The Oracle: The Lost Secrets and Hidden Messages of Ancient Delphi [Hardcover]

William J. Broad (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 16, 2006

A renegade team of scientists discovers the truth behind the Oracle of Delphi's mythical powers of second sight.

Of all the stories of life in ancient Greece, few capture the imagination as much as the Oracle of Delphi. Human mistress of the great god Apollo, the Oracle had the power to enter into ecstatic union with him and bring back his prophecies and counsel for all who came seeking answers. Residing in her temple on the sacred slopes of Mount Parnassos in central Greece, she was consulted on matters large and small. Though the air of magic that surrounds her might cast her as a legend, the Oracle did really exist-and her visions caused her to become the single most influential figure in all of ancient Greece.

Eyewitness accounts from Plutarch and others describe temple practices in astonishing detail, claiming that the Oracle, in preparing to commune with Apollo, breathed in vapors rising from the temple floor. Modern scholars have had rigorous debates about the reliability of the material, and in 1892 French archaeologists unearthed the buried temple itself. Their guide was the ancient literature, which proved to be remarkably accurate, with one glaring, baffling exception-the excavators could find no hint of a chasm beneath the temple, no evidence that the rocky ground had brought vapors of any kind. There followed nearly a century of scholarly denouncement. Critics dismissed not only reports of intoxicating fumes but the Oracle herself, claiming the evidence suggested that she and her minions were nothing but pious frauds. Then a Wesleyan geologist named Joelle deBoer and a young archaeologist, John Hale, decided to take up the question once more.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author William J. Broad tells a modern-day detective story that blends history and science to describe how a team of scientists, working from subtle clues scattered throughout the ancient literature, as well as from the latest findings in geology, uncovered scientific evidence to explain the Oracle's powers. They discovered that the vapors from the ancient accounts were, in fact, petrochemical fumes containing a hallucinogenic gas, rising through natural faults hidden underneath the temple floor. Into the dramatic account of that groundbreaking discovery Broad weaves the fascinating story of the ancient Oracle, and her surprising power to open a modern debate between science and religion.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The oracle at Delphi influenced politicians and slaves with her prophecies, yet her life and practices are shrouded in mystery. In a fascinating story that is part detective tale and part science report, Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times writer Broad unveils the oracle. In order to prepare for her encounter with Apollo, the oracle descended into a chasm near the temple, where she would breathe the holy pneuma. She would then deliver her prophecies in a trance, sometimes foaming at the mouth and sometimes in a frenzy. When the temple was unearthed in the 19th century, archeologists and geologists searched for the mysterious chasm. Broad traces the history of these efforts and the conflicts they produced. By the mid–20th century, many scientists argued that the chasm never existed. He follows two modern-day Indiana Joneses, geologist Jelle de Boer and archeologist John Hale, as they refute those conclusions by uncovering the chasm and the geological faults that produced hallucinogenic vapors. Broad's lively prose and fast-paced storytelling conduct us on a breathless adventure of religious mystery and scientific discovery—and ends with a surprising consideration of the meaning of the oracle's powers and the existence of "shadowy worlds... beyond the ken" of science. B&w illus. (Feb. 20)
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From Scientific American

The Oracle of Delphi, human mistress of the god Apollo, had the power to communicate his prophecies and advice. Accounts from the time describe how she breathed in vapors rising from the temple floor before communing with the god. But modern scholars have long discounted these reports. Broad, a writer at the New York Times, tells the story of scientists who worked from subtle clues scattered through the ancient literature and the landforms near Delphi to uncover evidence that explains the oracle's powers. They discovered that the vapors actually existed--they were petrochemical fumes that contained a hallucinogenic gas, which rose through cracks in the earth into the oracle's chamber. A fascinating account in its own right, the story also allows Broad to weave in the modern debate between science and religion.

Editors of Scientific American

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The; First edition. edition (February 16, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594200815
• ISBN-13: 978-1594200816
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #745,999 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

William J. Broad is a best-selling author and a senior writer at The New York Times. In more than thirty years as a science journalist, he has written hundreds of front-page articles and won every major journalistic award in print and film. A writer of unusual depth and breadth, he has reported on everything from exploding stars and the secret life of marine mammals to the spread of nuclear arms and why the Titanic sank so fast. His journalism is featured in The Best American Science Writing. The yearly anthologies include articles of his on the reversal of the earth's magnetic field and the atmospheric history of carbon dioxide.

He joined The Times in 1983 and before that worked in Washington for Science, the magazine of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, doing so from 1978 to 1983.

Broad has won two Pulitzer Prizes with Times colleagues, as well as an Emmy and a DuPont. He won the Pulitzers for coverage of the space shuttle Challenger disaster and the feasibility of antimissile arms. In 2002, he won the Emmy (PBS Nova) for a documentary that detailed the threat of germ terrorism, based on his best-selling book Germs. He was a Pulitzer finalist in 2005 for articles written with Times colleague David E. Sanger on nuclear proliferation. In 2007, he shared a DuPont Award (The Discovery Channel) from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism for the television documentary, "Nuclear Jihad: Can Terrorists Get the Bomb?"

