New evidence for the geological origins of the ancient Delphic oracle (Greece)

  1. J.Z. de Boer1,
  2. J.R. Hale2 and
  3. J. Chanton3
  1. 1Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut 06459, USA
  2. 2Department of Anthropology, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky 40292, USA
  3. 3Department of Oceanography, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306-4320, USA

    Abstract

    Ancient tradition linked the Delphic oracle in Greece to specific geological phenomena, including a fissure in the bedrock, intoxicating gaseous emissions, and a spring. Despite testimony by ancient authors, many modern scholars have dismissed these traditional accounts as mistaken or fraudulent. This paper presents the results of an interdisciplinary study that has succeeded in locating young faults at the oracle site and has also identified the prophetic vapor as an emission of light hydrocarbon gases generated in the underlying strata of bituminous limestone.

    Footnotes

      • Accepted April 25, 2001.
      • Received November 27, 2000.
      • Revision received April 16, 2001.
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    1. doi: 10.1130/0091-7613(2001)​029<0707:NEFTGO>​2.0.CO;2 Geology August 2001 v. 29 no. 8 p. 707-710
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