Editing Abae (section)

==Oracle==
Despite destruction of the town, the oracle was still consulted, e.g. by the [[Thebes (Greece)|Thebans]] before the [[Battle of Leuctra]] in 371 BCE.<ref name=p2>{{harvnb|Pausanias|1898|p=439}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Henderson|2000|p=351}}</ref> The temple, along with the village of the same name, may have escaped destruction during the Third Sacred War (355–346 BCE), due to the respect given to the inhabitants;<ref>{{harvnb|Henderson|2000a|p=381}}</ref> however, it was in a very dilapidated state when seen by Pausanias in the 2nd century CE,<ref name = PausX>{{harvnb|Pausanias|1898|p=440}}</ref> though some restoration, as well as the building of a new temple, was undertaken by Emperor Hadrian.<ref name=EB>{{harvnb|Hoiberg|2010|p=7}}</ref>

The sanctity of the shrine ensured certain privileges to the people of Abae,<ref>{{harvnb|Bilco|1882|p=172}}</ref> and these were confirmed by the Romans. The Persians did not reflect this opinion and would destroy all the temples that they overcame, Abae included. The Greeks pledged not to rebuild them as a memorial of the ravages of the Persians.<ref>{{harvnb|Henderson|2000a|p=581}}</ref>

Among the most exciting recent archaeological discoveries in Greece is the recognition that the sanctuary site near the modern village of [[Kalapodi]] is not only the site of the oracle of Apollon at Abae, but that it was in constant use for cult practices from early [[Helladic period|Mycenaean]] times to the Roman period. It is thus the first site where the archaeology confirms the continuity of [[Mycenaean religion|Mycenaean]] and Classical Greek religion, which has been inferred from the [[List of Mycenaean deities|presence of the names]] of Classical Greek divinities on [[Linear B]] texts from [[Pylos]] and [[Knossos]].{{efn-lr | See reports of the excavations of the German Archaeological Institute in Archaeological Reports for 2008/9 43-45, Archaeological Reports for 2007/8 47-49, Archaeological Reports for 2006/7 41-43, Archaeological Reports for 2005/6 68-69, Archaeological Reports for 2004/5 55-56.}}

The fortified site described below, originally identified as Abae by Colonel [[William Leake]] in the 19th century, is much more likely to be that of the Sanctuary of [[Artemis]] at [[Hyampolis]]:

"The [[polygon]]al walls of the acropolis may still be seen in a fair state of preservation on a circular hill standing about 500 ft. [150 m] above the little plain of [[Exarchos, Phthiotis|Exarcho]]; one gateway remains, and there are also traces of town walls below. The temple site was on a low spur of the hill, below the town. An early terrace wall supports a precinct in which are a [[stoa]] and some remains of temples; these were excavated by the [[British School at Athens]] in 1894, but very little was found."<ref>{{EB1911|wstitle=Abae|volume=1|page=6|inline=1}}</ref>

The oracle was mentioned in Oedipus Rex.<ref>Sophocles, ''Oedipus Tyrannus'' 897</ref>