Ernest B. McGinnis
Ernest McGinnis
View of the valley of the Pleistos River from atop Delphi.
For thousands of years, the ancient Greek city of Delphi has provided mankind with as many tantalizing questions as it has answers. As far back as the Roman period, men of science have questioned the validity of the oracular spectacle provided by the Pythia, the priestesses of Delphi, as they prophesied in their maniacal ecstasy. By the 20th century, archaeologists and historians concluded that the stories of the Pythia were either wildly exaggerated, or the Pythia were in fact thespians of the grandest sort. It was not until a chance “meeting of the minds” in a small tavern outside of Delphi in 1995, that once and for all the truth behind the Pythian spectacle was solved. In this article, we shall explore the scientific and psychological backdrop to one of history’s greatest mysteries, and the questions it poses to the interpretation of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian Christians in AD 52.
Fumes or Fairytales?
William J. Broad, a writer for the New York Times, wrote in 2002 of a “ground breaking” discovery at Delphi, which changed the way scholars viewed the oracular shrine of Apollo located there. Broad noted,
Modern scholarship long ago dismissed as false the explanation that the ancient Greeks gave for the oracle’s inspiration: vapors rising from the temple’s floor. They found no underlying fissure or possible source of intoxicants. Experts concluded that the vapors were mythical, like much else about the site (2002).
However, as Broad reported, a geologist, an archaeologist, a chemist and a toxicologist have combined their expertise and have shown the ancients to be correct.
The region’s underlying rocks turn out to be composed of oily limestone fractured by two hidden faults that cross exactly under the ruined temple, creating a path by which petrochemical fumes could rise to the surface to help induce visions (2002).
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The temple of Apollo. Built upon crossing fault lines, it exposed the Pythian priestesses to vapors which put them into an ecstatic state.
What this team found was that the fumes rising forth from beneath the Tripod—a high chair with three long legs, set atop a natural crevice on the temple floor, upon which the Pythia sat— were ethylene, “a sweet smelling gas once used as an anesthetic. In light doses, it produces feelings of aloof euphoria” (Broad 2002). These scientists have thus confirmed the historical accounts of the ancient writers, who indeed claimed the Pythia’s ecstasy was a direct result of the same chasm in the earth where ancient legend claims the shepherd Coretas and his herd of goats was overcome by hallucinatory gases flowing forth from the mouth of Gaia.
The story of this profound discovery is as interesting as Delphi itself. Dr. Jelle Zeilinga de Boer, a geologist, was invited to Delphi in 1981 to assist the Greek government in assessing the region’s suitability for building nuclear reactors. Dr. de Boer’s job was to search out hidden earthquake faults that might disrupt a nuclear site (Broad 2002). While attending to his duties Dr. de Boer discovered a fault, which had been hidden by hills until their recent removal to carve a roadway. As he traced this new fault he found that it linked to a known fault, which he discovered was partially hidden by rocky debris, yet appeared to run directly under the great temple of Apollo (Broad 2002). Dr. de Boer had assumed that this observation was made earlier and thus was of no great value.
However, in 1995 at a chance meeting with Dr. John R. Hale, an archaeologist, Dr. de Boer learned that his discovery was just that—a discovery. The following year, the two scientists returned to the site to survey the city and study regional maps of Greek geologists. Broad’s reports note the findings from this trip:
These revealed that underlying strata were bituminous limestone containing up to 20 percent blackish oils. “I remember him throwing the map at me,” Dr. Hale said of Dr. de Boer. “It’s petro-chemicals!” No volcanism was needed, contrary to the previous speculation. Simple geologic action could heat the bitumen, releasing chemicals into the temple ground waters (2002).
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The investigations into this matter continued into 1998, when the two scientists discovered yet another fault, running north-south under the temple. Their final conclusions noted,
the dry springs were coated with travertine, a rocky clue suggesting that the waters had come from deep below. When hot water seeps through limestone, it leaches out calcium carbonate that stays in solution until it rises to the surface and cools quickly. The calcium carbonate can then precipitate to form rocky layers of travertine (Broad 2002).
Finally, Dr. Jeffrey Chanton, a geochemist from Florida State University, analyzed the travertine samples found from dry springs near the temple and the temple foundation, and found methane and ethane, each able to produce altered mental states (Broad 2002).
The findings of this team have in recent years changed the way scholars view the ancient records dealing with Delphic ecstatic speech. They have shown conclusively that, in fact, ecstatic and wild behavior did accompany the giving of oracles at Delphi. This information helps to solidify our regard for the ancient sources as well as “define” ecstatic speech, by allowing us to gain knowledge of the effects the ethylene vapors had upon the Pythia.
