Delphi in the Ancient Sources: 91 Passages in Greek & English

Homer (4)

Homer, Homerica 6.63–72Contest of Homer and Hesiod: the prizeThe Greeks call for Homer to be crowned, but King Paneides has each poet recite the finest passage of his own poems. Hesiod recites the lines about the Pleiads and Homer the ranks about the two Aiantes, and although the Hellenes applaud Homer, the king gives the crown to Hesiod because he called men to peace and husbandry. Hesiod dedicates the tripod to the Muses and is later killed at Oenoé in Locris, as the oracle at Delphi had foretold.
Homer, Homerica 6.73–85Contest of Homer and Hesiod: Homer's wanderings and deathAfter losing the victory Homer travels from place to place reciting his poems, among them the Thebais, the Epigoni, the Odyssey and the Iliad, and he is entertained at Athens by Medon. At Argos his verses on the Achaeans win him a bronze statue, and at Delos he recites the Hymn to Apollo. Some fishermen then pose him a riddle about their lice that he cannot solve, and he remembers the oracle and composes his own epitaph.
Homer, The Homeric Hymns 26.1–29.14Hymns 26 to 29: Dionysus, Artemis, Athena, Hestia and HermesFour hymns of moderate length. Dionysus is reared by nymphs in the dells of Nysa and roams the wooded glens, Artemis hunts over the mountains and goes to Delphi to lead the Muses and Graces in their dance, and Athena springs from the head of Zeus, shaking her spear, so that all Olympus reels. The last hymn honours Hestia, who has a place in every house, and Hermes.
Homer, The Homeric Hymns 3.440–546Hymn 3 to Apollo (5): the Cretans at DelphiApollo leaps from the ship like a star and enters his shrine, and the Cretans follow him to Pytho, chanting the paean. He reveals himself and tells them that they will keep his temple, instructs them in how to sacrifice at the altar on the shore, and, because he first came to them as a dolphin, names the altar Delphinius.

Apollodorus (4)

Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 3.7.1–7Creon, Antigone, the Epigoni and AlcmaeonCreon takes the kingdom and forbids the burial of the Argive dead; Antigone buries Polynices and is entombed alive, and Theseus's Athenians recover the dead for Adrastus. Ten years later the sons of the fallen, the Epigoni, take Thebes under Alcmaeon, and the Thebans flee after Tiresias's death. Alcmaeon kills his mother Eriphyle, is driven mad, marries Arsinoe and Callirrhoe, and is killed over Harmonia's necklace and robe; his sons by Callirrhoe avenge him and colonize Acarnania.
Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome E.6.1–29The returns from Troy: Nauplius, Agamemnon's murder and OrestesThe Greeks quarrel at an assembly over whether to leave at once, and the section follows the returns: Calchas and Mopsus at Colophon, the storm at Tenos in which Ajax dies, Nauplius's false beacon at Caphereus, Neoptolemus in Molossia, and the fates of Demophon and Phyllis, Podalirius and the Locrian maidens. Agamemnon is murdered by Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, and Orestes avenges him, is tried at Athens, and brings the image of Artemis from the Taurians. The section ends with Menelaus's wanderings and his return to Sparta.
Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 1.4.1–5Leto, Apollo and Artemis; Python, Marsyas and OrionAsteria flees Zeus and becomes the island Delos, where the hunted Leto bears Artemis and then Apollo. Apollo takes over the oracle at Delphi by killing the snake Python, kills Tityus for assaulting Leto, and has Marsyas flayed after a musical contest. Artemis kills Orion on Delos, and two reasons are given, a challenge at quoits or violence against the Hyperborean maiden Opis; the section ends with Poseidon's children by Amphitrite.
Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 2.4.6–12Amphitryon, Alcmene and the youth of HeraclesElectryon's sons are killed in a cattle raid by the Taphians, and Amphitryon accidentally kills Electryon and takes refuge at Thebes, where he wins the Teleboan war with the help of Cephalus's dog. Zeus lies with Alcmene in Amphitryon's likeness and she bears Heracles and Iphicles; the infant Heracles strangles the serpents Hera sends. Heracles is taught by several masters, kills the lion of Cithaeron after fathering children by Thespius's fifty daughters, and defeats the Minyans of Erginus. Hera then drives him mad and he kills his children, and the Pythia at Delphi names him Heracles and sends him to serve Eurystheus.

