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The Lighting of God's Face During Solar Stands in The Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 18, No 3, (2018), pp. 225-246 Copyright © 2018 MAA Open Access. Printed in Greece. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.2543786 THE LIGHTING OF GOD’S FACE DURING SOLAR STANDS IN THE APOLLO TEMPLE DELPHI Vlachos, A.1, Liritzis, I.1 and Georgopoulos, A.2 1University of the Aegean, Dept of Mediterranean Studies, Lab of Archaeometry, 1 Demokratias Str, Rhodes 85132, Greece 2National Technical University of Athens, School of Rural & Surveying Engineering, Dept of Topography, Iroon Polytechniou 915773 Zografos, Athens, Greece Received: 01/07/2018 Accepted: 25/11/2018 Corresponding author: I. Liritzis ([email protected]) ABSTRACT The direction of solar light and how it relates with the Apollo Temple in Delphi is investigated. Following up earlier investigation of defining the time to delivering an oracle and the historical reported position of a golden Apollo statue in the rear of the main structure (opisthodomos, adyton or Temple‘s sanctum) the sun lighting the statue‘s face during selected solar stands is virtually constructed. Based on both ancient and con- temporary sources, an accurately-oriented 3D model of the Temple was created, which incorporated win- dows in the sanctum area. A light and shadow study followed to establish the movement of shadows and presence of sunlight around and inside the Temple, during the important days for the ancient cult. It is shown that the shining of God‘s golden statue would have been possible, through windows, giving a dis- tinct impression of Apollo‘s presence in Delphi especially during his absence in the three winter months to the hyperborean lands between winter solstice and spring equinox. KEYWORDS: Apollo Temple, Delphi, solar stands, lighting, oracles, calendar, solstice, equinox, 3D, adyton, rendering 226 A. VLACHOS et al. 1. INTRODUCTION be it from declaring war to establishing a colony, from a person, or a city, but during the oracular The ancient Greeks were capable of mastering ce- days, the oracles of the temple were the guiding lestial bodies‘ orbits and their periods, thus estab- truth of god Apollo via its mediator priestess Pythia. lishing an accurate calendar for their multiple needs The timing of delivered oracles were closely related e.g. cultic feasts, religious celebrations, travelling to the movement of stellar objects, especially the especially navigation, trade, exploration, coloniza- constellations of Lyra and Cygnus, of the most im- tion, cultivation, to mention but a few (Hannah, portant and favourite ones to Apollo. The time for 2005, 2015; Castro, 2015; Blomberg & Henriksson, prophecy would begin during March, the vernal 1999; Seiradakis & Edmunds, 2018). equinox, and last until the winter solstice, when, ac- The change of the sun‘s orbit and position in the sky cording to legend, Apollo would leave for the land and its attribution to the deity – the sun-god - as the of the Hyperboreans, to cleanse himself for the kill- central figure of celestial space, as well as the depic- ing of Python before taking over Delphi. The time to tion of the reflecting rays around its face of the stat- deliver an oracle at the beginning and the end 3- ue, are most intriguing aspects related to the cult month period has been determined earlier for Delphi after his name, as well as the geometrical configura- and Didyma, Hierapolis Apollo temples (Liritzis & tion of sunrise across the horizon which reveals itself Castro 2013; Castro et al., 2015). This was well repre- at certain times throughout the day. sented in the movement of Lyra and Cygnus and The Apollo Temple in Delphi was possibly the most their appearance or lack thereof, from the Delphic renowned oracle sanctuary of the ancient Greek night skyscape (Fig.1). world. Prior to any major undertaking would begin, Figure 1: The heliacal rising of Vega above the Faidriades in the northeastern Delphi sky at dawn on 21 December 480 BC (Liritzis & Castro, 2015). The Temple itself was built in that specific loca- tery surrounding the oracular powers of Pythia. The tion and in such a way, to further enhance the mys- site of the oracle of Apollo at Delphi was an antron Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 18, No 3, (2018), pp. 225-246 THE LIGHTING OF GOD’S FACE DURING SOLAR STANDS IN THE APOLLO TEMPLE DELPHI 227 (cave) or adyton (restricted inaccessible area) where, The god‘s face shining from sunlight at some of according to the geographer Strabo, fumes rose from the most important oracular dates, such as the sol- the ground to inspire a divine frenzy. stices and equinoxes, would also be vital to the The descriptions provided by Pausanias, docu- Temple from a religious point of