Pythia-The Priestess of Delphi in Ancient China

The majestic Delphi archaeological site is located at the height of 1800 feet on the south side of Mount Panasus, about 6 miles inland from Corinth Bay in central Greece. The ancient temple in Delphi can be traced back to at least 2700 years ago, and it is famous in ancient Greece and other regions for its Apollo Oracle, Greek prophecy, music, healing and god of light.

Delphi's ancient Oracle fascinated scholars, scientists and laymen, one of which was the nature and reason why the temple priestess (or Pythia) reached a trance state. Could it be caused by the laurel leaves chewed by the priestess? Water from nearby Anquan, Kastalli? Or steam from underground caves?

As we all know, laurel leaves have no hallucinogenic effect. Until recently, people thought that Pythia's so-called madness could not be caused by the rising toxic gas in the underground cracks, because no trace of such cracks was found in the excavation work.

However, in 200 1 year, an interdisciplinary team of scientists led by Jelle Z. de Boer, a geologist at Middletown Wesleyan University in Connecticut, found evidence of the existence of ethylene (a potential hallucinogen) in the local geology of the ancient temple and nearby springs. Therefore, the research team believes that ethylene poisoning may be the cause of Pythia's divination trance. Although this new research provides fascinating possibilities for the origin of Pythia's trance state, it also leaves some unsolved problems.

Pythia of Delphi Oracle

First of all, if, as some researchers suggested, ancient interrogators and priestesses faced each other in Delphi, then why were only priestesses affected by these toxic gases? On the other hand, exploring what kind of trance state the Apollo priestess in Gendre Fife entered ignores the fact that her changed state is probably self-induced, perhaps to give an objective impression when answering questions.

Another idea related to Pythia's so-called high toxicity is a misunderstanding, that is, Pythia's nonsense in a trance must be interpreted by the priest and remolded into a prophecy. American classical scholar Joseph FontRoss (A.D. 1903- 1986) challenged this concept in his book The Oracle of Delphi and Its Response, Operation and Response Catalogue (198 1).

Fontenrose studied ancient materials and distinguished literary skills from the real responses of the Pythians to questions, and found that these answers were clearly and accurately dispersed, while the priestess herself was portrayed in these texts as speaking clearly in her own voice. In fact, as Ruth Padel pointed out, the possession caused by Apollo is the literary norm of classical Greece.

The most relevant example is Cassandra, the daughter of Priam and Hekuba in Troy. Like Pythia, she was described as possessed by Apollo and spoke her Oracle in a crazy way. The only difference is that Cassandra's prediction is doomed to never be believed. Perhaps at that time, the only thing that affected Pythia's state was pneuma ("soul" or "vitality", which was usually associated with steam in ancient times). This is not poisonous gas, but divine wisdom or breathing Apollo.