Making up Delphic history – the 1st Sacred War revisited

Abstract

In Classical Quarterly in 1978 Noel Robertson argued that the First Sacred War at Delphoi (generally dated to the 590s BC) was a later fiction made up in the 4th century, but this view has generally failed to gain traction. In fact, Robertson’s view was almost certainly correct, but historians have been reluctant to follow him because they want to use the war to explain certain peculiarities of the Delphic scene: the existence of a large swathe of uncultivable sacred land in the plain below Delphoi, and the lack of a city in the plain; the excision of Delphoi from the territory of the Phokians; and control of the sanctuary by the Delphic Amphiktyony. In fact, none of these is as problematic as it appears, and in all three cases the war is a poor explanation. Finally, three stages in the development of the story are suggested, the last of which became the First Sacred War of the textbooks.

Keywords:

First Sacred War – Delphoi – Delphic Amphiktyony – Kirrha/Krisa – sacred land – Phokis – propaganda – Philip II – Third Sacred War – Fourth Sacred War