view, confirming ment the Temple in great detail and mention a gold- the god departure to the northern lands and his re- en statue of Apollo in the inner sanctum. Aeschylus turn, for the priestess to give oracles again. also described the statues in Hellenic temples as Here we reconstruct on a virtual manner the con- ―golden gods who would look to the east with shin- cept of shining god‘s statue face with his departure ing eyes (Agamemnon, 519-520, ―.. and I greet the and return from the northern lands, in relation to palace, dear home of the Atreid king, their judgement seats earlier found correlation of the constellations rise and the sun-facing gods before it…”). This strongly and orbits in the Delphi night sky, during the year. suggests sunlight reaching directly into the sanctum, Normally, at any one time, there is a reciprocal re- and to the face of the statue that would be much lationship between gas production at a spring and more likely if we consider the openings of one or the water flow: that is, as the amount of water in a more windows, since it would be nearly impossible spring increases gas production reduces. But there is to happen with openings on the front of the Temple. one exception. If the water flows from a deep-seated The windows would also make sense from a prac- aquifer and flows through a shallow gas-bearing tical point of view, as a way to remove the halluci- reservoir, then in that case we can expect more gas nating fumes emerging from the deep ground be- with more water production. In regions where there neath opisthodomos (the intersection of two almost are seismic faults with bituminous gases this status vertical seismic faults). The Temple of Apollo at Del- also may change with the passage of time, as tremors phi is now known to be sited at the intersection of may cause changes in the location of water and gas two major tectonic faults, the Kerna and Delphi fissures. Thus, variation of gases is temperature de- Faults (De Boer et al., 2001) which are part of the pendent. Consequently, there were seasonal varia- Corinth rift zone, a region of crustal spreading. Sub- tions in gas flow through the fissures at the adyton, vertical fissures existed underneath the Temple and most obviously during winter when the temperature sheets of travertine along the largest north- was lower, and the water flow was also reduced. northwest faults provided a pathway along which Thus, during the winter months the ‗pneuma entousi- groundwater enriched with light hydrocarbon gases astikon ‗(spirit of euphoria) was rarely triggered due rose to the surface (see de Boer and Hale, 2000: Fig- to the absence of gas, and this also was the time ure 7; Muller, 1992: Figure 2). Even today, the smell when Apollo was away, in the land of the Hyperbo- of hydrocarbons has been reported in the vicinity of reans. the Temple of Apollo, as well as in the modern town of Delphi (locals to I.Liritzis, pers. commun., 2015). Figure 2: The transits of Lyra and Cygnus in the Delphic sky for the four seasons (after Liritzis & Castro, 2015). Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 18, No 3, (2018), pp. 225-246 228 A. VLACHOS et al. Fig.2 shows the appearance of Lyra and Cygnus in Here the shining of god‘s golden statue is proved the Delphic sky for the four seasons of the year. Vis- in relation to the absence of Apollo from holy land of ibility was always going to be a significant factor, as Delphi, via a 3D modelling and taking into account due to weather conditions in the mountains during the sunrise during the year, of declination about 47 winter sometimes it would have been difficult—if degrees a south-eastern arc between the two solstic- not impossible—to observe those constellations. es. However, their absence from the zenith at Delphi in 2. THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE APOLLO January, February and March may have signalled TEMPLE the interval when Apollo was supposedly in Hyper- borean lands. Obviously, the difference in the Angu- The Temple of Apollo in Delphi is of Doric perip- lar Altitude of the horizon between a site on a flat teron type, with a pronaos and an opisthodomos, landscape and one with a high rocky horizon, as at with two Doric columns at each of their entrances. Delphi, meant that the heliacal rising of critical stars This means the main structure is surrounded by one and constellations was delayed at the latter location. row of Doric columns, fifteen on the larger sides and The aforementioned appearance and disappear- six on the smaller ones. The columns were approxi- ance of a particular prominent star or constellation mately 10,7m in height and 1,6m in diameter at their recalls the Egyptian dating based on the Sothic cycle, base. The structure itself is measured at approx.
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