Day 9: Delphi

June 3, 2025

I learned something today that was quite interesting. 

According to our guide, there was a man named Dionysius who was born and educated in Athens. He relocated to Egypt where he studied the heavens as an astronomer. He was very knowledgeable about eclipses, for instance. 

He was in Egypt when Jesus was crucified. They experienced the darkness described

in the Gospels:

From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land.
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭27‬:‭45‬ ‭NIV‬‬

He reasoned that this phenomenon was not an eclipse because he knew they occurred with certain regularity and it was not time for one. But he did not know what it was or what it meant. 

He later moved back to Athens and, because he was a learned astronomer, he became a member of the Aeropagus Court. He was present on Mars Hill when Paul presented his argument that Jesus was the “unknown god” the Athenians included in their worship. 

After discussing the timeline with Paul regarding the three-hour darkness he had experienced in Egypt, he instantly knew that this Jesus was, in fact, who Paul said he was. 

Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.
‭‭Acts‬ ‭17‬:‭34‬ ‭NIV

Although this story is not found in the Bible, it makes sense to me. We know there were astronomers at the time of Jesus’ birth who recognized the star as a new phenomenon worthy of their attention. It seems logical that there would be astronomers who would have known the darkness at his crucifixion was an unexplained event as well. And it is another reminder that God uses science to prove his omnipotence. 

* * * * *

After a few hours in the bus we arrived at  Delphi, an impressive archeological site in the mountains of Greece. It was home to the Temple to Apollo and was the host of the Pythian games every 4 years. 

About a hundred years ago, someone uncovered some fragments of writings dated at about 52 AD. The letter referred to the proconsul Gallio who is also mentioned in Acts 18:12-17 with regard to Paul. What this does is to give credence to the timeline of Paul’s life in Greece and to strengthen the validity of his preaching. 

In Delphi, we went to the archeological museum for a few discoveries.

This is a female sphinx of Greek origin dating back to the second century BC. You can clearly see her peaceful smile — indication that she is Greek and not Roman. She was found under a local house and is thought to have been displayed at one time on a pedestal about 30 feet high. 

This isn’t the best image but it depicts some written music. According to our guide it is not the largest sample to be unearthed but it is the clearest.

Do you remember the foot on the statue I wrote about earlier? This one also shows the second toe longer than the big toe, suggesting the depiction of someone who was Greek. The interesting thing about this particular foot is that from heel to toe is about an inch and a half! Tiny foot but very detailed.

This statue of Heniokhos found in 1896 was made of bronze with inlaid copper lips, silver eyelashes, a silver headband and inlaid glass eyes. If you enlarge the photo, you can see the pupils of the eyes very clearly. It is presumed that he was a young charioteer who had won the Pythian games.  

This is a theologian. Notice the seam where the neck meets the shoulders. Remember the statues of emperors uncovered in Corinth? Whenever necessary they removed the head, leaving a spherical bowl-like space. This made it easy to sculpt a new head to put in its place. 

On the hill of Delphi our group found a theater, Apollo’s temple, a stadium (hypodrome) and an incredible view of the surrounding farmland. 

Tomorrow we leave our hotel at 4am for the airport and our flight to Rome. This has been awesome.

LORD, Help us remember that your Word is true. Thank you for your grace to us who, like Thomas, might have to see your Truth etched in stone in order to believe it. Amen