Promanteia was the privilege, bestowed upon cities or individuals by the Oracle of Delphi, to ask the Pythia in priority. [1]
The Pythia was the name of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi who also served as the oracle, commonly known as the Oracle of Delphi.
In the course of the classical period the priests of Delphi established a series of honours bestowed upon those who offered benefactions to the sanctuary, whether they were cities or individuals. The institution of promanteia was one of the privileges offered initially to cities which had offered aided the sanctuary financially. Promanteia was in fact the right to acquire an oracle before the others (yet still after the priests and the citizens of Delphi). Given the fact that oracle-giving was taking place on specific -and limited- periods of time, this right could actually be very important. From the beginning of the 4th century B.C. this right continued to be accorded to individuals and to be combined with other privileges, such as prothysia and proxenia. [2]
Delphi, formerly also called Pytho (Πυθώ), is famous as the ancient sanctuary that grew rich as the seat of Pythia, the oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world. The ancient Greeks considered the centre of the world to be in Delphi, marked by the stone monument known as the omphalos (navel).
Proxeny or proxenia in ancient Greece was an arrangement whereby a citizen hosted foreign ambassadors at his own expense, in return for honorary titles from the state. The citizen was called proxenos or proxeinos (πρόξεινος). The proxeny decrees, which amount to letters of patent and resolutions of appreciation were issued by one state to a citizen of another for service as proxenos, a kind of honorary consul looking after the interests of the other state's citizens. A cliché phrase is euergetes (benefactor) and proxenos.
On the base of the Sphinx of the Naxians in Delphi, there is an inscription dated to 328-327 B.C., renewing the promanteia for the inhabitants of Naxos:
The Sphinx of Naxos, also Sphinx of the Naxians, now in the Archaeological Museum of Delphi, is a colossal 2.22 meter tall marble statue of a sphinx, a mythical creature with the head of a woman, the chest and wings composed of the impressive feathers of a prey bird turned upward, and the body of a lioness. The Sphinx stood on a 10 meters column that culminated in one of the first Ionic capitals, and was erected next to the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, the religious center of Ancient Greece, in 560 BCE.
Naxos is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern time was one of the best abrasives available.
ΔΕΛΦΟΙ ΑΠΕΔΩΚΑΝ ΝΑΞΙΟΙΣ ΤΑΝ ΠΡΟΜΑΝΤΗΙΑΝ ΚΑΤΤΑ ΑΡΧΑΙΑ ΑΡΧΟΝΤΟΣ ΘΕΟΛΥΤΟΥ ΒΟΥΛΕΥΟΝΤΟΣ ΕΠΙΓΕΝΕΟΣ
Delphi accorded the Naxians the right of Promanteia as before, at the time of archon Theolytos and Epigenes the Bouleutes— Inscription of the Sphinx of the Naxians
Christine Sourvinou-Inwood: What is polis religion? In: Oswyn Murray, Simon R. F. Price (Hrsg.): The Greek city. From Homer to Alexander. Clarendon, Oxford 1990
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in classical Greek and Roman religion and Greek and Roman mythology. The national divinity of the Greeks, Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of music, truth and prophecy, healing, the sun and light, plague, poetry, and more. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has a twin sister, the chaste huntress Artemis. Seen as the most beautiful god and the ideal of the kouros, Apollo is considered to be the most Greek of all gods. Apollo is known in Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology as Apulu.
An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions or precognition of the future, inspired by the gods. As such it is a form of divination.
Themis is an ancient Greek Titaness. She is described as "[the Lady] of good counsel", and is the personification of divine order, fairness, law, natural law, and custom. Her symbols are the Scales of Justice, tools used to remain balanced and pragmatic. Themis means "divine law" rather than human ordinance, literally "that which is put in place", from the Greek verb títhēmi (τίθημι), meaning "to put".
The island of Delos, near Mykonos, near the centre of the Cyclades archipelago, is one of the most important mythological, historical, and archaeological sites in Greece. The excavations in the island are among the most extensive in the Mediterranean; ongoing work takes place under the direction of the French School at Athens, and many of the artifacts found are on display at the Archaeological Museum of Delos and the National Archaeological Museum of Athens.
