DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52591#0059
DELPHI
43
Besides the springs, still, as always, a fundamental condition
of prosperity in the South, the southern aspect of the valley was
favourable for the prosperity of Delphi. Even in antiquity
there was general agreement that such an aspect was healthiest
both in summer and winter : in the former the sun stands
so high that houses and roofs give good shade, and one is
tormented neither by the morning nor the evening sun;
in the latter the sun passes low in the sky and lets its warm
rays penetrate into the open doors of the houses. There-
fore, as the court physician of the Emperor Julian, Oribasius,1
says, the places which have a south aspect are the healthiest.
Therefore not only was Delphi so laid out, but also Priene
in Asia Minor, and ancient Athens at the foot of the south
slope of the Acropolis.
Of some importance also was the excellent strategic position
of Delphi, covered as it was by the inaccessible Phaedriades,
and hovering over the steep slope of the Pleistus valley, while
the narrow road that led past could be defended by a few
bastions. This secured the rich treasures of the sanctuary
against surprise or plundering by lesser gangs of robbers; a
whole army was necessary to attack it.
But more important than all this was the situation of Delphi
in relation to the trade-roads. Parnassus forms the boundary
between eastern and western Greece, between the fruitful
cultivated lands of the east and the desolate mountain lands
of the west, the land of the Aetolians and Acarnanians, where,
even in the fifth century B.c., brigandage was so vigorously
practised that everyone was compelled to bear arms, as in the
early disturbed days of Hellas.2 West of Parnassus ran the
last safe trade-road from the numerous cities of Thessaly by
way of Doris, the district round the head of the river Cephi-
sus, through a narrow pass down to Amphissa and the
Crisaean plain. From Cirrha, the best harbour on the
Corinthian Gulf, goods could be shipped to Peloponnesus.
From the east two trade-roads ran from Boeotia, south of the
foot of Parnassus, one from Chaeroneia by way of Panopeus
and Daulis, one from Lebadeia direct to the Schiste, the
1 Σιψαγωγαί Ιατρικοί, ii. 317, Bussemaker-Daremberg’s edn.; cp. Xen., Oec., 9 ;
Mem., Hi. 8; and Aesch., P. V., 451.
2 Thucyd., i. 5; cp. iii. 94, description of the Aetolians.
43
Besides the springs, still, as always, a fundamental condition
of prosperity in the South, the southern aspect of the valley was
favourable for the prosperity of Delphi. Even in antiquity
there was general agreement that such an aspect was healthiest
both in summer and winter : in the former the sun stands
so high that houses and roofs give good shade, and one is
tormented neither by the morning nor the evening sun;
in the latter the sun passes low in the sky and lets its warm
rays penetrate into the open doors of the houses. There-
fore, as the court physician of the Emperor Julian, Oribasius,1
says, the places which have a south aspect are the healthiest.
Therefore not only was Delphi so laid out, but also Priene
in Asia Minor, and ancient Athens at the foot of the south
slope of the Acropolis.
Of some importance also was the excellent strategic position
of Delphi, covered as it was by the inaccessible Phaedriades,
and hovering over the steep slope of the Pleistus valley, while
the narrow road that led past could be defended by a few
bastions. This secured the rich treasures of the sanctuary
against surprise or plundering by lesser gangs of robbers; a
whole army was necessary to attack it.
But more important than all this was the situation of Delphi
in relation to the trade-roads. Parnassus forms the boundary
between eastern and western Greece, between the fruitful
cultivated lands of the east and the desolate mountain lands
of the west, the land of the Aetolians and Acarnanians, where,
even in the fifth century B.c., brigandage was so vigorously
practised that everyone was compelled to bear arms, as in the
early disturbed days of Hellas.2 West of Parnassus ran the
last safe trade-road from the numerous cities of Thessaly by
way of Doris, the district round the head of the river Cephi-
sus, through a narrow pass down to Amphissa and the
Crisaean plain. From Cirrha, the best harbour on the
Corinthian Gulf, goods could be shipped to Peloponnesus.
From the east two trade-roads ran from Boeotia, south of the
foot of Parnassus, one from Chaeroneia by way of Panopeus
and Daulis, one from Lebadeia direct to the Schiste, the
1 Σιψαγωγαί Ιατρικοί, ii. 317, Bussemaker-Daremberg’s edn.; cp. Xen., Oec., 9 ;
Mem., Hi. 8; and Aesch., P. V., 451.
2 Thucyd., i. 5; cp. iii. 94, description of the Aetolians.