Prophecy, Tongues, and the Power of Suggestion
All this raises a related question concerning prophecy and speaking in tongues in the New Testament period. Can we connect their manifestation in any way to the Pythian oracles? They did not also involve hallucinatory gases, did they? What are we to say of the pagan girl mentioned in Acts 16:16 who had apparently mimicked the Pythia’s “future-telling” behavior, yet despite that also speaks God’s truth about Paul? What of the related issues in the Corinthian church that prompted Paul’s corrective instruction in 1 Corinthians chapters 12–14? Certainly Corinthian Christian home churches were not also built upon fault lines carrying ethylene, causing tongue speakers and prophets to fly into maniacal fits. It could be said that our answer lies not in geology, but rather in a combination of psychology (the power of suggestion) and God’s sovereign works of revelation.
The definition of “suggestion” can be described by terms varying in levels of intensity, such as “hypnosis,” “indoctrination,” “worldview,” and simply “cultural expectation.” The power of suggestion has been used in areas ranging from release from chemical addiction to cult loyalty, psychotherapy, religious beliefs, and even such simple things as political affiliations. The power of suggestion need not be defined merely as psycho-supernatural, but is a general part of human existence in the context of community beliefs and norms.
Ernest McGinnis
Oracle cave built into the foundation of the temple at Delphi.
There are several forces that induce suggestibility. The first of these is auto-hypnosis, which is a mechanism within the human brain by which one disassociates oneself from the reality of the world in which they find themselves. This type of suggestion is found within patients suffering from DID or Multiple Personality Disorder, and is used to develop alternate personalities as a method of escape from tremendous fear, pain or abuse. The second force that induces suggestibility comes from another individual, and is best seen in incidents of hypnosis. Within the context of this form of suggestion, an individual is placed into a highly relaxed and thus suggestible state of mind for the purpose of therapy. Finally, the third form of suggestibility comes within
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Ernest McGinnis
Delphi’s Castilian Falls. On this site, the Pythia would ritually bathe prior to taking their place in the temple of Apollo.
the context of culture. It is here where such influences as culture and worldview come into play, and it is also here where I find the root of the Corinthian problem.
In this form of suggestion, cultural norms and accepted worldviews influence the mind of someone living within a community, thus altering their patterns of behavior, belief and response, resulting in manners acceptable to the culture and community. This form of suggestion is the most indirect method of the three, and yet the most pervasive. It is through cultural suggestion that we learn acceptable manners by which we live within the context of our community, affecting such everyday behavior as appropriate responses, familial relationships, love relationships, community involvement, work ethics, acceptable religious beliefs and practices, personal hygiene, language, etc. This form of suggestion, though powerful, is learned over time and experience. Though indirect, its influence directly pervades all aspects of behavior and thought.2
It was this form of suggestion, which shaped the worldviews of first century people, that Paul found himself battling against in many of the churches he founded, including Corinth. I would suggest that the Corinthians viewed inspired speech in terms of their own culture and thus, through the suggestion of their culture, practiced tongues in a manner that was appropriate to their community. This kind of suggestion is not limited to the first century Christian debate over the spiritual sign-gifts. In the recent book, American Exorcist by Michael Cuneo (2001), we find similar situations of divisiveness due to the power of suggestion as found in various churches and denominations. Cuneo provides countless incidents of “inspired speech,” “prophecy,” “deliverance or exorcism,” and other sign-gifts being practiced in diverse forms from other groups, and oftentimes in direct contradiction to one another.
From his travels around the country over a two-year span, Cuneo shares encounters with “demon possessed” people who always react to their predicament in a manner matching how the community expected someone with a demon should act. In some cases “demonized” people were quiet and calm, responding to their exorcist as though they were simply conversing over a cup of coffee at Starbucks, while others flopped about on the floor, screaming obscenities, and vomiting forth their demons.
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Ernest McGinnis
Sunrise view of Delphi and the Corinthian Sea.
The unifying factor in all his encounters was that each person responded to their predicament in a fashion acceptable to their church or group. Through suggestion, each person learned how he or she should act, by simply watching and learning how others around them acted—a clear case of the power of suggestion.
This same kind of behavioral influence could have penetrated the Corinthian understanding of divine speech. As pagan Corinthians living only 30 miles away from Delphi, they had learned through suggestion exactly how one should act when delivering inspired speech from a deity. Though the hallucinatory gases did not reach all the way into Corinth, the power of suggestion certainly did, and the result was exhibiting divine speech in a fashion that was acceptable to their community. It can be suggested that, at least in some cases, through subconscious influence, these early Christians could have believed mania accompanied tongues or prophecy, witnessed others exhibiting their gift in such a manner, had the imbedded worldview of inspired speech planted within their own minds through experience and cultural learning, and thus exhibited it in a manner likened to that of the Pythia of Delphi.
Conclusion
In conclusion, while the geological and psychological findings answer the physical questions posed by the happenings in Delphi so many thousands of years ago, the larger and more important spiritual questions remain. In future articles we shall explore other connections between Delphi and Corinth, including temples, games, politics, commerce and religion, as well as clues provided within the pages and language of the New Testament books of Acts and 1 Corinthians.
Bibliography
Broad, William J.
2002 For Delphic Oracle, Fumes and Visions. New York Times: Science Times. Tuesday, March 19, 2002.
Cuneo, Michael.
2001 American Exorcist. New York: Doubleday.