Pindar (3)

Pindar, Pythian Odes 6.1–50Pythian 6: for Xenocrates — Thrasybulus and AntilochusPindar likens his ode to a treasure-house at Delphi for Xenocrates of Acragas, victor in the chariot race, and praises his son Thrasybulus for keeping the old precept of honouring his father. He recalls Cheiron's teaching to Achilles to honour Zeus and parents, and how Antilochus died to save his father Nestor from Memnon.
Pindar, Pythian Odes 7.1–8.100Pythians 7-8: the Alcmaeonidae of Athens; Aristomenes and AlcmaeonPythian 7 praises Athens and the Alcmaeonidae, who built the temple at Delphi, for the chariot victory of Megacles, and says that prosperity brings envy. Pythian 8 is a hymn to Hesychia, goddess of peace, for Aristomenes of Aegina, wrestling victor, and recalls the giant Porphyrion, who did not know her power, and Alcmaeon at Thebes. It ends with the thought that man is the dream of a shadow and a prayer for Aegina and the Aeacidae.
Pindar, Nemean Odes 7.1–105Nemean 7: for Sogenes — Neoptolemus at DelphiPindar invokes Eleithyia, goddess of birth, and praises Sogenes of Aegina, boys' pentathlon victor, saying that song gives fame to the deeds of heroes. He tells how Neoptolemus, who sacked Troy, lies buried at Pytho after being struck down in a quarrel over the sacrifice, and defends himself against the charge of having slandered him. He ends by praising the Aeginetan hero's family and warning against idle talk like babbling to babes of 'Corinth, the city of Zeus'.

Aeschylus (1)

Aeschylus, Eumenides 1–93Prologue: the Priestess at Delphi and Apollo's promiseThe Priestess of Apollo at Delphi prays to the gods who held the oracle before Apollo and then goes in to the shrine. She comes out terrified, having seen a man at the altar with bloody hands and sword, surrounded by sleeping women with snakes in their hair. Apollo tells Orestes that he will not abandon him, tells him that the Furies are asleep, and sends him to the city of Athena with Hermes as his escort.

Sophocles (4)

Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus 771–862Third episode (cont.): Oedipus tells of Corinth and the crossroadsOedipus tells of his upbringing in Corinth as the son of Polybus and Merope, of the taunt that he was not their son, and of the oracle at Delphi which said that he would kill his father and marry his mother. He tells how he fled from Corinth, and how at the place where three roads meet he killed a man in a carriage and his attendants. He fears that he is the murderer, and hopes that the surviving servant will say that robbers, and not one man, killed Laius, and Iocasta sends for the servant.
Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus 1–77Prologue: the Priest asks Oedipus to save ThebesOedipus finds a crowd of suppliants with olive branches before the palace and asks why they have come. The Priest of Zeus describes the plague that blights the crops, the herds and the women of Thebes, and begs the king, who freed the city from the Sphinx, to find a remedy. Oedipus answers that he shares their pain and has already sent Creon to Apollo's oracle at Delphi, and that he is troubled by his long absence.
Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus 583–633Second episode (cont.): Creon's defenceCreon argues that he has no motive to wish to be king, since he has all the honour of a king without its worries, and that no sensible man would plot in such a way. He asks Oedipus to test the oracle by sending to Delphi, and says that a bad man is known in a day. Oedipus says that he must act quickly against a stealthy plotter and that he wants Creon's death, and the Chorus see Iocasta coming to end the quarrel.
Sophocles, Electra 1–85Prologue: Orestes and the Paedagogus plan the deceptionThe old Paedagogus shows Orestes and Pylades the palace of Mycenae, where he once carried the boy away to safety. Orestes tells how Apollo's oracle at Delphi told him to take vengeance by stealth and not with an army. He plans that the Paedagogus will go into the palace and report that Orestes has died in a chariot race at the Pythian games, while he and Pylades first make offerings at his father's tomb. Electra's cries are heard from inside, and the three leave for the tomb.

