Phaedriades
In Greece, the Phaedriades (Φαιδριάδες, meaning "the shining ones")[1] 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, the center of the Hellenic world. Strabo, Plutarch and Pausanias all mentioned the Phaedriades in describing the site, a narrow valley of the Pleistus (today Xeropotamos) formed by Parnasse and Mt. Cirphis. Between them rises the Castalian Spring. Even today, at noontime, the rock faces reflect a dazzling glare.
Geology
The Phaedriades consist of dark limestone formed in the Jurassic period.
Historical narrations
Herodotus mentions that during the Persian invasion of Greece in 480 B.C. the priests of Delphi had an oracle by Apollo saying that he would defend his sacred site himself. They thus refused the offer of the Athenians to help. Indeed, as the Persian army approached thunders started to fall from the sky and killed several of the enemies. Defensive weapons appeared magically in front of the temple of Apollo and of that of Athena Pronaia. Finally, as the Persians reached the Phaedriads, huge rocks were cut off from the cliffs and, without hitting the monuments and the sacred site, fell on the Persians and crushed them. Herodotus mentions that in his days one could see these rocks embedded in the ground within the sacred precinct of Athena Proanaia. Some said, also, that in antiquity they used to throw off these cliffs those who had committed sacrilege against the sanctuary.
References
- ↑ Argyro Loukaki (28 March 2014). The Geographical Unconscious. Ashgate Publishing. p. 63.