When fire destroyed Apollo's temple in 548 BCE, foreign sovereigns made generous donations for the construction of a new temple. In 480 BCE, thanks to Apollo's intervention, the sanctuary was saved from desecration by King Xerxes of Persia by an earthquake and landslide that destroyed his army.¹³ In 448 BCE, the Phocians again gained political power over Delphi, which led to the declaration of the Second Sacred War to restore the sanctuary's freedom. In 421 BCE the Peace of Nicias restored it to the Delphi.

In 373 BCE, a terrible earthquake destroyed much of the Temple of Apollo. Reconstruction started immediately, thanks again to international contributions, but was interrupted in 356 BCE by the Third Sacred War. From 356 to 346 BCE the Phocians occupied the sanctuary and confiscated not only sanctuary funds, but also a large number of valuable votive offerings. The Amphictyonic Council, to which Phocis belonged, ordered that the Phocians be fined for religious offenses. The Phocians refused to pay and seized Delphi, then not under their control, using the treasures of the sanctuary to hire mercenaries. The resulting war ended disastrously for the Phocians. Defeated by Philip II of Macedonia in 346 BCE, they were expelled from the Amphictyonic Council, their towns were split into small villages, and they were forced to pay a large yearly fine to the Delphic sanctuary.¹⁴

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