Euripides (16)

Euripides, Andromache 1222–1288Exodos: Thetis appears and consoles PeleusPeleus says that he has no city or sceptre left and throws his sceptre on the ground, and the Chorus sees a divine form moving through the air. It is Thetis, who tells him that he must take the body to the Pythian altar and bury it there, a reproach to Delphi, and that Andromache will live in the Molossian land, married to Helenus, and that her child will found an unbroken line of kings, while Peleus himself will be made divine and live with her in the halls of Nereus.
Euripides, Ion 1–81Prologue: Hermes at Delphi tells of Apollo, Creusa and the hidden childHermes, whose mother Maia was a daughter of Atlas, tells how Apollo took Creusa, daughter of Erechtheus, in a cave under the cliffs of the Acropolis at Athens, and how she bore a son in secret and left him to die in the cave. At the god's request Hermes carried the child in his basket to Delphi, where the priestess reared him as a servant of the temple. He says that Creusa and her husband Xuthus are coming to consult the oracle about children, and that Apollo means to give Xuthus his own son, who will be called Ion.
Euripides, Andromache 1–55Prologue: Andromache tells of her slavery at the shrine of ThetisAndromache, who has come from Thebes as the wife of Hector, recalls the fall of Troy and the death of her husband and tells how she became the slave of Neoptolemus and bore him a son. She says that his wife Hermione, who is childless, accuses her of using drugs and charms to make her barren, and that she has taken refuge at the shrine of Thetis while Neoptolemus is away at Delphi.
Euripides, Andromache 957–1008Fourth episode: Orestes takes Hermione and plots Neoptolemus' deathOrestes says that he waited to see how the quarrel with Hector's wife would end, and that he came to take Hermione away, since her father had betrothed her to him before the war and then promised her to Achilles' son. Hermione begs him to take her at once, and Orestes tells her not to fear her husband, since he has woven a net for his death, of which Delphi's rock will bear witness.
Euripides, Andromache 1070–1165Messenger speech: the death of Neoptolemus at DelphiA Messenger arrives with the news of the death of Neoptolemus. He tells how Neoptolemus came to Phoebus' shrine to atone for his past quarrel with the god, how men lay in ambush in the cover of the bay-trees, with Orestes, the author of the plot, among them, and how, when the Delphians attacked him at the altar, he fought alone, took armour from the pillar, and was at last struck down and stabbed by them all.
Euripides, Andromache 1166–1221Exodos: the body of Neoptolemus is brought homeThe Chorus sees the body of Neoptolemus being carried on a bier from Delphi. Peleus, in grief, says that his line is ended, and curses the marriage that has brought all this on his house, and the Chorus laments with him that he will live alone.
Euripides, Ion 1106–1164Fourth episode: a servant describes Ion's feast tentA servant asks the Chorus where the daughter of Erechtheus is, and says that the rulers of Delphi are pursuing her to stone her, because the plot against the boy has been discovered. He begins to tell how Xuthus, leaving the shrine with his new son, went to sacrifice, and how Ion had a great tent made from tapestries of the temple, with hangings showing the heavens and the sea.
Euripides, Ion 1229–1260Fifth episode: the Chorus and Creusa flee to the altarThe Chorus says that there is no way to turn death aside, since all has come to light by the mixed wine. Creusa runs in, saying that the men of death are on her track, and that the vote of Delphi has gone against her. The Chorus tells her to sit at the altar, since if she is slain there her murderers will incur bloodguilt.
Euripides, Phoenician Women 962–1018Fourth episode: Creon tells Menoeceus to flee; Menoeceus resolves to dieCreon refuses to give up his son and tells him to flee at once by way of Delphi and Aetolia to Dodona. Menoeceus pretends to agree and sends his father away. Alone with the Chorus, he declares that he will go to the dragon's den and die for the city.
Euripides, Medea 627–758Second choral song; Aegeus promises Medea refuge in AthensThe Chorus prays that love may come in moderation and that it may never be exiled from its own country, since no sorrow is worse than the loss of a fatherland. Aegeus, on his way home from the oracle at Delphi where he asked how he might have a child, meets Medea and hears her story. She offers to cure his childlessness, and he swears by Earth and the sun-god Helios to give her refuge and never to give her up to her enemies.
Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris 1234–1282Third choral song: Apollo's birth on Delos and the oracle at DelphiThe Chorus sings of the birth of Apollo and Artemis on Delos, and of how Apollo killed the Python, the guardian of the oracle at Delphi, and took the seat of prophecy. They sing that Earth, in anger, sent dreams to men at night, and that Zeus took away the dream-oracles, and they sing of Apollo's honour.
Euripides, Ion 82–183Ion sweeps the temple at dawn and drives off the birdsIon greets the sun rising over Delphi and tells how he sweeps and cleans the temple of Phoebus, sprinkling water and carrying laurel boughs, and says that he serves the god who feeds him as an orphan. He sings a hymn to Apollo, calling him his father in all but fact. He then drives the birds from the offerings and the roof with his bow.

