Legend has it that Delphi was the point where the two eagles met when Zeus made them fly in two different directions. At this point Zeus threw the sacred stone and Delphi became known throughout the world as the center of the world or Omphalos of the world(navel).
Omphalos means "center of the earth" and that is where the Holy Oracle of Delphi was located.
Navel of the world at the Temple of Apollo, Delphi, Greece.
"Delphi" in ancient Greek means "dolphin" and Delphi was named this way because Apollo took the form of a dolphin and led the ship with the Cretan sailors who intending to stay at Delphi to build a sanctuary to honor him and become his priests.
Upon his return, Apollo was officially crowned protector and ruler of Delphi. The Omphalos rock of Delphi was erected on the site of Apollo's massacre of Python.
How and by whom the sanctuary was originally created is not easy to figure out, as many scholars believe its impact dates back to before the Flood, a fact reinforced by the various deities who protected it throughout history: Gaia(Earth), then Themis, then Apollo and Dionysus.
Various myths have been created describing its origins, making it particularly difficult or even impossible for the historians to determine if there is truth in these tales, as well as to decipher them.
One of the most famous myths about the origins of the sanctuary, preserved by Diodorus of Sicily, speaks of a shepherd who, while grazing his flock in the area, noticed that various vapors were coming out of an opening, next to the stones of Phaedriades.
He even noticed that the animals that approached the opening were exhibiting very strange behavior.
So when he approached the opening to see what was going on, he began to say various unintelligible things and fell into ecstasy - words that later turned out to be foretelling the future.
From then on, a priestess, Pythia, settled in the place, and the history of the sanctuary began.
Another legend says that the hero Parnassus(tha mountain is named after him) started the observation of the omens in this area, making a guess from the way the birds flew.
In the Homeric Odyssey, the Oracle of Delphi is referred to in Rhapsody I, but without giving any further information about how and when it was founded.
We obtain additional information from three other texts: the Homeric Hymn to Apollo and the tragedies Eumenides by Aeschylus and Iphigenia in Taurus by Euripides.
According to the Homeric Hymn, Apollo built his first temple at Delphi, having previously slain the dragon in the form of the serpent, named Python, from which the names Pythos, Pythia, Pythios, etc., seem later to have been derived.
The God, wishing to purify the place from the presence of the monster, brought there his sacred tree, the laurel, with which he even built his first temple.
Apollo officiated at this place through the mouth of Pythia, who sat on an earthly precipice from which vapors came forth.
In fact, according to the hymn, the first priests of the temple were Cretans who were rescued by the god himself in the form of a dolphin who carried them to this area on his back.
When they asked Apollo how those who used to live near the sea would manage to survive in this place, God replied that they would live off the offerings of the pilgrims.
So it seems that the Cretans brought the cult of Apollo to this place and probably the place was called Delphi by them.
This legend survived various festive performances that took place at Delphi, the highlight of which was the Pythia, which included musical competitions and sports and was held every four years.
In the tragedy Eumenides, Aeschylus presents a different version.
The first prophetess at Delphi was the goddess Gaia(Earth), who was succeeded by her daughter Themis. Then came the Titanic Phoebe, also the daughter of Gaia, and then came Apollo, apparently named Phoebus by Phoebe.
In the myth of Aeschylus, Apollo seems to have come from Delos and settled in this place without having to kill Python.
In Euripides' "Iphigenia in Tauris", it is reported that Apollo, when still an infant, came with his mother Leto from Delos to Mount Parnassos, where he conquered the sanctuary, having first killed the huge monster that guarded it.
But Gaia became angry because her daughter Themis was thus forcibly expelled from the sanctuary, and began to send prophetic dreams to the people in order to weaken the power of the God Apollo.
The problem was finally solved by the intervention of Zeus, who sided with Apollo and gave him power.
We see by these examples that there were various myths about by whom and under what conditions the Delphic sanctuary began to function, which in time developed into a religious center of ancient Greece.
