Themis, a study of the social origins of Greek ... - Warburg Institute

ix] Moon-oracle at Delphi 389
earthiness of the soul will not relax nor permit it to soar upwards but keeps
it down tight, held by the body.' Thereon leading him up to it, the guide
sought to show Thespesios the light from the tripod which as he said shone
through the bosom of Themis on to Parnassos. But much desiring to see it
he could not for its brightness, but as he went by he heard the shrill voice
of a woman uttering in verse, both other things and, as it seemed, the day of
Thespesios' death. And the claimou said that that was the voice of the Sibyl who
sang of what was to be as she was borne round in the face of the moon. And
though he desired to bear more he was pushed away in the contrary direction
by the swirl of the moon as though in a whirlpool, so that he only heard
distinctly a little.
The story of Thespesios is instructive. It reflects theological
embarrassment. Local primitive tradition knew that the oracle
at Delphi was of Earth and Night. Like the oracles of Amphia-
raos, of Asklepios, and of the Panagia of Tenos to-day, it was,
a dream-oracle, that came to you while sleeping on holy ground.
The suppliants were probably like the Selloi at Dodona 'ya^iaievvati +»
Couchers-on-the-ground. But an overdone orthodoxy demanded 5 y/
that about Apollotnere should be nothing ' earthy ' and no deed
or dream of darkness. A bridge, as with iEschylus, was built
by way of Phoibe, who is always half of earth and half of heaven.
To save the face of the resplendent Sun-God the Sibyl is set in
the Face of the Moon 1 .
Such mild obscurantism was dear to the gentle Plutarch but
it would scarcely have availed but for a clear tradition of the
Moon's sometime dominance at Delphi. And it would seem at
Delos also. A bronze coin of Athens shows us in the field
a copy of the cultus statue of Apollo made by Tektaios and
Angelion for the sanctuary at Delos 2 . Apollo holds on his out-
stretched hand three figures whom we may call Moirae, Horae,
Charites, as we will 3 . They are, like all these triple figures,
moon-phases, for, as we remember, according to Orpheus 4 'the
Moirae are the divisions (ra /xeprj) of the Moon 5 .' On Delos
dwelt Artemis and Apollo, in whom the Persians recognized their
own Sun and Moon. Apollo as the Sun, on Delos as at Delphi,
1 Plut. loc. cit. ...it> t Trpoau-rrip rrjs