The Pythian Games were one of the four Panhellenic Games of Ancient Greece. They were held in honour of Apollo every four years at his sanctuary at Delphi. They were held two years after each Olympic Games, and between each Nemean and Isthmian Games. The Pythian Games were founded sometime in the 6th century BC and featured competitions for art and dance. The art and dance competitions pre-dated the athletic portion of the games, and were said to have been started by Apollo after he killed Python and set up the oracle at Delphi.
Dodona in Epirus in northwestern Greece was the oldest Hellenic oracle, possibly dating to the second millennium BCE according to Herodotus. The earliest accounts in Homer describe Dodona as an oracle of Zeus. Situated in a remote region away from the main Greek poleis, it was considered second only to the oracle of Delphi in prestige.
Oedipus Rex, also known by its Greek title, Oedipus Tyrannus, or Oedipus the King, is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles that was first performed around 429 BC. Originally, to the ancient Greeks, the title was simply Oedipus (Οἰδίπους), as it is referred to by Aristotle in the Poetics. It is thought to have been renamed Oedipus Tyrannus to distinguish it from another of Sophocles' plays, Oedipus at Colonus. In antiquity, the term “tyrant” referred to a ruler with no legitimate claim to rule, but it did not necessarily have a negative connotation.
A sacrificial tripod is a three-legged piece of religious furniture used for offerings or other ritual procedures. As a seat or stand, the tripod is the most stable furniture construction for uneven ground, hence its use is universal and ancient. It is particularly associated with Apollo and the Delphic oracle in ancient Greece, and the word "tripod" comes from the Greek meaning "three-footed".
In the Archaic period of Greek history, an amphictyony, a "league of neighbors", or Amphictyonic League was an ancient religious association of Greek tribes formed in the dim past, before the rise of the Greek polis. The six Dorian cities of coastal southwest Asia Minor, or the twelve Ionian cities to the north, a dodecapolis forming an Ionian League emerging in the aftermath of a faintly remembered "Meliac war" in the mid-7th century BC, were already of considerable antiquity when the first written records emerge.
Didyma was an ancient Greek sanctuary on the coast of Ionia and belonged to the famous city of Miletus. Apollo was the main deity of the sanctuary of Didyma, also called Didymaion. It contained temples for the twins Apollo and Artemis. Other deities were adorned within the sanctuary too. The Didymaion was well known in antiquity because of its oracle. This oracle of Apollo was situated within the world’s greatest temple for Apollo.
Naxos or Naxus was an ancient Greek city of Sicily on the east coast of the island between Catana and Messana. It was situated on a low point of land at the mouth of the river Acesines, and at the foot of the hill on which was afterwards built the city of Tauromenium.
The adyton or adytum (Latin) was a restricted area within the cella of a Greek or Roman temple. The adyton was frequently a small area at the farthest end of the cella from the entrance: at Delphi it measured just 9 by 12 feet. The adyton often would house the cult image of the deity.
Claros was an ancient Greek sanctuary on the coast of Ionia. It contained a temple and oracle of Apollo, honored here as Apollo Clarius. It was located on the territory of Colophon, one of the twelve Ionic cities, twelve kilometers to the north. The coastal city Notion lay two kilometers to the south. The ruins of the sanctuary are now found north of the modern town Ahmetbeyli in the Menderes district of Izmir Province, Turkey.
Delphi Archaeological museum is one of the principal museums of Greece and one of the most visited. It is operated by the Greek Ministry of Culture. Founded in 1903, it has been rearranged several times and houses the discoveries made at the panhellenic sanctuary of Delphi, which date from the Late Helladic (Mycenean) period to the early Byzantine era.
Machatas, son of Sabattaras from Europos, was a Macedonian proxenos of Delphians in late 4th century BC. As the inscription says: "the Delphians gave proxenia, euergesia (benefaction), promanteia, proedria, prodikia to Machatas and his descendants, the same as it is given to every proxenos". The decree is issued by archon Hierondas and bouleutai (chancellors) Heraklidas, Eualkeus and Echyllos.
The Athenian Treasury at Delphi was constructed by the Athenians to house dedications and votive offerings made by their city and citizens to the sanctuary of Apollo. The entire treasury including its sculptural decoration is built of Parian marble. The date of construction is disputed, and scholarly opinions range from 510 to 480 BCE. It is located directly below the Temple of Apollo along the Sacred Way for all visitors to view the Athenian treasury on the way up to the sanctuary.
The Altar of the Chians was the altar of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, dedicated by the people of Chios.