Delphi: Bellybutton of the Ancient World will be on BBC4 at 9pm.

A CAMBRIDGE lecturer will present a BBC documentary tonight about the history of Delphi - a Greek town regarded as the ‘bellybutton’ of the ancient world.

Dr Michael Scott, whose research, Delphi and Olympia, was published this year, will explain how the small religious sanctuary perched on a Greek mountainside is still relevant to modern day history.

In the BBC 4 documentary, Delphi: Bellybutton of the Ancient World, Dr Scott uses architectural plans of the Temple of Apollo, which hosted Delphi’s famous oracle, to reveal more about the town’s past.

He said: “Imagine a place with the wealth of the Swiss banks, the religious power of the Vatican, the advertising potential of the World Cup and the historical importance of all the world’s museums combined; that was Delphi.

“And its two great maxims: ‘Know Thyself’ and ‘Nothing in Excess’, can be applied to modern life as easily as they could to the ancient Greeks.”

Dr Scott compared the recent success of Paul the Octopus who predicted World Cup results this year to the oracle at Delphi.

“In that, perhaps the most important thing Delphi teaches us is to look inward, to answer the important questions ourselves, to ‘know thyself’,” he said.

“Equally, the message of ‘Nothing in Excess’, at a time of financial ruin and global recession, could barely strike a greater chord; that is why Delphi and its 1,000 years as the centre of the ancient world is so important today.”

The discovery of Delphi, begun over 100 years ago when excavators had to remove the entire modern community on top of the ancient site, continues unabated to this day. In the 1990s, geologists proved the presence of hallucinogenic gases at Delphi.

Delphi: Bellybutton of the Ancient World is on BBC 4 at 9pm.