This is an interesting subject. In Naomi Ozaniec's book, Daughter of the Goddess: The Sacred Priestess she has a chapter on Oracles in our history.
Diodorus Siculus says that the Oracle used to be a young woman, but a man kidnapped her and raped her, and thereafter the Oracle was always an older woman (usually over 50, and a virgin!). Apparently the term Pythia, for the Oracle, was one that only came into popularity in the 19th century, and was never used by contemporary sources.
The idea of divine madness, of the priestess flailing around and breathing in vapours from bowls of incense or from a chasm, has been etched into the common conception about Delphi. Ozaniec says that several of the sources that are used for this image come from the likes of Strabo and Lucan - and neither of them had ever visited Delphi personally. There seems to have been a lot of rumours and exaggeration about the Oracle, even during the time when it was operating.
Plutarch is noted as being a particularly useful source as he was a Priest at Delphi. Though there were some others such as Aescylus, Euripedes, Pindar and Herodotus. None of these mention the idea of a chasm or of vapours. I got the impression from the book that Plutarch had not said it either, but the above story says he did, so I guess it's up to the scholars to look that up.
From what Ozaniec says, the idea that the Oracle was frenzied comes from a mistranslation of Plutrach's word "mania" (rapture, inspiration, ecstacy) into the Latin of "insania". Plutarch does describe the Oracle as wild and crazed once, but that was a particular story in which one of the querents broke the rules about the manner in which the Oracle was supposed to be approached, and she subseqently died from the experience. It's thought to be a warning of what not to do.
Of course, as we all know, everyone as their own slant, so I can't say for sure that Ozaniec isn't putting her own spin on things. Though I'm usually impressed by authors who go to the trouble of reseraching original sources. From what she says, Joesph Fontenrose has done just that in his book: Python - a Study of Delphic Myth and its Origins; University of California Press, 1959. I think that would be one to look up.
I think there's an interesting bias in the piece quoted about the Priestess, especially the expression that she would "spout off Oracles". The idea seems to be to rationally explain what the Priestess was doing, and to imply that it was gibberish in some fashion. Even if mind-altering substances were used, it doesn't alter that the visions and information might have been useful.
Not all Oracles were accurate of course, and from what I understand there was a political agenda behind some of them in Greece, with a lot of Kudos for the area that had a powerful Oracle. In the case of the Delphi Oracle, I believe the resident Priest would take what she said and then "translate" it into poetic form. Which certainly shows that what was said by the Priestess could easily be misunderstood. |
