{"id":232629,"date":"2026-03-05T18:02:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T00:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/ancient-greeces-most-famous-oracle-was-just-high-on-gas-fumes"},"modified":"2026-03-05T18:02:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T00:02:24","slug":"ancient-greeces-most-famous-oracle-was-just-high-on-gas-fumes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/ancient-greeces-most-famous-oracle-was-just-high-on-gas-fumes","title":{"rendered":"Ancient Greece\u2019s most famous oracle was just high on gas fumes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"display: block; margin: 0 auto; width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 4\/3; object-fit: contain;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fCU_UOAtK-Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope;\n   picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>For centuries, people traveled to Delphi in southern Greece hoping for a glimpse of their future. There, at the temple of the god Apollo, a priestess was said to enter a trance and issue prophecies in the voice of Apollo himself. Everyday people, kings, even Alexander the Great traveled for miles to hear the priestess\u2019s input on important decisions, from personal finance to matters of state.<\/p>\n<p>Known as the <em>Pythia<\/em> or the Oracle of Delphi, the priestess wasn\u2019t believed to be a psychic. Ancient writers like Plutarch, who served as a priest at Delphi in the first and second centuries, described her as a vessel for a power that came <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2002\/03\/19\/science\/for-delphic-oracle-fumes-and-visions.html\" rel=\"noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">from the Earth<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>According to Plutarch\u2019s account, the temple of Delphi was constructed around a natural spring, where the water and fissures in the rock produced a sweet-smelling gas called <em>pneuma<\/em>. On designated days a few times per year, the chosen priestess sat amidst the pneuma on a tripod stool and inhaled enough <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/daily\/ancient-cultures\/daily-life-and-practice\/the-oracle-of-delphi-was-she-really-stoned\/\" rel=\"noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">to enter her trance<\/a>. This was an exhausting ordeal for the woman. She might cry out, become hysterical, or collapse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For centuries, people traveled to Delphi in southern Greece hoping for a glimpse of their future. There, at the temple of the god Apollo, a priestess was said to enter a trance and issue prophecies in the voice of Apollo himself. Everyday people, kings, even Alexander the Great traveled for miles to hear the priestess\u2019s [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":599,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1497,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-232629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-energy","category-finance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/599"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232629\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}