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by William J. Broad

William_J._Broad Ancient_Civilizations English
  • ISBN: 1594200815
  • Category: History
  • Author: William J. Broad
  • Subcategory: Ancient Civilizations
  • Other formats: doc mbr txt doc
  • Language: English
  • Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd (December 31, 2006)
  • Pages: 320 pages
  • FB2 size: 1766 kb
  • EPUB size: 1103 kb
  • Rating: 4.9
  • Votes: 285
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Of all the tales of ancient Greece, few capture the imagination as much.

Having been to Delphi this past week, this book did a great job of putting me in the frame of mind to appreciate the archaeological site . William J. Broad's THE ORACLE is a fascinating look at the science behind the Delphic Oracle

Having been to Delphi this past week, this book did a great job of putting me in the frame of mind to appreciate the archaeological site and to imagine what it might have been like. There's still a lot we don't know. Broad's THE ORACLE is a fascinating look at the science behind the Delphic Oracle.

The Oracle: Ancient Delphi and the Science Behind Its Lost Secrets William J. Broad . Broad is a senior writer at The New York Times and with colleagues there has twice won the Pulitzer Prize as well as an Emmy.

Часто встречающиеся слова и выражения. For three decades, he has covered topics ranging from biology and geology to astronomy and nuclear arms.

Publisher: Penguin Press.

Broad, William J. 2006. The Oracle: the lost secrets and hidden message of ancient Delphi. de Boer, Jelle Zeilinga, John Rigby Hale & Henry A. Spiller, 2006. The Delphic Oracle: a multidisciplinary defense of the gaseous vent theory. Clinical Toxicology 40 (2) 189–196. Lydia: an iron age kingdom in western Asia Minor.

Long before focus groups and computer modeling came into vogue, a woman (actually a succession of women) known as the Oracle of Delphi was the arbiter of choice for politicians and military planners in ancient Greece. No carnival fortune-teller, she was consulted on important matters of state, from questions of inheritance and taxation to issues of crime, government and war. The Delphic Oracle and her prophecies were extensively documented in classical texts, and so modern scholars have a pretty good idea of who she was and how she did her work.

027509) Broad, William J. The Oracle: The Lost . As such it is a form of divination. The most important oracles of Greek antiquity were Pythia, priestess to Apollo at Delphi, and the oracle of Dione and Zeus at Dodona in Epirus ISBN: 1594200815 (Delphian Oracle). New York: Penguin Press, 2006.

The Lost Secrets and Hidden Message of Ancient Delphi by William J. There was much speculation in the book about brain plasticity, about augmentation with transcranial magnetic stimulation, and about how humans are natural-born cyborgs. How much of that is true? All of it. For a truly absorbing read into their history and accomplishments, pick up a copy of The Jasons: The Secret History of Science's Postwar Elite by Ann Fink-beiner.

Human mistress of the great god Apollo, the Oracle had the power to enter.

Of all the stories of life in ancient Greece, few capture the imagination as much as the Oracle of Delphi. Human mistress of the great god Apollo, the Oracle had the power to enter into ecstatic union with him and bring back his prophecies and counsel for all who came seeking answers.

William J. Broad (born March 7, 1951) is an American science journalist, author and a Senior Writer at The New York Times. New York: Penguin Press. ISBN 1-59420-081-5 Also. ISBN 978-1-59420-081-6. The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards (2012). New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4516-4142-4.

Of all the stories of Ancient Greece, few capture the imagination as much as the Oracle of Delphi. Human mistress of the great god Apollo, the Oracle had the power to enter into ecstatic union with him and bring back his prophecies and counsel for all who came seeking answers. Residing in Apollo's temple on the sacred slopes of Mount Parnassus in central Greece, the Oracle was consulted on matters large and small. Though the air of magic that surrounds her might cast her as a legend like the cyclops or the mythical Cassandra, the Oracle did in fact exsist and her visions caused her to become the single most influential figure in all of ancient Greece.
Reviews about The Oracle: Lost Secrets and Hidden Message of Ancient Delphi (7):
Kefym
This is an interesting book. The first part covers the history of the Oracle at Delphi, doing a great job of presenting what it is that makes Delphi special. There were many shrines and temples in Ancient Greece where you could ask about the future, but Delphi was only for momentous questions. The second part of the book is an academic adventure story that follows a geologist and an archaeologist that refuted a French study that claimed that there weren't any hallucinogenic gasses ot vapors emitting from the ground at Delphi. In fact, though there were trace amounts of ethelyn (an early drug used for anesthesia) - enough to get the oracle "high" - it was only 1 part of a larger mystical experience that Delphi pilgrims would have participated in.

