I'd like to present Clayssel's adventure to the Natural History museum, as well as to St Pancras Church! He was quite enamoured with the Dino bones and Hope
I was around, so, I thought I'd finally take the trip to see old St Pancras Church.
The gardens were lovely, and the inside was super pretty. I spent half the time infodumping to my friend about architecture and its history, and the other half talking about Sleep Token, lol.
There was no one else there other than us, so we just sat in the pews and talked quietly for half an hour or so
And so my favourite Ancient Greek site ever; Delphi!!
This place (and, of course, the mythos behind the oracle of Delphi herself) has been a fixation for me for years, so I was buzzing basically the entire time I was there.
While everything I saw was beyond gorgeous, this place took the cake. An absolute trek up a mountain side (with a further trek if you wanted to see the Pythian stadium, which I happily did), but we'll worth it. Massive props to everyone and everyone who traveled from literally anywhere in order to get a prophecy.
Speaking of prophecy (info dump under the cut)...
Okay! So! Delphi, aside from being a temple of Apollo, was considered the centre of the classical Greek world (and just the world in general), for a long time, mainly because it was the seat of the Pythia; the high priestess, aka, the oracle of Delphi. Which, fun fact, in Greek shares the same root word for 'womb'.
Now, the temples (as well as the village, various treasuries, gymnasium and theatre) at Delphi are of varying ages, with the temple of Apollo being built around 7th century BCE, before being burnt down in 548ish BC, and then again in the 4th century BC. The ones which you can see (and are in the photos 😌) are all from the 4th century BC. Two thousand plus years old.
Isn't that insane? Sure, not the oldest thing in the world, but walked by so many people. Awesome, in the truest meaning of the word I fear.
But, onto the Pythia. For a bit of context, the original site of Delphi is believed to have housed a different God, suspected to be Gaia, who's son/daughter (varies depending on what translation of the myth you're reading into), named Python (sometimes called Drakon // Drakaina) resided in a cave. When Apollo took over the site, he killed it, and, when he did, it caused a great chasm to open up in the Earth and spew gas. Henceforth, the oracle was known as the Pythia.
She would've also sat on a tripod over this chasm, of which with inhalation of the gas, the spirit of Apollo could posses her in order to give prophecies.
It's been debated whether this chasm did or didn't exist—it is highly possible for one to have been there; the area is known for earthquakes, and natural gas that causes hallucinations, such as methane, ethane and ethylene is able to come from the ground—but, either way, the priestess was high as balls when giving these prophecies. Either from gas, laurel (known in the modern age as Oleander), or both.
So, imagine, you've been travelling from Athens to Delphi for a week or two, have waited a month to see this oracle, only to step into a dim temple to see a lady probably between 40-60 years old, dressed as a young woman, with visable gas spewing out from underneath her, and she spews what sounds like absolute nonsense, in which, very helpfully, a priest translates into poetry for you to take home, which turns out to be scarily accurate. I'd be damn sure the Olympians existed too.
Her being so accurate is, in fact, what brought Delphi such high prestige.
While the idea of living breathing oracle is very cool, the way Delphi was set up aided her being so precise. As noted before, Delphi was considered a hub (would've had street markets, banks, small villages, religious sects etc.), with almost everyone there to see the oracle—people would be waiting weeks to months for a visit from her—and, during this time, they'd interact and talk with those around them. War plans would be drunkenly shared, marriages would be quietly talked of, and most of these conversations between generals and kings, and their messangers and servants, were all heard and noted down by the various priests in the area, who'd provide information to the oracle, and slip in some more details in their 'translation'.
Interesting, no?
The oracle of Delphi is dates back to about 1400 BC, with her last prophecy being delivered about 390 CE, to a Roman Emperor who began stating various laws to end pagan (classical Hellenistic) activities.
Went to the seaside and gathered up some more ammonites! No big solid ones, just imprints, but I'm always happy to find anything at all. Also very happily added to my rock and sea glass collection; Clayssel was very pleased with the offerings of what has been returned to us by the tide 🙂↕️
Thought I'd post my second favourite (saving my actual favourite for tomorrow) site that we visited first, aka, The Temple of Poseidon!
Cape Sounion, just this entire place, was so gorgeous. I can't even fully describe it. On the cliffside, overlooking the Aegean Sea, it truly felt like the perfect place for a temple of the God of the Sea.
A repeating thing I found with like, every site I visited (I will sound like a broken record by the end of these posts lmao) is that I was just in utter awe that I was stood by something so old. Like, 700 BC old. So many people came to offer respects and, well, offerings before being off on their trips. Stood where I stood. Looked at the same sea I saw.
While we were in Athens, we got the chance to go to a couple churches (mainly Byzantine, some converted) and I wanted to show!
The first three are from a little Greek Orthodox one I stumbled upon while wandering around. I was absolutely enamoured by the fresco, as well as the little stained glass they had. I ended up having lunch nearby, and got to hear the singing from Nones (I think that's what it's called for Orthodox? Basically midday prayer), which was just...really calming to hear. Orthodox churches always have a certain way of singing their hymns that sounds so beautiful to me.
The fourth, fifth and tenth photos are all from a little church called The Panagia Gorgoepikoos (otherwise known as The Little Metropolis, while the cathedral, photos six, seven and eight, is called The Great Metropolis), and was built upon the ruins of a temple to the Goddess Eileithyia, who was the goddess of childbirth. The original temple's build date is unknown (as far as I know), while the Byzantine church there now dates back to the 9-13th century. Varying opinions on that one, lol.
Finally, the ninth is from inside The Agora, and is called The Church of the Holy Apostles, and is from the 10th century. Unfortunately, it was locked shut, so I just got to admire the exterior. There were swifts making a home in some of the cracked walls.
