The Legacy of Megas Alexandros - a seleucid AAR

[Lysimachos]

Chapter 10: The house of Apollon

Antiochos meets Krateros on the field, where they just have defeated the troops of Doros Aithalidos. “The King expresses his gratefulness for your immediate reaction. You also have my gratitude, as maybe i would be dead or prisoner by nightfall, if it wasn't for your intervention.”
Krateros looks old and exhausted, leaning forward on his horse and dark circles show around his eyes. “My brother is in the north right now, fighting Pyrrhos' men.”
“I have heard of that. You may send him the message that my soldiers will aid in this war, as long as it is necessary. I will march to the south to provoke a decisive battle against Athinai and Sparte, so Antigonos can direct his full attention to Pyrrhos, while the Koinon Hellenon for now shall be my concern.”
Krateros is nodding. “I will tell him. May the gods be your shield, Basileus.”

Antiochos leads his army south along the coastal road. The towns and cities on his way open the gates and welcome him as a guest. They have heard of the army he brought and they fear his might.
The soldiers are well fed and meet no resistance on their march through their forebearers' lands, but in Phokis Antiochos turns southwest, instead of entering Boiotia. The king seeks guidance from Apollon's oracle in Delphi, the ancient city below mount Parnassos.





Antiochos is standing in front of the temple, in the pediment of which Apollon is depicted, in company of Leto, his mother, and Artemis, his twin sister.
The mighty king is clad in simple garment, nothing distinguishing him from an impecunious pilgrim. Just like any other Theopropos – one who asks the oracle - he has washed his hair in the sacred Kastalian Spring that emanates from the ravine between the Phaedriades, two cliffs at the southern slope of the Parnassos.



Then he has walked up the Sacred Way through the sanctuary, carrying laurel leaves, and brought a black goat that has been examined by the priests and sacrificed at the altar which once has been build in black marble as a gift from the Chians.

A priest beckons him to follow and Antiochos slowly walks up to the temple that is build with six by fifteen columns by the architects Spintharos, Xenodoros and Agathon.
Antiochos, lead by the priest, passes the Pronaos - the anteroom of the building - and through the central hall. In the walls are sayings of wise men carved, guiding the lives of those who take heed.
The Cella – the hall – houses an altar of Poseidon and one of Hestia, with unquenchable fire.
Behind the hall is the Adyton, the backmost part of the temple. A golden statue of Apollon, the host of this santuary, is located there and steps, leading down to the chamber of the Pythia, where Antiochos follows the priest.

The ceiling is low and Antiochos has to bend down. He blinks to see in the dim room.
The Pythia is wearing a hooded cloak, her face hidden in the twilight of the Adyton, a laurel branch in her hand. She is sitting on a tripod seat that is located over the chasma, a crevice from which the pneuma - the breath - of Apollon is emerging and filling the Pythia with the god's spirit and the room with steam.
Beside her stands an eggshaped stone that is covered by a carving of a net: the Omphalos, which marks the navel of the world.

An unfamiliar odour is filling Antiochos' nostrils and he has difficulties to concentrate and see clearly. The priest who lead him, whispers in his ear: “You may now ask your question, wanderer.”
Then he steps back into the shadows and leaves the king, now a humble supplicant, with the Pythia.
Antiochos tries to gather himself, arranges his words and after some time, the amount of which he has no awareness, he speaks.