You had a Subway supper at Brelsford's room.
Earlier, after breakfast you drove a circle route ( beginning near the high
school) in Sedona, shopping, lunch at The Mesa Grill next to the Sedona Airport
on the Mesa (above Sedona).
2004 hours. It was a relaxing day. I found a good image of
the airport (a very cool place for a quite good restaurant).
Sedona Airport (Google Image)
(We travelled by car within the area shown.)
We returned to the 'Inn of Sedona' (Best Western Plus)
which has to have one of the best views of any motel/hotel in town. Tomorrow
morning another buffet breakfast at the 'Inn' then we head north to the Grand
Canyon Park and our motel. Looking forward to the beautiful drive along the
way. The last time Carol and I were here (Spring, 2005) we were so impressed
with the drive that once we arrived at I-40 near Flagstaff we turned around and
drove back the same way but stopped at Jerome on that trip, then up to Meteor
Crater and Winslow (which is off I-40) on old Route 66. (Winslow, Arizona is
the town that most closely resembles Radiator Springs in the cartoon film Cars.)
I have not heard whether I can publish "The Evidence
from Plutarch" so I am looking elsewhere for similar material to use of
the segment Dead 17. I like Plutarch because I did read Plutarch's Lives of
the Romans in my college days. Below from Wikipedia:
** **
Philosophy [of
Plutarch]
Plutarch was a
Platonist, but was open to the influence of the Peripatetcs, and in some
details even to Stoicism despite his polemics against their principles. He
rejected absolutely only Epicureanism. He attached little importance to
theoretical questions and doubted the possibility of ever solving them. He was
more interested in moral and religious questions.
In opposition to Stoic
materialism and Epicurean "atheism" he cherished a pure idea of God
that was more in accordance with Plato. He adopted a second principle (Dyad) in order to explain the phenomenal
world. This principle he sought, however, not in any indeterminate matter but
in the evil world-soul which has from the beginning been bound up with matter,
but in the creation was filled with reason and arranged by it. Thus it was
transformed into the divine soul of the world, but continued to operate as the
source of all evil. He elevated God above the finite world, and thus daemons
became for him agents of God's influence on the world. He strongly defends
freedom of the will, and the immortality of the soul.
Platonic-Peripatetic
ethics were upheld by Plutarch against the opposing theories of the Stoics and
Epicureans. The most characteristic feature of Plutarch's ethics is, however,
its close connection with religion. However pure Plutarch's idea of God is, and
however vivid his description of the vice and corruption which superstition causes,
his warm religious feelings and his distrust of human powers of knowledge led
him to believe that God comes to our aid by direct revelations, which we
perceive the more clearly the more completely that we refrain in
"enthusiasm" from all action; this made it possible for him to
justify popular belief in divination in the way which had long been usual among
the Stoics.
His attitude to
popular religion was similar. The gods of different peoples are merely
different names for one and the same divine Being and the powers that serve it.
The myths contain philosophical truths which can be interpreted allegorically.
Thus Plutarch sought to combine the philosophical and religious conception of
things and to remain as close as possible to tradition.
Edited
from Wikipedia - Plutarch
** **
2041 hours. I concur with most of what is said about
Plutarch's philosophy. I would have enjoyed having him for a teacher of
philosophy mostly because I think I would have agreed with him. I certainly do
not agree with the fifth century Christian concept that daemons are evil.
Such humor, orndorff. The more you
discovered about ancient daemons the more you think I fit the ancient's bill of
one. You have below, the material from Wikipedia on Pythia the companion
character to Merlyn in Dead 17. You have too much (and there is more that you
do not have) that will fit in the segment so I will delete what is unimportant
to us here. - Amorella
** **
Pythia
From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
The Pythia was widely credited for her prophecies
inspired by Apollo. The Delphic oracle was established in the 8th
century BC, although it may have been present in some form in Late Mycenaean
times, from 1,400 BC and was abandoned, and there is evidence that Apollo took
over the shrine from an earlier dedication to Gaia. The last recorded response
was given during 393 A.D., when the emperor Theodosius I ordered pagan temples
to cease operation.
During this period the
Delphic Oracle was the most prestigious and authoritative oracle among the Greeks.
The oracle is one of the best-documented religious institutions of the
classical Greeks. Authors who mention the oracle include Aeschylus, Aristotle,
Clement of Alexandria, Diodorus, Diogenes, Euripides, Herodotus, Julian,
Justin, Livy, Lucan, Ovid, Pausanias, Pindar, Plato, Plutarch, Sophocles,
Thucydides and Xenophon.
