Temple of Apollo
On Gingerguide's self-guided Delphi audio tour, Temple of Apollo is a stop worth about ~45 min. Stand in front of it, press play for a short narrated story, and put any follow-up question to the built-in AI guide.
- Type historic
- Suggested visit ~45 min
- Delphi Delphi guide
About Temple of Apollo
The re-erected Doric columns of Apollo's 4th-century-BC temple, the seat of the Delphic oracle, where the priestess known as the Pythia was said to speak for the god.
The Temple of Apollo dominates the Sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi. The ruins visible today belong to a temple of the 4th century BC, built to replace an earlier Archaic temple destroyed by an earthquake in 373 BC. Funded again by the Amphictyony, the league of Greek states that governed the sanctuary, it was completed around 334-333 BC to designs by the architects Spintharos, Xenodoros and Agathon, with marble pediments carved by the Athenian sculptors Praxias and Androsthenes. It was a Doric peripteral temple, six columns wide and fifteen long.
Inside, the building enclosed the cella and an inner sanctuary, the adyton, together with the cult statue of Apollo and the omphalos stone. According to religious tradition, the priestess known as the Pythia delivered the oracle's prophecies here. The temple continued in use into late antiquity and was closed around AD 390, after Emperor Theodosius I ordered pagan sanctuaries shut. Part of the Doric outer colonnade has since been re-erected.
Did you know? The oracle had remarkable staying power. The temple kept functioning into late antiquity and was shut only around AD 390, after Emperor Theodosius I ordered the empire's pagan sanctuaries closed for good.
How much time do you need at Temple of Apollo?
Around ~45 min works well for Temple of Apollo — time to look properly and listen to its story on the spot. Linger if you like; nothing on a self-guided walk is on a clock.
Should you stop at Temple of Apollo?
Yes — Temple of Apollo made the cut as one of 12 places the Gingerguide team researched and narrated across Delphi. The story tells you why it is worth the stop, and the AI guide fills in anything you still wonder.
Nearby stops in Delphi
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Hear the story of Temple of Apollo
Preview the Delphi tour free in the Gingerguide app.