4.
King Croesus
(2)
Background
Information
 Two years after
testing the Oracle at Delphi, Croesus again sent emissaries, this time
to predict the outcome of his projected war on Cyrus of Persia.
The Oracle
Pilgrims.
Emissaries representing Croesus.
Inquiry.
"Should King Croesus make war on the Persians?"
The God's advice.
"If Croesus makes war on the Persians, he will destroy a great
empire."
Observation
Croesus did make
war on the Persians, and his own great empire was destroyed
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25.
The Persian
Wars (3)
Background
Information
Forget for a moment
what would occur at Salamis. The mighty Persian army and fleet landed
in northern Greece before descending on Athens. They posed a threat
to Delphi and the immense wealth of the Temple of Apollo, as well as
menacing all Greece.
The Oracle
Time. 480
BC.
Pilgrims.
Delphians.
Inquiry.
Surely a plea for help in an apparently hopeless situation.
The God's advice.
"Pray to the Winds. They will prove to be mighty allies of Greece."
Observation
The Persian army
assaulted Thermopylae, where the Spartans (notably "the 300")
and allies held the pass against them. The Persian armada sailed to
nearby Cape Artemesium, where the Athenian fleet met them. The Athenian
ships fought against great odds, but in three battles managed to hold
their own.
It is a fact that
a tremendous storm arose at Artemesium, with the most violent winds
attacking the ships for 3 days. The Persians lost approximately 20%
of their warships and perhaps the same number of transport vessels to
the frightful storm. The raging winds and cascading waters did little
harm to Athenian ships.
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37.
Duration of War
Background
Information
I do not know
if the following prophecies include a pronouncement by Apollošs Oracle
at Delphi. It may well be, so I pass this on to you.
The Prophecies
Thucydides, in
his magnificent History of the Peloponnesian War, stated in Book V,
chapter 26:
It was said
by many oracles that the Peloponnesian War was fated to last thrice
nine years.
Observation
The
War began in 431 BC and came to an end in 404 BC.
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5.
Frenzy and Death of a Pythia
Plutarch was a
Greek living under the Roman empire. He is one of the finest
writers in all literature, the best biographer, an unsurpassed
essayist of moral wisdom, and a great stylist. An interesting man, he
became a priest and served at Apollo's Oracle in Delphi.
I quote from Plutarchšs
Moralia (438a-b) the following very strange occurrence.
It happened around 100 AD.
"Whenever,
then, the imaginative and prophetic faculty is in a proper state for
attempering itself to the spirit, inspiration in those who foretell
the future is bound to come. And whenever the conditions are not thus,
it is bound not to come; or when it does come, to be misleading, abnormal,
and confusing, as we know in the case of the priestess who died not
so long ago.
"As
it happened . . .
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