Why a state would ask a god
A Greek city making a major decision faced a problem: how to commit citizens to a risky path, such as sending out settlers or going to war, and give the choice more weight than one faction’s opinion. Asking Apollo at Delphi provided an answer that came from outside the city’s politics. The oracle’s reputation was strong enough that a favourable reply could unify people, and an unfavourable one could be a reason to stop.
This does not mean Delphi controlled events. The evidence suggests the sanctuary was influential but also dependent on the states that supported it. What historians study is the interaction: how rulers, cities and priests used the oracle, and how the oracle’s advice reflected the information and interests of those around it.
Founding colonies
The strongest links are with colonisation in the archaic period. Greek tradition regularly says that a founder consulted Delphi before leaving home. The best-known example is Cyrene in Libya. According to Herodotus, the island of Thera suffered drought, and the oracle told Battus to found a city in Libya. The settlers hesitated, then eventually went, and the traditional date for the founding is around 630 BCE. Other foundation stories, such as those of Syracuse and Croton, include Delphic approval too.
Scholars debate how far these accounts reflect real consultations. Some were probably adjusted afterwards to give a colony a respectable origin. Still, the pattern is consistent enough to suggest that Delphi really did act as a clearing house. It is likely that the sanctuary gathered information about coasts, harbours and peoples from the many visitors it received, and so could give useful advice. A comparison with Phoenician colonization shows that Greeks were not alone in sending out settlers, though the religious backing was a distinctive feature of the Greek version.
Laws and constitutions
Delphi’s role in lawmaking was mostly to endorse. Spartan tradition said that Lycurgus received approval from Delphi for his reforms, and a text known as the Great Rhetra is presented as an oracle. How much of this is historical is uncertain, since Lycurgus himself is a debated figure, but the story reflects the idea that a constitution became more secure with the god’s blessing.
A better-documented case is Athens. According to Aristotle’s account of the Athenian constitution, when Cleisthenes created ten new tribes in the late sixth century BCE, the Pythia chose the names of the tribal heroes from a list of one hundred. The reform is a cornerstone of Athenian democracy, so it matters that a religious authority helped launch it. Herodotus also tells of an earlier episode in which the Alcmaeonid family, exiles from Athens, are said to have bribed the Pythia to urge Sparta to expel the tyrants. Herodotus reports this as a story he heard, and it cannot be verified, but it shows contemporaries thought the oracle could be influenced.
War and the sanctuary itself
Wars brought the oracle into the open. Thucydides records that before the Peloponnesian War Sparta asked Delphi whether to fight and was told, in his account, that it would win if it fought with all its might. During the Persian invasion of the early fifth century BCE, Delphi’s replies to some Greek states were gloomy. After the war, some Greeks accused the sanctuary of favouring the Persians, a charge often discussed in the context of the Greco-Persian conflict. Modern historians weigh this with care, because the criticism may have arisen from political rivalry.
The sanctuary was also a target. The Sacred Wars were disputes about who controlled Delphi and its land. In the third Sacred War (356 to 346 BCE), the Phocians seized the sanctuary and used its treasure to pay mercenaries. The conflict ended with Philip II of Macedon gaining a place on the council that administered the sanctuary. Critics in Athens, including Demosthenes, claimed that the Pythia had “Philip-ised”, meaning favoured him, though this is a political charge rather than established fact.
Later rulers also approached the oracle. Plutarch tells a story of Alexander the Great forcing a reluctant Pythia to speak and then taking her remark as a sign of his invincibility. Whether the episode happened as told is uncertain. Under Roman expansion, generals and emperors continued to treat Delphi with attention, but its independence shrank and its wealth was often taken.
Legitimacy and its limits
Across these cases, prophecy served states by offering legitimacy: a way of showing that a decision was sanctioned by a power above ordinary politics. It worked best when the answer was open to interpretation, because then each side could claim the god’s support. It could also fail. A reply could be rejected, or ignored, or reinterpreted when events turned out badly.
It is important to keep two cautions in mind. First, much of the evidence was written after the fact, and a story that the oracle “predicted” something is exactly the type of tale that gets improved with time. Second, the sanctuary was never a government. Its influence rested on reputation, and that reputation required the oracle to avoid being seen as the tool of one state.