This is a painting of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi in Greece. Yes, this is the second Temple of Apollo I've painted this year, the first being a quite different rendition on the island of Naxos.

The remnants of this temple at Delphi date to about 300BC and are likely the most significant: it is from this temple that the famous Oracle at Delphi, a priestess known as the Pythia, delivered prophecies for visitors from across what is now Greece and beyond. These prophecies were nonsense -- and possibly aided the presence of natural gases seeping through the stones beneath -- but they were taken seriously by leaders at the time, who fought wars, launched invasions, and made other history-changing decisions based on the words uttered here

The current Delphi archaelogical site sits about a kilometre outside the town of modern Delphi. In fact, a modern village had sat atop the ancient ruins for centuries until French archaelogists in the 1890s moved residents into the new houses before excavations began. We visited Delphi in 2020 and found it to be one of the most beautiful and evocative places we've been, perched on the side of steep rocky hills, and surrounded by stunning lush mountains even in January.