Julian's Embassy to the Oracle at Delphi

Author: * Basileos Nestor - 2 Posts on this thread out of 203 Posts sitewide.
Date: Sep 10, 2008 - 22:20

The emperor Julian in the mid-half of the fourth century in an attempt to revive the ancient gods instituted many reforms in his short three year reign trying to get people to go back to Athena, Zeus, etc. from the rising power of Christianity. This is a fascinating period of history because it represents the living clash of the two and an interesting period of intellectual exploration and, yes, hostilities. As perhaps some little tokens of this period and the rise of Christianity, we present two prophecies allegedly written down by the oracle at Delphi, Apollo's voice on earth through whom he spoke to mortals.

The first is to the Emperor Augustus who reigned from 27 B.C. to 14 A.D.. It runs:

A Jewish son, lord to the gods, commands
me to abandon this house and return again to Hades.
So go away in silence from our altars.

The second was spoken allegedly spoken to an embassy sent by the emperor Julian to ask whether the gods would ever be honored and worshipped in the ancient ways. This is what Apollo through the Pythia said:

Εἴπατε τῷ βασιλεῖ· χαμαὶ πέσε δαίδαλος αὐλά.
Οὐκέτι Φοῖβος ἔχει καλύβαν, οὐ μάντιδα δάφνην,
Οὐ παγὰν λαλέουσαν, ἀπέσβετο καὶ λάλον ὕδωρ.

This runs roughly:

Tell the emperor that the great temple has fallen to the ground
Phoebus no longer has a shelter, nor a laurel diviner,
his spring of words does not babble, it has gone dry.

Note: Apollo=Phoebus