An Omphalos covering an oracle well devoted to Apollo discovered in Athens. Photo by Dr. Jutta Stroszeck, director of the Kerameikos excavation, on behalf of the German Archaeological Institute at Athens
Ancient Oracle to Apollo Discovered Near the Acropolis
The Kerameikos district in Athens was named for Keramos, son of Dionysos and Ariadne. Keramos became the patron of potters, and Kerameikos was known for its potteries, as well as its necropolis, the Dipylon, where the Panathenaic procession began, and the Sacred Arch, through which the procession to Eleusis at the commencement of the Mysteries passed. Kerameikos was also the site of a sanctuary dedicated to Artemis Soteira and Apollon Paian.
Archaeologists have been excavating at Kerameikos since the 19th century, drawn by an omphalos (a stone symbolizing of the center of the world) found at the sanctuary of Artemis and Apollo. In 2012, researchers cleaning the omphalos discovered that the stone covered a circular opening. The stone was lifted with a crane, and investigators found a well inscribed with inscription that included the phrase, “ΕΛΘΕ ΜΟΙ Ω ΠΑΙΑΝ ΦΕΡΩΝ ΤΟ ΜΑΝΤEΙΟΝ ΑΛΗΘΕΣ” (or, “Come to me, O Paean, and bring with you the true oracle”).
According to Dr. Stroszeck’s 2015 report, it is the first oracle well discovered in Athens devoted specifically to Apollo. It is believed that the well was used for hydromancy, a divinatory method that determines answers by observing the motion of water.
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