Having been to Delphi this past week, this book did a great job of putting me in the frame of mind to appreciate the archaeological site and to imagine what it might have been like. There's still a lot we don't know. 4th century Christians have done their best to eliminate any trace of our "pagan" pasts. But damn. Delphi is still a deep spiritual place that might be the center of the universe.
MisterQweene
William J. Broad's THE ORACLE is a fascinating look at the science behind the Delphic Oracle. Blending ancient history, recent modern history and the scientific disciplines of anthropology, geology and archeology, the author pieces together a fascinating account of what may have caused the Oracle at Delphi to be so well-regarded throughout the ancient world, that extra something that seemed to lie behind those Delphic prophecies. The priestess would sit on a metal tripod, her legs dangling, and that tripod was positioned over an X-like fault in the limestone bedrock through which seeped ethylene, a sweet-smelling gas that in small doses can cause a trance-like state, that quickly wears off with the entranced person remembering little afterwards.

In this scientific age, it is easy to feel that the explanation just given explains everything about what being a Delphic Oracle was like. It's easy to think that she was equivalent to a glue-sniffer, or someone high on mescalen or some other substance.

But that would miss the point about what the women took themselves to be doing as they sat on that tripod. They had prepared carefully for the event (which took place once a month during the warmer part of the year). They had fasted. They had gone through various purification rituals. And as they sat on that tripod, in that darkened room, with a laurel held in one hand and a small bowl of water in the other, they expected that the god Apollo would reveal himself to them, and give sage advice to whoever might appear.

Strangely enough, it mostly seemed to work. It probably helped that the women chosen for the task were well-educated and intelligent, so that in their semi-inebriated state they were able to reply in classical hexameters. It was probably necessary to have the priests of Apollo hovering nearby should something go wrong. But what I am trying to say here is that it is unfair to dismiss these women as akin to glue-sniffers. People sniffing glue are not usually planning to meet the god Apollo and use his wise counsel for the benefit of society.

What is key here, is what people's expectations are. Because, as I am fond of reminding my friends, we all possess an extraordinarily powerful machine in our heads. And expectations filter experience. Expectations can turn a tawdry quest for a high into something profound that still resonates thousands of years after the event. And William J. Broad is careful to spell out that point at the end of his wonderful book. Five stars.
Shalinrad
"The Oracle" by William J. Broad is, in two words: extraordinarily fascinating!"

Here is the historical, archaeological, metaphysical, and scientific study of one of ancient histories greatest mysteries...the "Oracle of Delphi". The Oracle's prophesy affected not just such great men as Socrates, Plato, and Alexander the Great but, entire nations of the known world. Their divinations helped to change history.

Were these "Sybil's" real, or were they merely... fraudulent charlatans?

From ancient texts to historical archaeological digs, modern geological sciences, and then back to the realm of the ancients...author William J. Broad gives a superb accounting of the "Pythia" and "her" history. What was the means of the Oracle's great prophetic abilities? Was it merely the mysterious mist of intoxicating fumes that put her into euphoric trance like states, or... was there more to the story?

Several great scientists help to unravel this great mystery of time, including geologist, Jelle Zeilinga DE Boer (a Dutch citizen, and former WWII Japanese prisoner of war), and ironically, author... John R. Hale author of; "Lords of the Sea" (the book I just finished reading!).

The investigation into Delphi, its surrounding geological structures, and affect upon the ancient Oracle is unique and mind-boggling. However, despite some of the modern findings, the author and those involved in the pursuit of truth are still searching for the real key of the Oracle's success...Spiritual belief.

A fascinating topic, a masterful work of academic study, and an open acknowledgement of the fact that: "There are more things in heaven, and earth, Horatio than are dreamt of in your philosophy." (Hamlet).

A great book to read...a great book to have, and... "a must" for the serious student of history and archaeology!

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