Norman and Yokelin at Delphi

The creature in between is the Sphinx, which asks riddles. Oedipus solved a famous one, and it did him no good in the long run. You might recall the riddle: "What is it that moves on four legs in the morning, on two in the afternoon, and on three at night?" Oedipus' answer: "Man. For when he is young he crawls, when he is an adult he walks, and when he is old he uses a walking stick to help him walk."

At Delphi, the Oracle gave cryptic answers to queries in such a way that events that turn out badly can always be blamed on mis-interpretations of the answers. One such was a Greek king in Asia Minor who asked if he should start a war against the Persians. The Oracle's answer: "In such a war, a great kingdom will be destroyed". So, he went to war, since he thought the Oracle predicted a Persian defeat. Instead, he lost, and his kingdom was destroyed. You see, his was a kingdom, that of the Persians was an empire. Hee, hee!

We had a look at where this Oracle resided. It was a hole in the ground from which magical fumes emanated. The priestess would breathe the fumes, go into a trance, and then pronounce the Oracluar wisdom. Trouble was, the words were so garbled that only the priests could interpret them, for a suitable fee of course. The funny thing was that even the traditional enemies of the Greeks, e.g. the Persians, would come and consult the Oracle. Wonderful ecumenism in those days!