NUNTII: It's not really news anymore, but Scientific American has a lengthy article on the geological processes which helped the Pythia at Delphi do her stuff:

John R. Hale, Jelle Zeilinga de Boer, Jeffrey P. Chanton and Henry A. Spiller, "Questioning the Delphic Oracle " Scientific American, August 2003.

The reason it isn't really news anymore is that, by my reckoning, the authors have been dining out on this story since at least 2000 (not that there's anything wrong with that), and some earlier news items on it are still alive, to wit:

National Geographic (August, 2001 webnews)

Washington Post (February 4, 2002)

New York Times (March 19, 2002 ... abstract)

I wonder what inspired the various Sybils (or were they inspiring something as well?).

::Thursday, August 21, 2003 9:40:56 AM::
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TTT: americanrhetoric.com

The American Rhetoric site is a repository of speeches in text and audio form which seem to be very useful. There is some ancient stuff there, but the most useful section appears to be audio clips of some 200+ examples of 38 rhetorical figures in use, mostly taken from movies and commercials. Definitely worth a look ...

::Thursday, August 21, 2003 9:08:59 AM::
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TTT: About.com outlines how Sparta became Athens major rival

Sparta's Rise to Power

::Thursday, August 21, 2003 8:54:56 AM::
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