i'd been thinking about the name philadelphia (as in the new church building and area) and being the failed latin student that i was, i only knew what half of the name meant - phil- as in love. so what was delphi? apart from being an old computer database language (i think) it was also a place in ancient greece that i remember from my far more successful classical studies days. so i thought i'd look up about it on the web and found some interesting stuff that can be looked up here .

but some of the highlights:

- delphi became very popular and well visited, being home to the famous oracle of the god apollo (sounding kinda similar top a fortune teller/ psychic). apollo also shared the space with (i think the goddess) dionysus

- before apollo took up residence there, it was home to either gaia (the earth goddess) or themis (another primordial goddess).

- the temple in delphi was plundered/ destroyed/ set on fire 6 times!

- delphi(s) is the greek word for dolphin, which itself comes from the greek word for womb (a dolphin being a mammal), and so delphi was also considered the centre of the world

- they held regular athletic events every 4 years

just thought it'd be interesting to find the historical background of the name philadelphia - i'm not sure how much we'd want to be wanting to read into it though, prophetically speaking that is - not sure mike will be getting much from it....

hmmm....