4 more passages of Euripides that name Delphi

Callimachus (1)

Callimachus, Hymns 4.87–204Hymn to Delos: Leto's wanderingsThe unborn Apollo warns Thebe not to make him prophesy yet and speaks of his coming fight with the serpent at Pytho. Leto is refused by the Achaean cities and by Thessaly, and Peneius is ready to shelter her until Ares threatens him and she bids him save himself. The islands, frightened by Iris, turn her away, and on Cos the unborn god forbids her to bear him there because another god, Ptolemy, is due to be born on the island. He foretells the defeat of the Galatians at Delphi, and Asteria then calls to Leto to cross over to her.

Diodorus Siculus (3)

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.64.1–4.66.6Oedipus, the Seven against Thebes and the EpigoniLaïus is killed by his unknown son Oedipus, who solves the riddle of the Sphinx and, unknowingly marrying his mother, has two sons and two daughters; the sons quarrel over the throne. Polyneices gathers an army against Thebes and Eriphyle, bribed with the necklace of Harmonia, sends Amphiaraüs to his death; the Seven fail, and the Athenians force the Thebans to give up the dead. At the seer Teiresias' advice the Thebans leave the city for Tilphossaeum, and the Epigoni take and sack it, dedicating Teiresias' daughter Daphne to Delphi, where she is also called Sibylla.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.36.1–4.39.4The death of HeraclesHeracles takes the field with the Calydonians against the Thesprotians and, after he kills a serving boy by accident, goes into exile with Deïaneira. At the river Euenus the centaur Nessus attacks her; dying, he gives her a charm, and years later she uses it on a robe to win Heracles back from Iole. The robe consumes Heracles, who has himself burned on a pyre on Mount Oeta; the section closes with the honours paid to him as hero and god.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 5.28.1–5.32.7The Gauls: appearance, war and customsThe Gauls are tall, fair, with hair treated with lime-water, and they invite strangers to their feasts. The historian describes their chariots, the heads they take from enemies and keep, their dress and weapons, their speech, and their sacrifices, which require a 'philosopher'. He closes by distinguishing the Celts from the Gauls who live farther north and calls the latter the people who captured Rome and plundered Delphi, and he gives their savage sacrifices.

