APOLLO 233
neath or inside the bowl, and it could be used for many obvious practical pur-
poses. The tripod at Delphi was both a symbol and a source of divine prophetic
power. Ancient pottery depicts Apollo himself seated on the bowl; his Pythian
priestess who does likewise becomes his mouthpiece. In a frenzy of inspiration
she utters her incoherent ravings. A priest or prophet nearby will transcribe them
into intelligible prose or verse (usually dactylic hexameters) to be communicated
to the inquirer.
The Pythia herself underwent certain initial ceremonies to ensure purifica-
tion and inspiration, among them a ritual cleansing with the sacred water of the
famous Castalian spring. Some of our sources maintain that the Pythia's inspi-
ration came from the vaporous outpourings from a chasm or cave and depict
the priestess seated on the tripod above some such cleft or opening.
Unfortunately, the west end of Apollo's temple (where she uttered her re-
sponses) is so badly preserved in the excavations that it cannot be reconstructed
with certainty; therefore we cannot be sure where the Pythia may have been
placed.
The inquirer who came to the temple with his question for the god had to
go through certain prescribed ceremonies that were in the nature of a fee.^11 First
he had to offer an expensive sacred cake on the altar outside the temple; and
once he had entered, he was required to sacrifice a sheep or goat, a portion of
which went to the Delphians. After these preliminaries, he could enter the holy
of holies, the innermost shrine of the temple, where he took his seat. The chief
priest or prophet addressed the questions to the Pythia (who may have been in
an area separated from the inquirer) and interpreted her answers.^12
In early times, according to tradition, the Pythia was a young virgin. On one
occasion an inquirer fell in love with one and seduced her. From then on, only
mature women (probably over fifty years old) could become priestesses; what-
ever the nature of their previous lives (they could have been married), purity
was required once they had been appointed to serve the god for life. At times,
one from among at least three women could be called upon to prophesy, and
there were probably more in reserve.^13
Inevitably, one must wonder about the religious sincerity of the priests and
priestesses at Delphi. Was it all a fraud? There is no good reason to think so.
Many people have believed in the possibility of god communicating with mor-
tals in marvelous ways. And belief in a medium, a person with special mantic
gifts, is by no means unique to the Greeks. The Pythia presumably was chosen
because of her special nature and religious character—she was susceptible to su-
pernatural callings. It is true that the oracle was often on the side of political ex-
pediency and that the ambiguity of the responses was notorious. Apollo's ob-
scure epithet, Loxias, was thought to bear testimony to the difficult and devious
nature of his replies. But only a glance at the life and career of Socrates shows
the sincere and inner religious meaning that an intellectually devout person is
able to wrest from the material trappings of established institutions in any so-