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An omphalos is a religious stone artefact. In Ancient Greek, the word ὀμφᾰλός]] () means "navel". Among the Ancient Greeks, it was a widespread belief that Delphi was the center of the world. According to the myths regarding the founding of the Delphic Oracle, Zeus, in his attempt to locate the center of the Earth, launched two eagles from the two ends of the world, and the eagles, starting simultaneously and flying at equal speed, crossed their paths above the area of Delphi, and so that was the place where Zeus placed the stone. The Latin term is umbilicus mundi, 'navel of the world'.
Omphalos is also the name of the stone given to Cronus.
Omphalos stones were believed to allow direct communication with the gods. Holland (1933) suggested that the stone was hollow to allow intoxicating vapours breathed by the Oracle to channel through it. Erwin Rohde wrote that the Python at Delphi was an earth spirit, who was conquered by Apollo and buried under the Omphalos. However, understanding of the use of the omphalos is uncertain due to destruction of the site by Theodosius I and Arcadius in the 4th century CE.
Omfalos is a concrete and rock sculpture by the conceptual artist Lars Vilks, previously standing in the Kullaberg nature reserve, Skåne County, Sweden. As of 2001, the sculpture belongs to the collections of Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sweden.
In Ted Chiang's short story "Omphalos" (2019), the protagonist is forced to question her belief about where the center of the world is located.
In "The Toome Road", a Seamus Heaney poem from the 1979 anthology Field Work, Heaney writes about an encounter with a convoy of armoured cars in Northern Ireland, "… O charioteers, above your dormant guns, It stands here still, stands vibrant as you pass, The invisible, untoppable omphalos."
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