Delphi

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This article covers the Caprican city depicted in the Re-imagined Series. For a similar reference in the Original Series, see Delphian Empire.


Aerial view of Cylon-occupied Delphi.

Delphi is a Colonial city on Caprica featuring a large spaceport and military base.

The tallest structure that could be seen for miles was the Telamont Building - a towering monument that pierced the Delphian city skyline by several stories. Delphi is near the same general region of the planet as Caprica City; Helo was able to trek on foot from the outskirts of Caprica City to Delphi in roughly two months.

Delphi is believed to be the cultural and spiritual heart of the Twelve Colonies, home of a Forum, Temple, and Opera House which were built to mirror the originals on Kobol. Helo is heard to curse the Cylons for using Delphi as a major hub (Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down).

Following the Cylon attack, Delphi is used by the Cylons as their primary base of operations. Sharon Valerii and Karl Agathon make their way across the planet in the hope of being able to find a vehicle they can use to fly off Caprica ("Flesh and Bone", "The Hand of God", "Colonial Day").

The heavily-damaged Delphi Museum, respository of an important artifact.

One of the city's major landmarks is the Delphi Museum of the Colonies. This massive archaelogical complex contains the Arrow of Apollo, an artifact that may be the only clue to the whereabouts of Earth (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I" and Part II). When Laura Roslin has visions following the discovery of Kobol, she overrides William Adama's plans and persuades Kara Thrace to take her captured Cylon Raider to Caprica in order to recover the Arrow (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I).

Successfully jumping to Caprica in a purloined Cylon Raider, Kara "Starbuck" Thrace lands next to the museum in which the Arrow is kept and manages to retrieve it (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II).

Thrace's old apartment, complete with a curious painting (Valley of Darkness)

Kara Thrace once owned a studio apartment in Delphi. The place was a mess, it overlooked a parking lot, it had a broken toilet and the basic services were constantly being cut off because she didn't pay the bills.

The apartment was littered with paintings of her own creation and a tiny cache of her customary cigars. Starbuck wasn't very enthusiastic about the place, even when she owned it, and the only reason she returned "home" was to collect an old jacket, a personal memento, and to receive the keys to her old military truck so she and Helo wouldn't have to walk anymore (Valley of Darkness).

A Cylon breeding farm near Delphi.

Delphi and the general region around it are apparently fairly close to a series of mountains, as the athletes in the Caprica Buccaneers pyramid team survived the Cylon attack because they were in the mountains for high-altitude training at the time. The area would later form the core of the human resistance group that operated out of the Delphi Union High School (Resistance). The Cylon Farm that Starbuck was held in was set up in an old mental institution, about 20 klicks north of Delphi (The Farm).

Centurions serving as landscaping workers (Downloaded)

The Cylons eventually resettle Delphi, and Cylon agents actually live there, appropriating apartments, restoring and using a restaurant and other facilities. The resurrected Sharon Valerii returns to the apartment she had lived in prior to the Fall for a time. The city was already populated by multiple copies of different Cylon models. The heroes of the Cylon begin to change Cylon philosophy on their treatment of humanity after a bombing incident led by Samuel Anders here.

Delphi, as with the rest of the Colonies, has been abandoned as the Cylons left to find the last remnants of humanity to play "caretaker" (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II)

Notes[edit]

  • The location of Delphi is one of many of the series’ influences by ancient Greek mythology and history. In antiquity, the Greek city of Delphi was home to the Delphic Oracle, a Sibyl who made predictions, delivered in song or verse, which may have been inspired or influenced by the breathing of vapors emitted from the ground. The Oracle was originally a Pythian priestess (named for the python, killed by Apollo). Over time, she became known as The Pythia.
  • Initially, the Oracle was associated with Gaia, who became the foundation of the Olympian Gods. However, with the founding of a temple to the god Apollo, Delphi became more closely associated with him. This relationship between Delphi and Apollo is reflected in Delphi on Caprica being the home of the Arrow of Apollo.

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