The Pythia
The priestess of Apollo, the Pythia, resided in the Temple of Apollo at Delphi and was the god’s designated mouthpiece from which his prophecies flowed. The Oracle at Delphi was known throughout the ancient world and was consulted by those who needed answers to crucial questions. The exact date that the Pythia began speaking for Apollo has been debated by numerous contemporary scholars and ancient sources, but the earliest Greek account of Apollo coming to Delphi is located in the Delphian section of the Homeric hymn to Apollo which was probably written in the 7th century B.C.E. (Chappell 331).
The legend of how Apollo first established his oracle in Delphi appeared in Euripide’s Iphigenia in Tauris when Euripides tells us that Apollo had to slay the monstrous Python who belonged to the Earth Mother Gaia to whom the oracle belonged before the god’s arrival (Eur. IT 1234 f.).The 5th century playwright Aeschylus writes in the prologue of Eumenides that Gaia gave the oracle to Zeus’ second wife, Themis, who then passed it to Tianess Phoebe who then gave it to her grandson Apollo for his birthday. In neither account are we told when the oracle was possessed by the spirit of Apollo.
The first mention of the city of Delphi as a place of prophecy is much earlier, dating to the 8th century B.C.E. In The Odyssey, Homer tells of Agamemnon receiving a prediction in glorious Pytho after he had crossed the stone floor to consult the god. Since Agamemnon fought in the Trojan War, Apollo’s oracle at Delphi must have existed as early as the 12th century B.C.E. when the legendary war is said to have taken place.
The Pythia was chosen from the Delphic community and had to meet specific requirements. She had to be over the age of fifty and she had to abstain from sexual intercourse. It was common in ancient Greece for the gender of the priest or priestess to be the same as the god which he or she served, but the Pythia at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi was the one exception. Some scholars believe this is because female priestesses had originally served as the mouthpiece of Mother Earth who inhabited the oracle before Apollo. Initially the Pythia only gave consultations once a year on Apollo’s birthday which was the seventh day of the of ancient month, Bysios, which corresponds to the second half of February and the first half of March (Plut. Quaest. Graec. 8. 398a). The cult became so popular that the Pythia began giving consultations on the seventh of every month with the exception of the winter months when Apollo left Delphi.
People were eager to speak to the oracle and on the days she gave consultations a great line was formed. According to Plutarch there were two Pythias working at a time with a third one on reserve who worked in shifts. The Pythia answered questions in the form of riddles that were then interpreted by the priests of the temple. People of all walks of life consulted the oracle and she answered questions ranging from political policy to personal affairs. When people arrived at the temple they paid a fee, and when it came time for their mystical meeting, they purified themselves at the Castalian Spring. The faithful then advanced along the Sacred Way up the hills of Parnassus which was lined with offerings and statues dedicated to Apollo, thanking him for his insight. There was also a succession of treasuries, small shrines sponsored by various Greek cities, as thank-offerings for important victories. The best preserved of these is the Athenian treasury, built in 490 B.C.E. to celebrate the Athenian victory at the Battle of Marathon.
There are numerous ancient accounts of the Pythia and what took place in the prophetic chamber in the Temple of Apollo. One of the earliest and clearest descriptions recorded dates from the 1st century B.C.E. when Strabo noted:
The place where the oracle is delivered is said to be a deep hollow adyton, the entrance to which is not very wide. From it raises an exhalation that inspires a divine frenzy. Over the mouth is placed a lofty tripod which the Pythian priestess ascends to receive the exhalation, after which she gives the prophetic response. (Strab. 4.3-5).
Most of the ancient accounts mention the bronze tripod upon which the Pythia sat when she delivered Apollo’s prophecies. Euripides refers to this seat, noting that the priestess has her seat upon the most holy tripod whence she chants oracles uttered by Apollo (Eur. Electra, 980). Ancient literary testimonia also refer to the intoxicating vapors that sent the Pythia into a tumultuous flurry of prophecy. Diodorus, writing in the 1st century B.C.E., tells of the legend of the discovery of the vapor which he believed came from a rock (Diod. 16, 26.) The Suda thought that the frenzied breath of the Python caused the Pythia to prophesize (Suda 5. 2). In the Homeric Hymn to Apollo the vapor derived from the rotted flesh of the python slain by Apollo was described as giving off a putrid order and causing the priestess to channel the god (Hymn. Hom. Ap. 371-372.). Various ancient sources agree that the Python, dead or alive was the source of the noxious exhalation which rose from beneath the tripod. The Oracle at Delphi was Greece’s most valued and respected oracle and was revered not only in ancient Greece, but throughout the ancient world.
Primary Sources:
Diodorus Siculus 16, 26.
Euripides, Iphigenia Taurica 1234.f
Euripides, Electra, 980
Hymnus Homericus ad Apollinem, 371-372
Plutarch, Quaestiones Graecae 8.398a
Strabo, 4.3-5
Suda 5.2