The name 'Pythia'
derived from Pytho, which in myth was the original name of Delphi. The Greeks
derived this place name from the verb, pythein (πύθειν, "to
rot"), which refers to the decomposition of the body of the monstrous
Python after she was slain by Apollo. The usual theory has been that the Pythia
delivered oracles in a frenzied state induced by vapors rising from a chasm in
the rock, and that she spoke gibberish which priests interpreted as the
enigmatic prophecies preserved in Greek literature.
Recent geological
investigations have shown that gas emissions from a geologic chasm in the earth
could have inspired the Delphic Oracle to "connect with the divine."
Some researchers suggest the possibility that ethylene gas caused the Pythia's
state of inspiration.. . . Others argue instead that methane might have been
the gas emitted from the chasm, or CO2 and H2S, arguing
that the chasm itself might have been a seismic ground rupture. . . .
Origins of the Oracle
The 8th century
reformulation of the Oracle at Delphi as a shrine to Apollo seems associated
with the rise in importance of the city of Corinth.
The earliest account
of the origin of the Delphic oracle is provided in the Homeric Hymn to Delphic
Apollo, which recent scholarship dates within a narrow range, ca. 580-570 BC. . . .
There are also many
later stories of the origins of the Delphic Oracle. One late explanation, which
is first related by the 1st century BC writer, Diodorus Siculus tells of a goat
herder named Coretas, who noticed one day that one of his goats, who fell into
a crack in the earth, was behaving strangely. On entering the chasm, he found
himself filled with a divine presence and could see outside of the present into
the past and the future. Excited by his discovery he shared it with nearby
villagers. Many started visiting the site to experience the convulsions and
inspirational trances, though some were said to disappear into the cleft due to
their frenzied state. A shrine was erected at the site, where people began
worshiping in the late Bronze Age, by 1600 BC. The villagers chose a single
young woman as the liaison for the divine inspirations. Eventually she spoke on
behalf of gods.
According to earlier
myths, the office of the oracle was initially possessed by the goddesses Themis
and Phoebe, and the site was initially sacred to Gaia. Subsequently it was
believed to be sacred to Poseidon, the "Earth-shaker" god of earthquakes.
During the Greek Dark Age, from the 11th to the 9th century BC, a new god of
prophecy, Apollo, allegedly seized the temple and expelled the twin guardian
serpents of Gaia. Later myths stated that Phoebe or Themis had
"given" the site to Apollo, rationalizing its seizure by priests of
the new god, but presumably, having to retain the priestesses of the original
oracle because of the long tradition.
Diodorus also
explained how, initially, the Pythia was an appropriately clad young virgin,
for great emphasis was placed on the Oracle's chastity and purity to be
reserved for union with the god Apollo.
The scholar Martin
Litchfield West writes that the Pythia shows many traits of shamanistic
practices, likely inherited or influenced from Central Asian practices,
although there is no evidence of any Central Asian association at this time. He
cites the Pythia sitting in a cauldron on a tripod, while making her prophecies
in an ecstatic trance state, like shamans, and her unintelligible utterings.
Organization of the
Oracle
Personnel
Though little is known
of how the priestess was chosen, the Pythia was probably selected, at
the death of her predecessor, from amongst a guild of priestesses of the
temple. These women were all natives of Delphi and were required to have had a
sober life and be of good character. Although some were married, upon assuming
their role as the Pythia, the priestesses ceased all family responsibilities,
marital relations, and individual identity. In the heyday of the oracle, the
Pythia may have been a woman chosen from an influential family, well educated
in geography, politics, history, philosophy, and the arts. During later
periods, however, uneducated peasant women were chosen for the role, which may
explain why the poetic pentameter or hexameter prophecies of the early period,
later were made only in prose. The archaeologist John Hale reports:
The job of a
priestess, especially the Pythia, was a respectable career for Greek women.
Priestesses enjoyed many liberties and rewards for their societal position,
such as freedom from taxation, the right to own property and attend public
events, a salary and housing provided by the state, a wide range of duties
depending on their affiliation, and often gold crowns.
During the main period
of the oracle's popularity, as many as three women served as Pythia, another
vestige of the triad, with two taking turns in giving prophecy and another kept
in reserve.
Plutarch said that the
Pythia's life was shortened through the service of Apollo. The sessions were
said to be exhausting. At the end of each period the Pythia would be like a
runner after a race or a dancer after an ecstatic dance, which may have had a
physical effect on the health of the Pythia.
The other officials
associated with the oracle are less well known. These are the hosioi
("holy ones") and the prophētai (singular prophētēs).
Prophētēs is the origin of the English word "prophet", but a
better translation of the Greek word might be "one who speaks on behalf of
another person."
