This past week we jumped forward to start looking at the archaic periods and some of the classic periods. We did so while also going on a trip to central Greece. On this trip, we visited one of the main holy sites of ancient Greece, Delphi. During this trip, we also visited a museum that I think crystallized something in my head about ancient Greek society, and maybe all society. That is, there are generally three main parts to the ancient Greek world. These are political structures, economic structures, and religious structures. Most activity can be placed into a Venn diagram with those three core circles. And while society is obviously much, much more complex than this, I find this model to be useful for my understanding, and I hope you do too.
As I mentioned before, our trip consisted of visiting Delphi, a stunning mountain Panhellenic sanctuary. Here we saw all three main aspects of the model I mentioned above. Politically, governance structures were set up to allow for each individual large polis to have some influence in the governance of the site. The comparison (though shunned) was made to an ancient form of the UN. While not fully accurate I get the appeal of making this comparison. Although from the way it was described to us, in this council there was much more jockeying for power and prestige, even compared to our current UN. Economically, as this space was so important it was also described to us as an economic center where different polities advertised themselves to the rest of the Greek world. This Delphi helped influence and encourage trade— which ultimately created and fostered a Panhellenic identity and culture.
Last, as a holy site, with the help of its oracle, the site helped influence religion and the way that the Greek world worshiped and thought of its gods. I can’t help but wonder how the cycle of importance in Delphi developed. Was its holiness that caused the political and economic activity at the site, or did the political and economic activity over time make it even more holy? Most likely, it was some combination of both. Regardless, I can definitely see why the Greeks of old thought of Delphi as a special and holy place. The landscape surrounding the site was simply incredible, almost mythical in itself.
The beauty of the landscape made me understand and truly see how myth could become ingrained within a society. If I was staring across the way looking at that mountain, the valley, and the sea I could fully understand a history of creatures unknown to this earth. In addition to the landscape, I fully understand and resonate with the purpose myth (and religion more broadly) served in society. It worked as a way to try to preserve a cultural memory and create a connection from past to present. It also probably worked as a way to enforce and reproduce cultural and social norms within the Greek world. I guess this is all to say that I think I more truly understand why myth and religion supplanted itself in Greece after having visited Delphi.
I wanted to add one brief unrelated note about modern museum practices. Earlier in the week we visited the Acropolis Museum in Athens and saw the set of statues from the porch of the Erechtheion (pictured above). Notice the empty spot, in which there should be another statue. That statue is in the British Museum. The Greek government has asked for it back and the British museum responded, with more words, “No.” On a smaller scale, we visited a set of museums over the weekend that jointly shared the findings from an archeological site near both of them. I think these are both interesting cases of how museums handle where to put artifacts and how to display them (or lack of them). Such topics are something I want to think more about, and writing this paragraph has been my first step in doing so.