Delphinus<\/a> rose just before the Sun \u2013 displaying a heliacal rising \u2013 at the very end of December.<\/p>\nThis would have produced an astronomical event that could have been seen all across the Greek world and elsewhere, and would have acted as an international time signal.<\/p>\n
In the lunar calendar of the Greeks, this would have signalled that the next month would be Bysios, and that the time of the year had arrived to set out for Delphi, in the foothills of Mount Parnassus, above the northeastern end of the Gulf of Corinth.<\/p>\n
Travellers could then be present for the god\u2019s birthday and could seek his advice at this, the most sacred oracle in Greece.<\/p>\n
It would have given worshippers a month\u2019s travelling time.<\/p>\n
Of course the heliacal rising of Delphinus does not happen after the winter solstice today. A slow change in sky alignment has taken place, caused by the precession of the equinoxes over 2,750 years.<\/p>\n
This article originally appeared in the March 2006 issue of <\/strong><\/em>BBC Sky at Night Magazine<\/strong>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n
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