Sexual Fables |
This article accompanies the fable That said, Delphi (Pytho) connects with the Odyssey because it long has been one of those stories where a Great Mother deity, in this case the earth goddess Gaia or Ge, is pushed aside by a male deity, in this case Apollo. It resembles Odysseus' erratic journey home, as he pushes aside the bonds of the women he meets along the way, even Penelope, and seizes the story for himself. At least as far back as the classical Greek tragedians, that idea was always worth an argument. There were those who complained that before Apollo there was no Oracle and that, anyway, Gaia was allowed to maintain a presence at Delphi, and that her priestesses spoke gibberish. Equally, there were those who saw Apollo as the invader and usurper, who killed the serpent or dragon ("python") of the goddess and then set himself up with his own priests to utter prophecies, while pretending they were from the female Oracles. The first group retorted that Apollo built his temple on the grave of Gaia. Below is how John Collier saw the Priestess of Delphi in 1891. It is in the Art Gallery of South Australia. The Oracle ("pythia") was known to have sat on a tripod, inhaling fumes from the chasm below and channeling the words of Apollo. A male god. Delphi itself, on the slopes of Mount Parnassus, was regarded as the navel (omphalos) of the world - a myth also associated with Apollo. Yet the imagery is distinctively feminine. The omphalos refers to an egg-shaped stone that sat at the innermost room of the ancient temple. Carved upon it was a knotted web, like the pattern of a weaver's loom, or perhaps a fisherman's net.
Bottom photo credit: Runner1928 |