Pausanias (51)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.9.1–12Delphi: the sacred close and the offerings of the Corcyraeans, Tegeans and LacedaemoniansPausanias begins the tour of the sacred close of Apollo at Delphi, starting with the statue of the athlete Phaylus and the bronze bull of the Corcyraeans. He lists the offerings of the Tegeans and the Lacedaemonians, with their sculptors, among them the group around Lysander and the commanders of Aegospotami. He adds the Athenian view that they were betrayed at Aegospotami, and the bronze horse dedicated by the Argives after the fight for Thyrea.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.5.1–13From Daulis to Delphi: the Phocicum, the Cleft Way and the early oracle and temples of ApolloPausanias describes the Phocicum, where the Phocian deputies meet, and the Cleft Way where Oedipus killed his father. He recounts the different traditions about the early oracle of Delphi and its first prophetesses, from Earth and Themis to Phemonoe, Boeo and Olen. He then gives the successive temples of Apollo: laurel, wax and feathers, bronze, the stone temple of Trophonius and Agamedes, and the present one built by the Amphictyons.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.23.1–14The Gauls at Delphi: the god's signs, the night panic and the end of BrennusPausanias describes how the god told the Delphians he would guard his own, and how the Phocians, with some Amphissans and Aetolians, met Brennus' army. Earthquake, thunder, lightning, rocks falling from Parnassus and a hard frost struck the Gauls, who in a night panic fought each other. Brennus drank neat wine and killed himself, and the retreating Gauls were destroyed on the way back, in the archonship of Anaxicrates.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.1.1–11Phocis: its boundaries and the Phocian victories over the ThessaliansPausanias explains how Phocis got its name from Phocus and describes its boundaries, from Cirrha and Anticyra to the Locrians. He tells how the Phocians beat the Thessalians with buried water-pots at Hyampolis and then, after Delphi's oracle, with a desperate stand under the soothsayer Tellias, which gave rise to the phrase 'Phocian despair'. A later night attack in chalk-white armour won a second victory.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.8.1–10Delphi: the Amphictyonic Council, the temples at the entrance and the Castalian springPausanias gives the origin and membership of the Amphictyonic Council and how its composition changed after the Sacred War, the Gallic invasion and the foundation of Nicopolis, with the present thirty members. On entering Delphi he describes the row of temples, including that of Forethought Athena, the precinct of the hero Phylacus and the gymnasium, then the river Plistus and the spring Castaly, with the accounts of its name and its link to the Cephisus.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.19.1–12Delphi: Scyllis, the gable sculptures and the Gallic invasion beginsPausanias describes the offering of the diver Scyllis and his daughter Hydna, who wrecked the fleet of Xerxes, and the Methymnian bronze copy of a wooden face fished from the sea. He lists the sculptures in the gables of the temple at Delphi and the shields on the architrave. He then opens his account of the Gauls: Cambaules' first expedition, the second inroad into Thrace, Paeonia and Macedonia, and Brennus' plan to invade Greece with an army and its servant horsemen.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 7.19.1–10Patrae: Comaetho and Melanippus, and the chest of EurypylusPausanias begins with the tomb of Eurypylus and the sanctuary of Artemis Triclaria. He tells how the priestess Comaetho and her lover Melanippus desecrated the sanctuary, so that Delphi ordered a yearly sacrifice of a youth and a maiden, and the river was named Amilichus. The sacrifice ended when Eurypylus, son of Euaemon, arrived mad from seeing the image of Dionysus in a chest from Troy, and the river was renamed Milichus. Pausanias reports and doubts a variant that makes the hero another Eurypylus, son of Dexamenus.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.2.1–7The Sacred War: Philomelus, Onomarchus, Phaylus and PhalaecusPausanias tells how the Phocians, fined by the Amphictyons, were persuaded by Philomelus to seize Delphi. He follows the ten years of war with the Thebans, the death of Philomelus at Neon, the defeat and death of Onomarchus against Philip, the dream and illness of Phaylus and the dismissal of Phalaecus, who died on Crete before Cydonia.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.13.1–10Delphi: the bison head, the Phocian and Corinthian offerings, Hercules and the tripod, and the Plataean serpentPausanias describes the bronze bison head sent by the Paeonian king Dropion, with an account of how bison are caught. He lists offerings by the Andrians, Phocians, Thessalians, Macedonians, Cyrenians, Thebans and Phliasians, the treasury of the Corinthians, and the Phocian group of Hercules and Apollo fighting for the tripod. He ends with the golden tripod on the bronze serpent from Plataea and the Tarentine tithe from the Peucetians.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.18.1–7Delphi: offerings of Callias, the Achaeans, Ambraciots, Orneans and Aetolians, and the iron hydraPausanias describes further offerings at Delphi, among them the horse of Callias and the Achaean Athena, dedicated after they took the town of Phana by cutting off its water. He tells of the Ambraciot bronze ass, which exposed a Molossian ambush, and the bronze procession of the Orneans in place of a daily sacrifice. He also notes the iron group of Hercules and the hydra by Tisagoras, the Elatean lion, the Massiliot Apollo and the Aetolian trophy against the Gauls.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.24.1–7Delphi: the maxims of the Sages, Homer's oracle, the temple interior and Neoptolemus' gravePausanias describes the maxims inscribed by the Seven Sages in the fore-temple at Delphi, the bronze likeness of Homer and the oracle said to have been given to him, with the rival claims of Ios and Cyprus to his birth. He notes the altar of Poseidon, the images of the Fates, the hearth where Neoptolemus was killed and the iron chair of Pindar. Outside he describes the grave of Neoptolemus, the small stone given to Cronus and the spring Cassotis.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.32.1–19Delphi to Tithorea: the Corycian cave, other great caves and the shrine of IsisPausanias ends Delphi with the theatre and stadium and goes up Parnassus to the Corycian cave, comparing it with caves in Phrygia and Magnesia. He then describes Tithorea, once called Neon, with its grove of Athena and the tomb of Antiope and Phocus, and the temple of Aesculapius the Founder. He describes in detail the sacred enclosure of Isis, her twice-yearly festival and fair, and tells of those who died after entering the shrine, and the oil of Tithorea.

