt to turn the Empire back to the wisdom traditions, Oribasius, under the behest of Julian, received this prophesy in 362AD.

Εἴπατε τῷ βασιλεῖ, χαμαὶ πέσε δαίδαλος αὐλά,

οὐκέτι Φοῖβος ἔχει καλύβην, οὐ μάντιδα δάφνην,

οὐ παγὰν λαλέουσαν, ἀπέσβετο καὶ λάλον ὕδωρ.

Tell the king, the splendid hall fell to the ground.

Phoebus no longer has his house, nor the prophesying laurel,

nor the speaking well. The speaking water has dried out.

–Passio Artemii 96.1284.45–7, Cedrenus 1.532.8–10)

KNOW THYSELF

Thankfully, fragments of the ancient wisdom have been passed to us in the modern age in the Maxims Of Delphi. The three most important, those carved on the pillars as one entered the temple, were: 

Γνῶθι σεαυτόν | Know Thyself.

Μηδὲν ἄγαν | Nothing In Excess

Ἐγγύα πάρα δ Ἄτα | Surity brings Ruin. 

Of these three, Know Thyself was the most important. It was the inscription above the Temple itself. This is a very deep concept which we will come back to in later articles. 

In honour of the ancient wisdom of Gaia, Athena, Apollo, the Triae, the Delphic Sybil, Pythia and all others who were associated with this ancient site, I append what fragments are left of the ancient wisdom which guided the classical world.  

THE DELPHIC MAXIMS