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Knowing when to consult the oracle at Delphi

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2015

Alun Salt  and
Efrosyni Boutsikas
Alun Salt
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK, (Email: [email protected])
Efrosyni Boutsikas
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK, (Email: [email protected]) School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK, (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

The cities of Greece had their own calendars, so how did they all know when the god Apollo had returned from the northern realms and it was time to consult the oracle at Delphi? The authors show that the heliacal rising of the constellation Delphinus probably provided the annual marker, and that because of the mountains it appeared to rise a month later at Delphi than elsewhere, giving would-be visitors time to travel. The landscape of Delphi was itself instrumental in creating or enhancing the cosmology of Apollo.

Keywords

Archaic and Classical periodGreeceDelphicalendarstimearchaeo-astronomylandscape archaeology
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 79 , Issue 305 , September 2005 , pp. 564 - 572
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2005

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