Re: CHAT: The Pythia (was: hi brethren)

At 3:15 am -0600 25/3/00, Eric Christopherson wrote:
>At 06:56 AM 3/25/2000 +0100, Raymond wrote:
>> >Apollo submerged a cult at delphi centered around an earth mother (hence
>> >the omphalos, priestesses, and oracular sayings).
>>
>>Possibly - the omphalos is suggestive, tho males have belly-buttons as well
>>as females - but oracular sayings can be & have been made by males in other
>>cultures and I'm not aware of any direct evidence of priestesses.
>
>I thought I read somewhere a theory that the omphalos was actually a symbol
>of the womb;
The omphalos itself is more remiscent of a navel & I've little doubt that
the pre-Greek population just like the Greeks regarded the earth as
feminine.

>also, the name Delphi itself appears cognate to a Greek word
>for 'womb.'
One has to be a little cautious with proper names; Delphoi could be
connected in some way with 'delphys' (womb).  But there was also a word
'delphos' = "pig" and 'delphis' (gentive: delphinos) = "dolphin".   The
temple of Apollo at Dreros in eastern Crete was called the 'Delphinion'
which is clearly associated with the dolphin word.  I believe the name was
used elswhere to name temples of Apollo.

>Unfortunately I don't remember any of the details about the
>alleged misinterpretation of the omphalos.
I'd have thought the cave would be more womb-like.

>
>> >Apollo never was an
>> >oracular god, until he took over Delphi.
>>
>>By what evidence?  Apollo was an ancient god.  His name is not of IE
>>origin; he was taken into the eventual Greek pantheon from a non-Greek
>>source, presumably one which existed in the Aegean area before the
>>pre-Greek IE speakers move there.  What evidence do we have whether this
>>god was originally oracular or not?
>
>Don't know anything about the historical facts, but didn't Greek mythology
>say that Apollo took over the shrine from Gaea at some point, thus saying
>that it had been an earth goddess site?
Well there are two myths relating him to Delphoi.  One states that he
chased the serpent Python, the enemy of his mother, Leto, from Mount
Parnassos to Delphoi where it took refuge in the sacred cave & that he slew
the serpent there.  The Pythian games were said to commemorate this.  As
some identify Leto with "the earth mother", this could be construed as
Apollo defending the Delphic cult against evil.

Another myth has Apollo being taught the art of prophecy by the god Pan and
that, having learnt the art Apollo seized the shrine at Delphi and retained
the Pythia to serve him.  This myth acknowledges that Apollo had learnt
oracular arts _before_ taking over the cult.  But it confirms what I said:
*Apollo retained the Pythia*.  Why?

Apollo was almost certainly of pre-Greek origin.  In historic times he was
widely worshipped all over Crete, the ancient homeland of the Minoan
culture.  IIRC in the Delphinion at Dreros there were also cult statues to
his sister Artemis and to his mother Lato (the dialect form of Ionic Greek
'Leto').  Neither Leto/Lato not Artemis have names of IR origin.  Leto/Lato
was particularly honored in Crete.  I suspect the triad of Lato, Artemis &
Apollo are probably ultimately of Minoan origin.

Ray.




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A mind which thinks at its own expense
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