39 more passages of Pausanias that name Delphi

Nonnus of Panopolis (2)

Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 4.249–381Book 4: Cadmos at Delphi; the dragon of AresCadmos, who gave the Hellenes their letters, travels to Greece with Harmonia and consults the oracle at Delphi. The god tells him to give up the search for the bull and to found a city where a cow he follows lies down. At the spring of Dirce the serpent of Ares devours his companions.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 9.229–321Book 9: Hera drives Ino mad; Athamas takes ThemistoHera falls on the house of Athamas, and Ino runs mad from her chamber to Delphi. Apollo calms her with laurel and sleep, and she afterwards founds dances for Bacchos. Athamas forgets her and marries Themisto, who bears him sons.

Epic Cycle (1)

Epic Cycle, Summaries and Fragments 3.1–4.4Thebaid and EpigoniThe Thebaid fragments tell how Polyneices set a silver table before Oedipus and how Oedipus called down a curse on his sons when he saw the haunch, and how Adrastus fled Thebes with Areion. The Epigoni is quoted for the Teumesian fox and for Manto, the daughter of Teiresias, who was sent to Delphi.

Parthenius of Nicaea (1)

Parthenius of Nicaea, Love Romances 23.1–25.4Chilonis and Acrotatus; Hipparinus and Achaeus; PhayllusCleonymus of Sparta, whose wife Chilonis loves Acrotatus, goes over to Pyrrhus in Epirus and urges him to attack the Peloponnese. Hipparinus, tyrant of Syracuse, persuades the boy Achaeus to live in his palace and, returning in the dark from a victory, is stabbed by him and acquits the boy before he dies. The tyrant Phayllus wins the wife of Ariston with a necklace taken from Delphi, and later her youngest son goes mad and burns the house, and she is consumed in it.

Delphi in the ancient sources

Homer (4)

Apollodorus (4)

Pindar (3)

Aeschylus (1)

Sophocles (4)

Euripides (16)

Callimachus (1)

Diodorus Siculus (3)

Pausanias (51)

Nonnus of Panopolis (2)

Epic Cycle (1)

Parthenius of Nicaea (1)