Oracular procedure
In the traditions
associated with Apollo, the oracle only gave prophecies during the nine warmest
months of each year. During winter months, Apollo was said to have deserted his
temple, his place being taken by his divine half-brother Dionysus, whose tomb
was within the temple. It is not known whether the Oracle participated with the
Dionysian rites of the Maenads or Thyades in the Korykion cave on Mount
Parnassos, although Plutarch informs us that his friend Clea was both a
Priestess to Apollo and to the secret rites of Dionysus. The male priests seem
to have had their own ceremonies to the dying and resurrecting God. Apollo was
said to return at the beginning of Spring, on the 7th day of the month of
Vysios, his birthday. This also would reiterate the absences of the great
goddess Demeter in winter also, which would have been a part of the earliest
traditions.
Once a month,
thereafter, the oracle would undergo purification rites, including
fasting, to ceremonially prepare the Pythia for communications with the divine.
On the seventh day of each month, she would bathe in the Castalian Spring then
would drink the holier waters of the Kassotis, which flowed closer to the
temple, where a naiad possessing magical powers was said to live. Euripides
described this ritual purification ceremony, starting first with the priest Ion
dancing on the highest point of Mount Parnassus, going about his duties within
the temple, and sprinkling the temple floor with holy water. The purification
ceremonies always were performed on the seventh day of the month, which was
sacred to and associated with the god Apollo.
She then descended
into the adyton (Greek for "inaccessible") and mounted
her tripod seat, holding laurel leaves and a dish of Kassotis spring water into
which she gazed. Nearby was the omphalos (Greek for "navel"), which
was flanked by two solid gold eagles representing the authority of Zeus, and
the cleft from which emerged the sacred pneuma.
Consultants, carrying
laurel branches sacred to Apollo, approached the temple along the winding
upward course of the Sacred Way, bringing an animal for sacrifice in the
forecourt of the temple, and a monetary fee. Petitioners drew lots to determine
the order of admission, but representatives of a city-state or those who
brought larger donations to Apollo were secured a higher place in line.
Plutarch describes the
events of one session in which the omens were ill-favored, but the Oracle was
consulted nonetheless. The priests proceeded to receive the prophecy, but the
result was a hysterical uncontrollable reaction from the priestess that
resulted in her death a few days later.
At times when the
Pythia was not available, consultants could obtain guidance by asking simple
Yes-or-No questions to the priests. A response was returned through the tossing
of colored beans, one color designating "yes," another
"no." Little else is known of this practice.
Between 535 and 615 of
the Oracles of Delphi are known to have survived since classical times, of
which over half are said to be accurate historically.
The experience of
supplicants
It would appear that
the supplicant to the oracle would undergo a four-stage process, typical of
shamanic journeys.
•
Step 1: Journey to
Delphi — Supplicants were motivated by some need to undertake the long
and sometimes arduous journey to come to Delphi in order to consult the oracle.
This journey was motivated by an awareness of the existence of the oracle, the
growing motivation on the part of the individual or group to undertake the
journey, and the gathering of information about the oracle as providing answers
to important questions.
Step 3: Visit to the Oracle — The supplicant would then
be led into the temple to visit the adyton, put his question to the Pythia,
receive his answer and depart. The degree of preparation already undergone
would mean that the supplicant was already in a very aroused and meditative
state, similar to the shamanic journey elaborated on in the article.
•
Step 4: Return
Home — Oracles were meant to give advice to shape future action, that
was meant to be implemented by the supplicant, or by those that had sponsored
the supplicant to visit the Oracle. The validity of the Oracular utterance was
confirmed by the consequences of the application of the oracle to the lives of
those people who sought Oracular guidance.
Scientific
explanations
Fumes and vapors
There have been many
attempts to find a scientific explanation for the Pythia's inspiration.
However, most commonly, these refer to an observation made by Plutarch, who
presided as high priest at Delphi for several years, who stated that her
oracular powers appeared to be associated with vapors from the Kerna spring
waters that flowed under the temple. It has often been suggested that these
vapors may have been hallucinogenic gases.
Excavations
Beginning during 1892,
a team of French archaeologists directed by Theophile Homolle of the College de
France excavated the site at Delphi. Contrary to ancient literature, they found
no fissure and no possible means for the production of fumes. . . .
[However] Broad (2007)
demonstrates that a French photograph of the excavated interior of the temple
clearly depicts a springlike pool as well as a number of small vertical
fissures, indicating numerous pathways by which vapors could enter the base of
the temple.
During the 1980s, the
interdisciplinary team of geologist Jelle Zeilinga de Boer, archaeologist John R.
Hale, forensic chemist Jeffrey P. Chanton, and toxicologist Henry R. Spiller
investigated the site at Delphi using this photograph and other sources as
evidence, as part of a United Nations survey of all active faults in Greece.
