During the Sacred war, the people of Phocis seized from it 10,000 talents to maintain their armies against their powerful opponents. Sylla plundered it; and Nero carried away no less than five hundred statues of brass, partly of the gods, and partly of the most illustrious heroes. It had been plundered no less than eleven times before.
It is not known when this celebrated oracle ceased. Lucian says that answers were given in his time: but most of the Grecian oracles were annihilated when Constantine relinquished the errors of polytheism. Indeed Constantine the Great proved a more fatal enemy to Apollo and Delphos, than either Sylla or Nero: he removed the sacred tripods to adorn the hippodrome of his own city. Afterwards Julian sent Oribesius to restore the temple, but he was admonished by an oracle to represent to the emperor the deplorable condition of the place. "Tell him, the well-built court is fallen to the ground. Phœbus has not a cottage; nor the prophetic laurel; nor the speaking fountain (Cassotis); but even the beautiful water is extinct."
The temple was situated in a very romantic situation; rendered still more striking by the innumerable echoes, which multiplied every sound, and increased the veneration of superstitious visitants. But even its form is unknown; though painters, for the most part, have delineated it as circular, amongst whom may be mentioned Claude Lorrain, and Gaspar Poussin.
The Apollo Belvidere is supposed to be a copy from the statue in this temple.
The Castalian spring, however, still exists, and equally clear as in ancient times. It is ornamented with ivy, and overshadowed by a large fig-tree, the roots of which have penetrated the fissures of the rock. At the front is a majestic plane-tree.
The remains of the town wall are a little to the east of the Castalian spring; but no part of it is left but the interior mass, which consists of an exceedingly hard composition of small stones and mortar.
When Pausanias visited Delphos, there were four temples and a gymnasium in the vicinity of the eastern gate; and several ruins and fragments may now be seen: some fine blocks of marble, some with inscriptions, a marble triglyph, and other Doric remains. There are none, however, of the hippodrome; in which ten chariots are said to have been able to start at the same moment.
The temple has vanished like a dream, leaving not a trace behind; insomuch, that Mr. Dodwell's opinion is, that the site of this far-famed edifice must be sought for under the humble cottages of Castri, as the whole village probably stands within its ancient peribolos. In some places, however, are blocks of considerable magnitude; and some ancient foundations, supposed to be those of the Lesche, which contained the paintings of Polygnotus; and near the Aga's house are several remains of some fluted marble columns, of the Doric order, and of large dimensions. Some inscriptions, too, have been observed. One in marble is in honour of the Emperor Hadrian: "The council of the Amphictyons, under the superintendence of the priest Plutarch, from Delphi, commemorate the Emperor." Another: "The council of Amphictyons and Achaians, in honour of Polycratea, high priestess of the Achaian Council, and daughter of Polycrates and Diogeneia." Another states that "The father and mother of Amarius Nepos, honoured by the Senate of Corinth with rewards, due to him as senator and overseer of the Forum, put their son under the protection of the Pythian Apollo."
The remains of the gymnasium are principally behind the monastery. The foundations were sustained by an immense bulwark of hewn stone. There is also some part of a stadium. The marble posts remain. Its length is 660 feet. "I was surprised," says Mr. Dodwell, "to find few fragments of marble among the ruins of Delphos. The town was small; but it was a concentration of great opulence and splendour. What can have become of the materials which adorned its public edifices? Several curiosities are no doubt buried below the village: though the soil is in general so thin and so rocky, that great masses cannot be concealed beneath the superficies." They have, no doubt, crumbled away. The fate, however, of Delphos has been greatly aggravated of late years; for in consequence of some dispute between the agents of Ali Pacha and the inhabitants of Castri, the Pacha laid the village under contribution to pay him the sum of 15,000 piastres. This they were unable to do; in consequence of which everything was taken from them; and this serves to explain the ruined state of the place. "In its present condition," says Dr. Clarke, "there is not in all Lapland a more wretched village than Castri[214]."