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| The Sacred Lake of Delos |
Leto,
the beautiful Titaness, travelled the world over as her belly swelled with the
offspring of cloud-gathering Zeus. No town or village, forest or mountain
fastness would welcome her with the great goddess Hera pursuing her to the ends
of the earth. Rest upon land was forbidden to the expectant mother who fled her
tormentors from the great forests of Hyperborea to the salt sea. When Leto’s
time was near and the pangs of childbirth could be felt like a tremor in the
very depths of Gaia, an island with no roots welcomed her.
Oh
sacred Delos, gift to the world of gods and men. Beside the crystal water of
your sacred lake, beneath the gently swaying branches of your palm, Leto
reached her labour and gave birth to gods. May Artemis, the huntress, and
far-shooting Apollo, forever guide pilgrims to your shores that you may never
again be lonely in the middle of that wine-dark sea.
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| Sacred Port and Remains |
There are many sacred places in the world,
places that have been the centre of worship for ages. They are places where history
and myth vibrate together and can be felt, touched.
The Aegean island of Delos is such a place.
This post is not a history lesson. This is
more of a visual journey, something for your senses to enjoy. This is something
special to share.
At the eye of the group of islands known as
the Cyclades, this little island was a centre of religion, inspiration and
trade for millennia. Empires went to war over control over this small place
just five kilometers long and thirteen-hundred meters wide.
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| The House of the Dolphins |
Delos has been occupied, as far as we know,
since the third millennium B.C. As the midway point between the Greek mainland
and the western Aegean islands and the Ionian coast, it was the perfect
stopping point for ship-bound traders.
However, the main reason for the popularity
of Delos, for its sanctity, was that it was believed to be the birthplace of
the goddess Artemis and her brother, one of the most important gods of the
Greek and Roman pantheons, Apollo.
To reach Delos today you must take a boat
from the nearby Cycladic island of Mykonos. It is a choppy ride and not for
those without sea legs. The Cyclades are in a windy part of the Aegean.
However, the short odyssey to get there is well worth it. Once you come out of
the waves and into the Delos Strait between the island of Rhenea and Delos
itself, the waters welcome the visitor and Delos appears like a hazy jewel in a
brilliant turquoise sea.
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| Residential District Ruins |
Delos is not just another archaeological
site to be seen hurriedly through the lens of a camera. For those open to it,
as soon as you set your foot on the path from the ancient ‘Commercial Harbour’
to the upper town, you know this place is different. This is a place to be felt
with all your senses. Apollo’s sun beats down with intense heat and the hot
Aegean winds wrap themselves about you at every turn. The voices of the past
are loud indeed, be they of priests or pilgrims, merchants or charioteers,
theatre patrons or performers, the rich or poor. Everyone came to Delos for all
manner of reasons for thousands of years.
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| Ruins along the Sacred Way |
To preserve the purity of the place in
ancient times, it was forbidden for anyone to be born or to die on Delos. Those
who were involved in either of these acts were sent across the strait to Rhenea
to do so. As the birthplace of two very important gods, this was taken very
seriously.
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| Palm at the Sacred Lake |
“…the pains of
birth seized Leto, and she longed to bring forth; so she cast her arms about a
palm tree and kneeled on the soft meadow while the earth laughed for joy
beneath. Then the child leaped forth to the light, and all the goddesses washed
you purely and cleanly with sweet water, and swathed you in a white garment of
fine texture, new-woven, and fastened a golden band about you.”
(Hymn to Delian
Apollo)
The usual visitor might be led directly to
the small museum on-site where several artefacts are on display. Others feel
themselves pulled in the direction of the place that made Delos famous. The
Sacred Lake, where Leto is said to have laboured for nine days when giving
birth to Apollo, is still there with its magnificent palm swaying in the sea
breeze. The lake is drained now and the palm is a distant ancestor of the
original, but it is still a marvel to stand in a place revered for ages. On a
nearby hill, the nine Delian lions stand guard over the birthplace of the gods,
ever watchful.
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| Mount Cynthus |
Delos was not just a quiet place for religious
reflection. Indeed, it was very busy and at one point had a population of about
25,000 people. It was covered with sanctuaries and temples, monumental gates
and colossal statues, stoas, shops, homes, theatres, stadia and agora. And
above it all was mount Cynthus, 112 meters high, where the Archaic Temple of
Zeus looked down over the birthplace of his children and all the mortals coming
to do them homage.
If you stroll about the island you will be
greeted by something new around each corner; a different view of the sea,
ancient homes with some of the most beautiful mosaics ever found open to the
sky, the ruins of a once-beautiful theatre, or even something as simple as a
stretch of marble paving slabs from whose cracks red, purple and yellow flowers
sprout to paint the scene.
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| Temple of Isis Sanctuary of Egyptian Gods |
Delos was a meeting place of many deities,
not only Apollo and Artemis. There were also temples to Zeus, Athena, Poseidon,
Hera and many others of the Greek Pantheon. On the Island of Delos there were
also sanctuaries to Syrian, Egyptian and Phoenician deities. Near the stadium
area, archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a Jewish Synagogue. All were
welcome to make offerings, worship, work and trade on this tiny
rock-of-an-island which, by the 1st century B.C., was one of the
greatest commercial centres of the world.
As one walks around the site today, it is
not necessarily the voices of trade and craftspeople at their daily work that
one is reminded of.
The shops have long since closed their
shutters and turned to dust. The treasuries have been looted to crumbling.
Grass and wild flowers sprout from between the paving slabs of the Sacred Way
where asps warm themselves beneath the rays of Apollo’s light.
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| Delian Lion |
In truth, it is difficult to describe in
words the feeling one gets while cutting a meandering path among these ancient
ruins. Delos is a place of light and colour and ancient beauty, an omphalos of the Aegean to which
travellers have been drawn for ages.
For myself, there is an overwhelming sense
of awe and absolute peace that creeps over me when I visit this place. It is
not always an easy task to shut out the groups of tourist hoards that descend
upon this unassuming rock by the boatload. However, if you can manage the
journey there, to break away from the masses, you will be treated to an
experience in which you will delight in myriad shades of blue and pristine
white, hot Aegean breezes and the loving light of the sun.
Most of all, you will stand still and
wonder at the sight of a swaying palm, that one spot on the island where gods
were said to have been born and which earned this place called Delos renown for
all time.
(Hymn to Delian Apollo)
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| The nine Delian Lions keep a timeless watch over the Sacred Lake. |
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| Part of the archeological site of Delos. Excavations continue as most of the island remains to be uncovered. |
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| Terrace of a Delian house overlooking the Commercial Harbour. |
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| Mosaic at the House of the Dolphins. |
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| Doorway to the back of the theatre. |
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| The ancient theatre of Delos. The artistic competitions of the 'Delia' were performed here. |
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| Island cisterns where rain water was gathered. |
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| Alleyway among the ruins of Delos. |
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| Mosaic in the residential quarter. |
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| Mosaic waves open to the sky. |
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| Statues in the House of Cleopatra. |
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| Ruins near the harbour. |
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| Remains of colossal statue of Apollo (the torso). |
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| Artist rendering of ancient Delos - Francesco Comi, 1995. |
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| Map of the Archaeological site of Delos Edition sponsored by the Hellenic Republic, Ministry of Culture and the European Community (3rd CSF 2000-2006) |
1 comment:
Thank you for this post. So glad to read your descriptions and see the pictures, particularly as I'm at the section of the book, "Children of Apollo" where Lucius and Adara are visiting Cumae and have just emerged from the Sybil's cave.
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