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An omphalos (ὀμφαλός) is a religious stone artifact, or baetylus. In Greek, the word omphalos means "navel". In Greek lore, Zeus sent two eagles across the world to meet at its center, the "navel" of the world.[1] Omphalos stones marking the centre were erected in several places about the Mediterranean Sea; the most famous of those was at Delphi. Omphalos is also the name of the stone given to Cronus. In the ancient world of the Mediterranean, it was a powerful religious symbol.[2] Omphalos Syndrome refers to the misguided belief that a place of geopolitical power and currency is the most important place in the world.[3][4]
The omphalos was not only an object of pagan religious symbolism and world centrality; it an also one of power. Its symbolic references included the uterus, the phallus, and a cup of red wine representing royal blood lines. It may also have connections to the Holy Grail and the Arthurian Sword in the Stone.[5]
Most accounts locate the Delphi omphalos in the adyton (sacred part of the temple) near the Pythia (oracle). The stone sculpture itself (which may be a copy), has a carving of a knotted net covering its surface, and a hollow center, widening towards the base. The omphalos represents the stone which Rhea wrapped in swaddling clothes, pretending it was Zeus, in order to deceive Cronus. (Cronus was the father who swallowed his children so as to prevent them from usurping him as he had deposed his own father, Uranus).
Omphalos stones were believed to allow direct communication with the gods. Holland (1933) suggested that the stone was hollow to allow intoxicating vapours breathed by the Oracle to channel through it. Erwin Rohde wrote that the Python at Delphi was an earth spirit, who was conquered by Apollo and buried under the Omphalos. However, understanding of the use of the omphalos is uncertain due to destruction of the site by Theodosius I and Arcadius in the 4th century CE.
The omphalos at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, represents, in Christian mediaeval tradition, the navel of the world (the spiritual and cosmological centre of the world).[6] Jewish tradition held that God revealed himself to His people through the Ark of the Covenant in the Temple in Jerusalem, which rested on the Foundation stone marking the centre of the world.[7] This tradition may have stemmed from the similar one at Delphi.
Omphalos is a public art sculpture by Dimitri Hadzi formerly located in the Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts under the Arts on the Line program.[8] As of 2014, the sculpture has been deinstalled; it will be relocated to Rockport, Massachusetts.[9]
In literature, the word, omphalos has held various meanings but usually refers to the stone at Delphi. Authors who have used the term include: Homer, Pausanias, D.H. Lawrence, James Joyce, and Jacques Derrida. For example, Joyce uses the term in the novel, Ulysses,
Other examples include,
Zeus, Greek mythology, Hera, Hades, Poseidon
Etruria, Orvieto, Sanctuary, Velzna, Middle Ages
Particle physics, Event (particle physics), Particle accelerator, Parton (particle physics), Hadronization