Drugs and the Delphic Oracle

This paper critically examines several recent studies purporting to show that the priestesses of the oracle of Apollo at Delphi were intoxicated on gaseous fumes emitted as a result of geological processes. The two gaseous candidates offered, ethylene and benzene, are considered. Ethylene is shown to be impossible and benzene to be crucially underdetermined. Finally, the historical evidence on which any gaseous vent hypothesis must rest is reexamined.