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Gathering in the Panhellenic Sanctuary at Delphi: an Archaeological Approach

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Gathering in the Panhellenic Sanctuary at Delphi: an Archaeological Approach chapter 4 Gathering in the Panhellenic Sanctuary at Delphi: an Archaeological Approach Hélène Aurigny 1 Introduction According to Strabo (10.5.4): ‘ή τε πανήγυρις ἐμπορικόν τι πρᾶγμά ἐστι’. (Delos): the panegyris is a kind of commercial thing’.1 Gathering in sanctuaries on re- ligious occasions has an economic dimension that ancient sources acknowl- edge, but which the term pilgrimage, as applied to sacred travel in antiquity, does not adequately describe. The phenomenon of the panegyris combined the religious with a commercial or economic event. Although scholarship has recognised this junction between religion and economy, it has received more attention recently,2 and the economy of the sacred is at the heart of present discussions.3 The perspective of ‘sacred travel’ gives us the occasion to have a fresh look at this general issue, and thinking about the ‘economies of gather- ing’ focuses on the moment when people gather in the sanctuary and the im- pact of this process not only on the sacred spaces, but also on the environment and even the votive practices of the pilgrims. In this chapter, I will take the specific case of Delphi in central Greece, one of the most important Panhellenic sanctuaries of the ancient Greek world, and question the moment of gathering by taking together different kinds of sources, in order to show if and how Delphi appears as both a religious and economic hub. As I am not an economic specialist, I will treat this rich and stimulating theme from an archaeological point of view, focusing on the votive gifts to the gods. First, I examine the double dimension of the panegyris: the religious festival and agora and its modalities in Delphi. Second, I consider the impact of gathering on the development of the sanctuary. Finally, I focus on 1 I would like to thank very warmly Troels Myrup Kristensen and Anna Collar for their invita- tion to reconsider the archaeological data in Delphi following the experience of a pilgrim. 2 Dillon 1997, ch. 8. Chandezon 2000, 72; Deshours 2006, 90–2. See the introduction and Kowalzig in the present volume. 3 One can think of the question of sacred and public land, discussed in Papazarkadas 2011 for Attica. See also Rousset 2013. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2020 | doi:10.1163/9789004428690_005 94 Aurigny the votives as consequences of gathering and as material witnesses of ‘sacred travel’ to Delphi and its social dimension. 2 Panegyris and Agora 2.1 Modalities of the Panegyris at Delphi In the ancient Greek world, the sanctuary is the frame in which collective reli- gious manifestations, namely panegyreis, regularly took place. In Delphi, those celebrations were famous and attracted a crowd of pilgrims at a Panhellenic and international level, as well as athletes and artists interested in the agones.4 Because of its multiple functions, there were many reasons for visit- ing the sanctuary of Apollo. The oracular consultation is of course one of the main causes of travel to Delphi. While the relationships between the instal- lation of the cult of Apollo, at the end of the ninth or at the beginning of the eighth century BCe5 and the origins of the oracle may be controversial,6 the oracular dimension of the sanctuary quickly attracted pilgrims. In Delphi, like in Epidauros, consulting the oracle took place throughout the year. According to Plutarch,7 at the beginning of the site’s use as an oracular sanctu- ary at some point during the eight century BCe,8 the oracle could be consulted once a year, on the birthday of Apollo, the seventh day of the month of Byzios. However, thereafter, the oracle was consultable every month on the seventh and also on some other ‘favourable’ days. The oracle consultation required a preliminary sacrifice, the intercession of the authorities of the sanctuary and the ‘assent’ of the god.9 Thus, the seasonality of visits to Delphi is very dif- ferent from that of Olympia for instance, where the festival takes place every four years only. Although it was possible to go to Delphi at any period of the year to offer a sacrifice to Apollo Pythios or to the numerous gods or heroes that were wor- shipped there, the peak visiting time at the sanctuary, since the beginning of the sixth century BCe, was the occasion of the Pythia, the penteteric festival that took place at the end of the summer in the second year of each periodos, during the month of Boukatios in the Delphic calendar. The Pythian games lasted about a week. Sacrifices, musical, gymnastic and horse contests attracted 4 Chandezon 2000, 71. 5 I keep the traditional dates, see Aurigny – Scott forthcoming. 6 Jacquemin 2017. 7 Plut. De Pyth. Or. 8, 398a. 8 Morgan 1990. 9 Kyriakidis 2012, 83; Roux 1976; Amandry 1950, 81–5..
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