Broad is the author or co-author of seven books, most recently The Oracle: The Lost Secrets and Hidden Message of Ancient Delphi (The Penguin Press, 2006). Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War (Simon & Schuster, 2001) was a number-one New York Times bestseller. His books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. His other titles include The Universe Below: Discovering the Secrets of the Deep Sea (Simon & Schuster, 1997); Teller's War: The Top-Secret Story Behind the Star Wars Deception (Simon & Schuster, 1992); and Betrayers of the Truth: Fraud and Deceit in the Halls of Science (Simon & Schuster, 1982).

Broad's reporting has taken him to Paris and Vienna, Brazil and Ecuador, Kiev and Kazakhstan. In December 1991, he was among the last Westerners to see the Soviet hammer and sickle flying over the Kremlin.

Broad's media appearances include Larry King Live, The Charlie Rose Show, The Discovery Channel, Nova, The History Channel, and National Public Radio. His speaking engagements have ranged from the U.S. Navy in Washington, to the Knickerbocker Club in New York, to the Monterey Aquarium in California. He has also given talks at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City.

Broad earned a masters degree in the History of Science from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and lives with his wife and children in the New York metropolitan area.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Revision at Delphi, February 16, 2006

By 

Kevin Killian (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Oracle: The Lost Secrets and Hidden Messages of Ancient Delphi (Hardcover)

I had no idea there was any scientific basis for believing in the existence of a Delphi oracle until I picked up a review copy of William Broad's real life thrilled THE ORACLE. In highly serviceable prose, Broad does two things at once: he sketches in a history of Greece both ancient and modern, and also he brings up up to date on recent scholarship and archaelogical findings concerning this holy (?) site.

It is said that when Apollo visited the inner chambers of Delphi that visitors nearby would sense the lingering aromas of his distinctive, unearthly perfume! It is this sort of memorable detail that makes Broad's writing so delightful. It almost had me believing in gods, a feeling I haven't had since I was small watching Harry Hamlin and Lawrence Olivier duke it out in Harryhausen's CLASH OF THE TITANS. I eat this stuff up, but as I say, this book makes the stone carved figures of Mount Olympus come alive in a very real way. They might almost be flesh and blood.

Broad also excels at explaining how politics have obscured and occluded the progress of scientific analysis at least since the romantic age of Byron and Shelley. When the West became involved in Grecian affairs, it was almost always with the idea of empire in mind, thus for example the Elgin Marbles being carted off to London like so many trophies of war. But on the other hand some serious scholars with admittedly sketchy and unrpoven theories about the rise and fall of the Oracle were on the brink of a major discovery, if only they could surmount the bureaucracy of the stubborn French controllers of research.

Jelle De Boer (I know, what a name!) emerges as the hero of the tale, with his intuitive notions that the Apollonian messages might have emerged from beyond the "adyton" through a gas which perhaps altered consciousness. Little by little he got people to believe in him. Basically they said, "Give the kid a chance," and voila! His hypothesis involved a study of the shifting planes which broke up the landmass of Eurasia, and the creation of the Gulf of Corinth. Another young man helped him process his ideas, translating his sometimes awkwatd Dutch into colloquial English. If you liked THE DA VINCI CODE this is the real life equivalent, a book of derring do and a pair of scientific heroes like Indiana Jones who are incomparably larger than life. You may not have heard of "ethylene" before this book but once you pick up THE ORACLE, you will feel as though one of the secrets of life itself has been made a gift to you. Look over your shoulder, Apollo may be whispering your name.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a great story!, March 8, 2006

By 

John Carter McKnight (Chandler, Arizona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Oracle: The Lost Secrets and Hidden Messages of Ancient Delphi (Hardcover)

The Oracle is hands-down one of the best nonfiction books I've read in years. Either of its three parts would have been excellent alone: the nuanced narrative of the role the Oracle of Delphi played in Greek religion, culture and politics across millennia; the narrative of the interdisciplinary investigation that revealed the means of generating the Oracle's trance state; or the essay on the limits of scientific reductionism.

That one author could write all three and integrate them seamlessly into a short book that I literally couldn't put down, is simply astounding. It's one of the best treatments of ancient history I've read in a while (and I've been reading a lot lately), the best scientific detective story maybe since The Double Helix, and a pungent critique of scientific overreaching.

And what a great story!

If you're interested in ancient history, this is a must-read. If you're a critic of scientism and academic narrow-mindedness, ditto.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book with Everything!, March 13, 2006

By 

G. Poirier (Orleans, ON, Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Oracle: The Lost Secrets and Hidden Messages of Ancient Delphi (Hardcover)

This book has it all: ancient history, archaeology, science, mystery, intrigue and adventure. As is implied by the title, the book's focus is on the Oracle of Delphi, as seen from both ancient and modern perspectives. The main theme centers on whether the ancient Oracle was exposed to hallucinogenic gases while providing prophetic council, or whether all this was, perhaps, just an act. The author does a wonderful job in weaving the history of the Oracle, its excavation of about a century ago, recent investigations and the lives of the individual scientists forming part of the multidisciplinary team performing the work. Written in a most engaging style, this book is difficult to put down. On the odd side, two sections of the book stand out as being rather different from the rest of it; these are (part of) the prologue and the entire last chapter. These contain discussions on such topics as metaphysical philosophy and the uses and misuses of reductionism in science - topics which, although possibly related to the apparent clairvoyance of the Oracle, contrast sharply with the meticulous fact gathering and the careful well-grounded science presented in the main body of the book. This can be a plus or a minus, depending on your point of view. Either way, this book is a clear winner that is likely to be of interest to just about everyone.