'Delphi' by Edward Lear, watercolor, 12 by 19 cm

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

, the Phaedriades (Φαιδριάδες, meaning "the shining ones") are the pair of cliffs, ''ca'' 700 m high on the lower southern slope of Mt. Parnassos, which rise above the sacred site of Delphi. Strabo,

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...

and

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: *Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC * Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...

all mentioned the Phaedriades when describing the site, a narrow valley of the

Pleistos The Pleistos ( el, Πλείστος, grc, Πλεῖστος, la, Pleistus) is a river in central Greece. It drains the Pleistos valley, named after it, a relatively recent rift valley north of the Gulf of Corinth, and parallel to it. They ha ...

(today Xeropotamos) formed by Parnassos and Mount Cirphis. Between them rises the

Castalian Spring The Castalian Spring, in the ravine between the Phaedriades at Delphi, is where all visitors to Delphi — the contestants in the Pythian Games, and especially pilgrims who came to consult the Delphic Oracle — stopped to wash themselv ...

. Even nowadays, at noontime, the rock surfaces reflect a dazzling glare.

Geology

The Phaedriades consist of dark limestone formed in the

Jurassic period The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...

Historical narrations

Herodotus mentions that during the

Persian invasion of Greece Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

in 480 B.C. Apollo sent an oracle to the priests of Delphi saying that he would defend his sacred site himself. The priests thus refused the offer of the Athenians to help. Indeed, as the Persian army approached, thunderbolts fell from the sky and killed several of the enemy. Defensive weapons appeared magically in front of the temple of Apollo and of that of Athena Pronaia. Finally, as the Persians reached the Phaedriades, boulders cleaved from the cliffs and, without hitting the monuments and the sacred site, fell on the Persians and crushed them. Herodotus mentions that in his day, one could see these rocks embedded in the ground within the sacred precinct of Athena Pronaia. It is also claimed that in antiquity, those who committed sacrilege against the sanctuary were thrown from the cliffs.

References

External links

Delphi Cliffs of Europe Landforms of Phocis Limestone formations {{CentralGreece-geo-stub