Editing Delphi (section)

===The prophetic process===
{{main|Pythia|Delphic Sibyl}}
[[File:Delphi-01.jpg|thumb|Coin ([[Obol (coin)|obol]]) struck at Delphi, 480&nbsp;BC, obverse: Short [[Sacrificial tripod|tripod]], reverse: Pellet within circle ([[omphalos]] or [[Patera|phiale]])]]

Perhaps Delphi is best known for its oracle, the [[Pythia]], or [[sibyl]], the priestess prophesying from the tripod in the sunken adyton of the Temple of [[Apollo]]. The Pythia was known as a spokesperson for Apollo. She was a woman of blameless life chosen from the peasants of the area. Alone in an enclosed inner sanctum (Ancient Greek ''adyton'' – "do not enter") she sat on a tripod seat over an opening in the earth (the "chasm"). According to legend, when Apollo slew Python its body fell into this fissure and fumes arose from its decomposing body. Intoxicated by the vapors, the sibyl would fall into a trance, allowing Apollo to possess her spirit. In this state she prophesied. The oracle could not be consulted during the winter months, for this was traditionally the time when Apollo would live among the [[Hyperboreans]]. [[Dionysus]] would inhabit the temple during his absence.<ref>See e.g. {{harvnb|Fearn|2007|p=182}}</ref> Of note, release of fumes is limited in colder weather.

The time to consult Pythia for an oracle during the year was determined from astronomical and geological grounds related to the constellations of Lyra and Cygnus.<ref name="Liritzis_Castro">{{cite journal |last1=Liritzis |first1=I. |last2=Castro |first2=B. |title=Delphi and Cosmovision: Apollo's absence at the land of the hyperboreans and the time for consulting the oracle |journal=Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage |year=2013 |volume=16 |issue=2 |page=184 |doi=10.3724/SP.J.1440-2807.2013.02.04 |bibcode=2013JAHH...16..184L|s2cid=220659867 }}</ref> Similar practice was followed in other Apollo oracles too.<ref name="Oracular_Func">{{cite journal |last1=Castro |first1=Belen |last2=Liritzis |first2=Ioannis |last3=Nyquist |first3=Anne |title=Oracular Functioning And Architecture of Five Ancient Apollo Temples Through Archaeoastronomy: Novel Approach And Interpretation |journal=Interpretation Nexus Network Journal, Architecture & Mathematics |year=2015 |volume=18 |issue=2 |page=373 |doi=10.1007/s00004-015-0276-2|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Hydrocarbon vapors emitted from the chasm. While in a trance the Pythia "raved" – probably a form of ecstatic speech – and her ravings were "translated" by the priests of the temple into elegant hexameters. It has been speculated that the ancient writers, including [[Plutarch]] who had worked as a priest at Delphi, were correct in attributing the oracular effects to the sweet-smelling ''[[pneuma]]'' (Ancient Greek for breath, wind, or vapor) escaping from the chasm in the rock. That exhalation could have been high in the known anaesthetic and sweet-smelling [[ethylene]] or other hydrocarbons such as [[ethane]] known to produce violent trances. Although, given the limestone geology, this theory remains debatable, the authors put up a detailed answer to their critics.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pedley |first1=John |title=Sanctuaries and the Sacred in the Ancient Greek World |date=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=151}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Spiller |first1=Henry A. |last2=Hale |first2=John R. |last3=de Boer |first3=Jelle Z. |title=The Delphic Oracle: A Multidisciplinary Defense of the Gaseous Vent Theory |journal=Clinical Toxicology |year=2002 |volume=40 |issue=2 |pages=189–196 |pmid=12126193 |url=https://farrington1600.wikispaces.com/file/view/DelphicOracle.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128135436/https://farrington1600.wikispaces.com/file/view/DelphicOracle.pdf |archive-date=2016-11-28 |url-status=live |ref=The Gaseous Vent Theory |doi=10.1081/clt-120004410|s2cid=38994427 }}</ref><ref name="Roach">{{cite magazine |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/08/0814_delphioracle.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010924070805/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/08/0814_delphioracle.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 24, 2001 |title=Delphic Oracle's Lips May Have Been Loosened by Gas Vapors |date=2001-08-14 |df=dmy-all |magazine=National Geographic |author=John Roach |access-date=March 8, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Spiller |first1=Henry |last2=de Boer |first2=Jella |last3=Hale |first3=John R. |last4=Chanton |first4=Jeffery |title=Gaseous emissions at the site of the Delphic Oracle: Assessing the ancient evidence |journal=Clinical Toxicology |year=2008 |volume=46 |issue=5 |pages=487–488 |doi=10.1080/15563650701477803 |pmid=18568810 |s2cid=12441885 |ref=Gaseous emissions}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Piccardi |first1=Luigi |title=Active faulting at Delphi, Greece: Seismotectonic remarks and a hypothesis for the geologic environment of a myth |journal=Geology |date=2000 |volume=28 |issue=7 |pages=651–654|doi=10.1130/0091-7613(2000)28<651:AFADGS>2.0.CO;2 |bibcode=2000Geo....28..651P }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Piccardi |first1=Luigi |last2=Monti |first2=Cassandra |last3=Vaselli |first3=Orlando |last4=Tassi |first4=Franco |last5=Gaki-Papanastassiou |first5=Kalliopi |last6=Papanastassiou |first6=Dimitris |date=January 2008 |title=Scent of a myth: tectonics, geochemistry and geomythology at Delphi (Greece) |url=http://jgs.lyellcollection.org/lookup/doi/10.1144/0016-76492007-055 |journal=Journal of the Geological Society |language=en |volume=165 |issue=1 |pages=5–18 |doi=10.1144/0016-76492007-055|bibcode=2008JGSoc.165....5P |s2cid=131225069 }}</ref>

Ancient sources describe the priestess using "[[Laurus nobilis|laurel]]" to inspire her prophecies. Several alternative plant candidates have been suggested including [[Cannabis]], [[Hyoscyamus]], [[Rhododendron]], and [[Oleander]]. Harissis claims that a review of contemporary toxicological literature indicates that [[oleander]] causes symptoms similar to those shown by the Pythia, and his study of ancient texts shows that oleander was often included under the term "laurel". The Pythia may have chewed oleander leaves and inhaled their smoke prior to her oracular pronouncements and sometimes dying from the toxicity. The toxic substances of oleander resulted in symptoms similar to those of epilepsy, the "sacred disease", which may have been seen as the possession of the Pythia by the spirit of Apollo.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Harissis |first1=Haralampos V. |title=A Bittersweet Story: The True Nature of the Laurel of the Oracle of Delphi |journal=Perspect. Biol. Med. |year=2014 |volume=57 |issue=3 |pages=351–360 |doi=10.1353/pbm.2014.0032 |pmid=25959349 |s2cid=9297573 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276147773 |access-date=27 November 2016 |ref=Harissis}}</ref>

[[File:'Delphic Sibyl Sistine Chapel ceiling' by Michelangelo JBU37.jpg|thumb|upright|Fresco of Delphic sibyl painted by Michaelangelo at the Sistine Chapel]]