Editing Corycian Cave (section)

== Location and geography ==
[[File:Nomos Fokidas.png|thumb|Administrative unit of Phocis.]]

=== Exterior geography ===
According to author Jeremy McInerney, "Delphi and Mt.Parnassus became, through myth and ritual, landscape in which tensions between wilderness and civilizations... could be narrated, enacted, and organized". This could be seen in the ritual and in topography where Mt.Parnassus is split into the zones of harsh wilderness at its peaks in contrast to the plateau below that was used for cultivation, and in the center of this, as McInerney says, "... the deeper movement from chaos to order..."<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/310313|access-date=2021-12-02|journal=Harvard Studies in Classical Philology|title=The Origin of Plato's Cave|last1=Wright|first1=John Henry|year=1906|volume=17|pages=131–142|doi=10.2307/310313|jstor=310313}}</ref> was the Corycian Cave. Due to its topographical location, to ancient Greeks the Corycian Cave was the divider between wilderness and culture. It represents a place outside of the sanctuary of Delphi below but not at the dangerous mountain peaks, a place where for mythological purposes, "... where nymphs are possessed and tamed by the gods..."<ref name=":3" />

The Corycian Cave sits at an altitude of 1,250m above sea level. The ascent to the Corycian Cave from the plateau below was a steep and rocky one, climbing an elevation of 1,000m in under a half kilometer.

=== Interior geography ===
Corycian Cave is the largest cave in the Delphi region.<ref name=":22">{{Cite web|title=Parnassus and the Corycian Cave - Archaeological Site of Delphi|url=https://delphi.culture.gr/parnassos/|access-date=2021-12-02|language=en-US}}</ref> Some ancient texts describe Corycian Cave as being located in, "…a large oval depression with high rocky walls, where the best saffron grew; it was filled with an agreeable, shady woodland…and at the bottom there opened an underground cavern."<ref name=":13">{{Cite journal|last=Boon|first=George C.|date=1976|title=Clement of Alexandria, Wookey Hole, and the Corycian Cave|url=http://www.ubss.org.uk/resources/proceedings/vol14/UBSS_Proc_14_2_131-140.pdf|journal=Proceedings of the University of Bristol Spelæological Society|volume=14|pages=131–140 }}</ref> It is thought that the cave was formed after the collapse of an older cave system, possibly due to an earthquake.<ref name=":13" /> The composition of Corycian Cave itself mostly consists of limestone and schist plaques—as is common of the many caves throughout the Delphi region. The structure of Corycian Cave is made up of two central caverns and then gets narrower as it extends deeper.<ref name=":22"/> The length and width of the first chamber is roughly 90x60 meters and the height is roughly 50 meters. The chamber is also filled with stalactites and stalagmites formed out of limestone. One prominent stalagmite in particular known as Table has a relatively large, flat top that was used a depository for votives by worshipers.<ref name=":22"/>