00:00the gods controlled human destiny and for the Greeks the desire to know what
00:05the gods held in store for them became an obsession a remote hillside at Delphi
00:13was discovered to have special powers using the medium of a priestess it was
00:18possible to channel these special powers and talk to the gods these predictions
00:23and forecasts at Delphi were known as the Oracle
00:29Greeks in their thousands would soon make the pilgrimage to this mysterious mountain
00:33refuge to discover their future predicting the future became big business the Oracle
00:40created a huge source of revenue and this remote hillside at Delphi became so important
00:46that Greek city-states had embassies and treasuries built here you had the wealth of
00:54the Swiss banks and the authority of the Vatican all in one place because Delphi was glittering
00:59with treasure treasure laid up for the gods really for the glory of man Delphi was believed to be the
01:07center of the Greek world it became an enormous architectural site the Roman writer Pliny observed
01:143,000 monuments there the most important was the Great Temple of Apollo this was the center for the
01:22Oracle if you wanted to look into the future in the ancient world without any kind of question about
01:27what was going to happen there was only one place where you could be really sure that you would hear
01:32the voice of God and that was Delphi in such a superstitious society the Oracle was consulted on every issue
01:43Delphi was great expert the ultimate expert big politics shall we go to war or the intensely personal things
01:51who's who's the father of the child the sheer difficulty of reaching the Oracle served to enhance its mystique but
02:00why
02:00cite the complex 2,000 feet up a mountainside the reason lies in a legend which records how a herd
02:08of goats was the
02:09first to experience Delphi's mystical power grazing on the hillside beneath Mount Parnassus the goats were reported to have been
02:17overcome by
02:18sweet-smelling vapors the story goes that the goats themselves began to speak their words were interpreted
02:28as prophecies and the belief in the Oracle of Delphi was born in Athens in the 6th century BC a
02:37politician called
02:38Cleisthenes believed he could use the Oracle to his advantage he needed to raise his political status so he decided
02:46to build a temple of Delphi
02:48where the magical vapors appeared he dedicated it to Apollo the God who could predict the future
02:58building it was no easy feat the site was 2,000 feet up from the ground steep
03:05so the first task was to build a retaining wall of stone for a massive terrace 70 feet wide and
03:11190 feet long
03:14the columns were made from local limestone to look good in the eyes of Apollo
03:19Cleisthenes paid for a splendid facade to be built from imported marble
03:27he believed the expense was worth it he was anxious to win the Oracle onto his side
03:32to help him win political support back in Athens
03:37his gamble paid off legend recalls that Cleisthenes was blessed with good fortune and his career was greatly advanced
03:50at the temple it became the practice for a woman known as the Pythia to reveal Apollo's prophecies
03:58the male priests had their own reasons for this for if a man was to have this power
04:03he would become more powerful than the priests themselves but women had no power at all and the
04:09priests of the temple could control a lucrative industry priests of Apollo were busy behind the scenes
04:17a woman was chosen to speak because she could be manipulated at times of men's choosing
04:25like theater the priests worked hard to stage manage the event it was important that the clients felt
04:32that they'd been given an accurate prediction
04:36they kept the priestess behind a curtain to make it more mysterious it was all quite theatrical and you
04:43had a collective sense that this moment of great excitement of revelation was about to happen
04:50that have been many attempts to explain how the Pythia entered a trance-like state from poisonous honey
04:56cakes to narcotic substances but could a recent scientific investigation provide the answer
05:07experts exploring the geology of Delphi found two major fault lines in the hillside and these lines in the rock
05:14meet directly beneath the room where the Pythia sat in the temple of Apollo knowing toxic gases can emanate
05:23from fault lines the scientists tested a screen that still flows near the temple they found evidence in
05:30the water of ethylene a sweet smelling gas that can cause a trance-like state and even delirium
05:42whatever caused the Pythia strange cries it was the priests of Apollo who held all the true power
05:50they didn't tell you exactly what was going to happen they gave you certain information that you
05:55could interpret yourself in pretty much whatever way you liked
06:00by becoming the supreme authority and the central point of the Greek world the Oracle of Delphi remained
06:07influential for over a thousand years all the while answering the Greeks desperate desire to know the future
