How Delphoí was rebuilt, mark by mark
Bench notes, Delphoí: what we found, what we rejected, and what we finally set down. Kept in the open, because a restoration you cannot audit is just a spelling with confidence.
What We Found
The attestation, on the evidence Homer, Iliad and Homer, Odyssey set down: Δελφοί. Meaning: "Womb (from δελφύς)".
The figure behind the name: Delphoí sits on the southern slope of Mount Parnassus above the Gulf of Corinth, but in Greek myth it is the axis of the world.
What the Name Carried In
Apollo Slays Python. The Homeric Hymn to Apollo tells how the god, born on Delos, crossed the Aegean in search of a place to found his oracle. He came to Delphi, where a vast she-dragon named Python guarded the sacred spring.
The Omphalos, Navel of the Earth. Zeus, wishing to find the center of the world, released two eagles from opposite ends of the earth. They met at Delphi, and the spot was marked by the omphalos, a rounded stone said to be the navel of the world.
A spelling that has to carry stories like these is not a label. It is equipment.
Where It Stood Before Us
Material evidence from the Greek world — inscriptions, sanctuaries, votive deposits, and literary papyri — anchors the name in historical cult. The bench inherits all of it — the web temple is the newest site, not the first.
What We Kept
The evidence, mark by mark — 1 feature the keyboard form delphoi cannot hold:
- i → í — Acute on iota. Kept.
What We Rejected
Any form invented for availability. The rule on the bench: if the evidence does not carry it, the domain does not get it — whatever the registrar has in stock.
What We Set Down
Delphoí — Tier-1 is not a compliment; it is a measurement. This restoration keeps something the ASCII form provably loses, and the measurement is repeatable.
For the voice: 'del-PHOY-ee' — the middle syllable has a puffed 'p' and a diphthong like 'boy'; the final syllable is lightly stressed.
The temple stands at /sites/delphoi/ — the notes above are public in its Scholarly Edition, sources and all.
At a Glance
- Restored name: Delphoí
- ASCII form: delphoi
- Meaning: "Womb (from δελφύς)"
- Domain of influence: Oracle of Apollo
- Pantheon: Greek-location
- Classification: Tier 1
- Original script: Δελφοί
- Series: The Restoration Files, No. 65 of 271
The File Continues
The temple's founding dispatch tells the name's story; its Resonance File reads the myths into the industries; the blog index holds the whole archive.
Continue the series — previous file: Dêlos (read it here) · next file: Dēmētēr (read it here).
The Restoration Files are written from the same canonical record as the temples themselves: the lexicon, the lore catalog, the pattern atlas, and the cited scholarly sources. If a file ever disagrees with its temple, the temple is right — tell us, and the file will be corrected.