The Oracle of Apollo at Delphi is shrouded in myth and mystery, but one thing is certain, their prophetic influence reached far and wide and was detrimental in shaping the Greece. Neither the war nor the borders were determined without first conferring the Delphic Oracle. The Oracle of Apollo was held in high regard by the likes of “Plutarch, Plato, Aristotle, and Diodorus” (Broad 10). The Trojan and Theban Wars were partly responses to the Oracle's predictions (Fontenrose 4). The Delphic oracle guided the Spartans' decision and consulted the "Greek states at the time of the Persian war" (Fontenrose 6). For over a millennium, devotees would continue to seek the advice of the Delphic Oracle. The Greek heritage is full of his prophecies. Delphi, Greece's relative geographic location is in the center of Greece. According to Richard Haywood, its location may literally be the reason why "the Delphic Oracle was for centuries near the center of Greek life" (112). Delphi was inhabited already in the Bronze Age. The existence of the Oracle is believed to have appeared as early as the 8th century BCE (Scott 11). There are several stories to explain the origins of Delphi. One myth says that Zeus released two eagles “from opposite ends of the world and they met at Delphi” signifying the geographic center of the earth (Scott 36). Another myth holds that the word Delphi comes directly from a Greek word meaning “womb,” indicating the birthplace of the world (Scott 36). However, the Homeric Hymn to Apollo written "between the end of the 7th century BC and the mid-6th century BC" tells the story of the genesis of Delphi in a different light. According to the Homeric tale, Apollo traveled across Greece in search of the perfect site for his temple. H... at the center of the card... the future, creating a blurred line between the real and the fantastic. Fact and fiction continue to coexist in the daily debate and rituals of modern Greece and it is entirely possible that the Oracle of Delphi is to be praised and/or blamed. Works CitedBroad, William J. The Oracle: The Lost Secrets and Hidden Message of Ancient Delphi. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.Fontenrose, Joseph Eddy. The Delphic oracle, its answers and its operations. Berkeley: University of California. Print.Haywood, Richard. "THE DELPHIAN ORACLE." Archeology 5.2 (1952): 110-18. JSTOR. Network. May 25, 2014. .Lehoux, Daryn. "Drugs and the Delphic Oracle". Classical World 101.1 (2007): 41-56. Web.Scott, Michael. Delphi a history of the center of the ancient world. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2014. Print.