GEOGRAPHY
It is in the territory of Phocis
 The town it self is located on the side of Mount
Parnassus
 Delphi is located right next to the Gulf of Corinth so
they had some sea access
 They had a lot of land because of the government’s
power
 Delphi has a usual Mediterranean climate with hot,
dry summers and mild, wet winters
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GOVERNMENT
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During 8th c. B.C. Delphi became internationally
known for Pythia the priestess who sat on a tripod
and muttered incomprehensible words that
foretold the future.
No decision was made with out first asking Pythia
Delphi thought that before they prepared for
anything and before they did anything that they
had to ask Pythia
The four main governments of the time were
Dictatorship, Democracy(created by Athens),
Monarchy and oligarchy
Ancient Delphi was governed by aristocrats who
were members of a 12 member federation known
as the Amphictyonia whose main task was to unify
the small city-states, so Delphi was an oligarchy
The Amphictyonia had a lot of land and had great
influence on a few things for other city states
FOOD SOURCES
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They were farmers and like most Greek citystates their main crop was olives
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They also fished and traded with other city
states
Like others they made a lot of money off of
shipping olive products and wheat overseas
Their main meats were sheep, cow, chicken
and turkey
They ate fish, meat, poultry, eggs, olives,
wheat and many other foods too because they
had many natural resources and they could
trade with other areas
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RELIGION
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The people of Delphi believed that when Apollo slayed the
dragon that had been guarding the oracle that he built a
shrine there where his sacred flame was never supposed to
go out
The main god of Delphi was Apollo
The sanctuary of Delphi was part of the Amphictyonia alliance
which protected the site from many invaders and it protected
the site form the people who lived around it
The Oracle of Delphi was so important that the people who
lived there thought that they had to be living at the center of
the world
ARCHITECTURE
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The first temple was built in the 7th century BCE and
was a replacement for other temples which were
smaller
Both temples the old one and the new ones were
both in Doric style
The theatre there was so big it could hold 5,000
people
And the stadium was so big that it could hold 7,000
people
Delphi had over 20 treasuries for all of their gold
The main style for all of the major buildings in Delphi
was Doric
The best structure in all of Delphi was the tholos in
the sanctuary of Athena Pronaia, its columns stand
at 13.5 meters tall
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
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The social structure was generally broken up into 3
different classes in most cases, slaves, free people
(who owned slaves), and upperclassmen (nobles,
royals, dictators, rich people, etc.)
The 12 rulers of Delphi were the main people in
charge and therefore they were at the top of
the social pyramid
THE ARTS
Delphi was known for their intricate almost life
like statues of people
 They made huge joyful paintings to hang on
their walls and in their temples
 They also had a huge market where all kinds of
art was sold
 Their art was Doric style
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WRITING
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The ancient Greeks were the first European civilization
to use and alphabet for their writing
There were three major dialects in ancient Greece,
Aeolic, Doric and Ionic
However mostly all Greeks spoke the same language
and used the same style of writing
They recorded their writing on blocks of stone that
were cut away from rocks
TECHNOLOGY
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An amazing feat for Delphi back then was the huge
13.5 meter columns at the tholos in the sanctuary
of Athena Pronaia
The people of Delphi were also able to carve out a
huge theater in the side of Mount Parnassus
Another huge feat that Delphi had was that they
were able to make 1.80 cm tall statues that had
incredible detail and were almost life like
At first the people of ancient Delphi simply stuck
their arrows in a toxic plant that was growing near
their village but overtime they got more advanced
and made metal weapons made from bronze and
other metals
The people of Delphi also used terrace farming and
a complex irrigation system to water their crops