Jelle Zeilinga de Boer
saw evidence of a fault line in Delphi that lay under the ruined temple. During
several expeditions, they discovered two major fault lines, one lying
north-south, the Kerna fault, and the other lying east-west, the Delphic fault,
which parallels the shore of the Corinthian Gulf. The rift of the Gulf of
Corinth is one of the most geologically active sites on Earth; shifts there
impose immense strains on nearby fault lines, such as those below Delphi. The
two faults cross one another, and they intersect right below where the adyton
was probably located. (The actual, original oracle chamber had been destroyed
by the moving faults, but there is strong structural evidence that indicates
where it was most likely located.)
They
also found evidence for underground passages and chambers, and drains for
spring water. Additionally, they discovered at the site formations of
travertine, a form of calcite created when water flows through limestone and
dissolves calcium carbonate, which is later redeposited. Further investigation
revealed that deep beneath the Delphi region lies bituminous deposit, rich in
hydrocarbons and full of pitch, that has a petrochemical content as high as
20%. Friction created by earthquakes heat the bituminous layers resulting in
vaporization of the hydrocarbons which rise to the surface through small
fissures in the rock.
Illusions in the adyton
It has been disputed
as to how the adyton was organized, but it appears clear that this
temple was unlike any other in Ancient Greece. The small chamber was located
below the general floor of the temple and offset to one side, perhaps
constructed specifically over the crossing faults. The intimate chamber allowed
the escaping vapors to be contained in quarters close enough to provoke
intoxicating effects. Plutarch reports that the temple was filled with a sweet
smell when the "deity" was present:
De Boer's research
caused him to speculate ethylene as a gas known to possess this sweet odor.
Toxicologist Henry R. Spiller specified that inhalation of even a small amount
of ethylene can cause both benign trances and euphoric frenzied states. Other
effects include physical detachment, loss of inhibitions, the relieving of
pain, and rapidly changing moods without dulling consciousness. He also noted
that uncontrolled doses can cause confusion, agitation, delirium, and loss of
muscle coordination.
Anesthesiologist Isabella
Herb found that a dose of 20% ethylene gas administered to a subject was a
threshold. A dosage higher than 20% caused unconsciousness. With less than 20%
a trance was induced where the subject could sit up, hear questions and answer
them logically, although the tone of their voice might be altered, their speech
pattern could be changed, and they may have lost some awareness of their hands
and feet, (with some it was possible to have poked a pin or pricked them with a
knife and they would not feel it). When patients were removed from the area
where the gas accumulated they had no recollection of what had happened, or
what they had said. With a dosage of more than 20% the patient lost control
over the movement of their limbs and may thrash wildly, groaning in strange
voices, losing balance and frequently repeatedly falling. All of these symptoms
match the experience of the Pythia in action, as related by Plutarch, who
witnessed many prophecies.
During 2001, water
samples from the nearby springs yielded evidence of the presence of the
hallucinogenic hydrocarbon. The Kerna spring, originating uphill from the
temple, yielded 0.3 parts per million of ethylene. Presently, the waters of the
Kerma spring are diverted from the temple for use by the nearby modern town of
Delphi. It is unknown the degree to which ethylene or other gases would be
detected at the temple should these waters still flow freely, as they did in
the ancient world.
Chunks of travertine,
calcareous rock formed of mineral spring deposits, were also extracted from the
temple and tested, but no traces of ethylene were identified. The nature of the
hydrocarbon accounts for this. Ethylene is extremely light and volatile, having
a highly reactive nature, and therefore could have presumably escaped the rock
long ago. By testing the samples from the spring water, the team was at least
able to identify the substance's current presence at the site, giving them
insight that a presumably larger quantity existed in the waters thousands of
years earlier.
Frequent earthquakes
produced by the fact that Greece lies at the intersection of three separate tectonic
plates seem to have been responsible for the observed cracking of the
limestone, and the opening up of new channels by which hydrocarbons enter the
flowing waters of the Kassotis. This would cause the amounts of ethylene
emitted to fluctuate, increasing or decreasing the potency of the drug
released, over time. It has been suggested that the decrease of importance of
the Oracle after the era of Roman Emperor Hadrian was due in part to the fact
that there had not been an earthquake in the area for a significant time.
Edited from Wikipedia
for Notes for Book One, Dead 17.
** **
2130
hours. This pretty much covers the material, but the Evidence from Plutarch not
published on the blog is still within my notes. Thank you for the deletions
Amorella.
The contrary commentary is not important
because this is not a scholarly-like about Delphi it is a story. You are
feeling the intensity of the contents above. You do not see yourself as calling
Pythia forth from the Dead, nor do you see me calling Pythia forth from the
Dead, but you do see a story of how it might have been and how it might be for
Pythia when she speaks with Merlyn. She will be introduced by Plutarch, as you
would have liked to have met the man when alive. How's that? - Amorella
What a treat! Cool, Amorella. Now I can look up Plutarch's
'Life'. A fun treat in humor itself.
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