Before anybody thinks I’m not paying attention, let it be known that the Oracle at Delphi is at Delphi (!!), and is not in Athens. However, I couldn’t figure out how to get this place reviewed without putting in the name of Athens. If anybody can help correct this glaring inaccuracy, please let me know!

Going to the Oracle at Delphi is like walking into a textbook of ancient history, as trite as the description sounds. It’s another one of those once-in-a-lifetime places you visit and know you will not have enough time to spend there, but also know it may be a challenge to ever return if you live far away.

I am not one given to new age or fantastic invention, but perhaps knowledge of the historical import of these site made the ground hum. Yes, I mean it. There was some sort of vibration, perhaps coming from the names of the different parts of the oracle. I could understand it being the omphalos (belly button, center) of the world at one time - and maybe it still is. Perhaps it is a different experience for women than for me? After all, if the name is possibly derived from the word for womb, it could be a gendered locus. Something to ponder, at least. Both sexes did go there in pilgrimage and I am known to my friends as a wanderer and a pilgrim, so this was a necessary visit.

It is easy enough to find information on sites with detailed history of Delphi. Of course there’s the sanctuary of Apollo and the much-appreciated (by the heat-weary traveler) Castalian Spring. Wander around the stones (they all have centuries of history to explore), go to the museum if you wish or simply contemplate the incredible view. Find your connection to Delphi - as feminist, scholar of ancient history, mythologist, or hopeful imagination. My personal link is the figure of the Sibyl, whom I like to trace through geography but especially through literary works such as the poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins and a novel or two (eg, Lagerqvist, 1956).

This isn’t my video, but it’s worth viewing, if one can get beyond the spooky, distracting music. There are more in the series:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY2-t6_b4ZY