Priestess of Delphi John Collier (1850-1934)

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Pythia (Greek: Πυθία), also translated as Pythia, Pitia, or Pyssa, was a priestess of the god Apollo in ancient Greece, serving at the Temple of Delphi on Mount Parnassus. She was known for delivering the prophecies of Apollo.

The Delphic oracle began in the 9th century BC and was an extremely important center of faith in the ancient Greek world.

At the heart of the Temple of Delphi was a chamber called the adyton. Here, Pythia delivered the oracles of Apollo. In Greek mythology, Delphi was the center of the world. Therefore, a conical stone pillar stood within the Adyton, known as the Omphalos (meaning belly button of the earth), supported by two golden eagles, symbolizing this position. According to legend, Zeus sent two eagles in opposite directions to measure the earth, and where they met was Delphi. The priestess was traditionally a young, unmarried virgin (later evolving into an elderly woman, but still wearing maidens attire), who sat on a tripod placed in a cleft (ἄδυτον / Adyton) that produced oracles, below which was a fissure from which natural gas emerged. Pythia held a phiale (a shallow dish for libations) and a laurel branch (the tree of Apollo).

Consultations with the oracle were initially annual, starting on the seventh day of the month Bysius in the Delphic calendar (between February and March), to celebrate the festival of Apollo. Later, rituals were held every seventh day of the month for nine months of the year (legend says this was the period when Apollo resided locally), a day known as polyphthoos (many questions day).

Before consultations, certain rituals had to be performed, carried out by the priestess with the assistance of two priests. The latter served at the temple their entire lives and were assisted by five hosioi (sacred people) who handled the rituals, and two prophets, one of whom assisted Pythia, translating her prophecies into language that ordinary people could understand. The words of the god were usually translated into verse, using hexameter lines. We do not know whether the priestess was visible to those present, as there is no reliable evidence on this matter.

The operation of the oracle has undergone many changes throughout history. According to Plutarch, one of the most authoritative witnesses, who himself was a priest at the temple, in his time (1st century AD) there was only one prophetess in the temple, who received one request per month; while in earlier periods, when the rituals were more elaborate, three priestesses had to take turns to cope with the long queues of applicants. In another temple of Apollo, the oracle was simply transmitted into the mind of the prophet, which allowed him/her to be more creative.

Every year, during Apollos absence, there were no oracles, and this meant that every time the oracle reopened, there were always countless worshippers waiting. Therefore, the priests of the temple had the right to arrange the order in which people could participate in the rituals (Προμαντεία / promanteia). Participants first offered appropriate gifts to the god, and then the priests splashed some cold water on a goat; if it did not shiver as a result, it was considered an ill omen, and the ritual would not proceed; but if the worshipper was accepted, the goat was sacrificed, and he/she could enter the temple to ask the prophetess a question, although whether the question was answered or not depended on the will of the god. (This is fraud).

Christian perspective
In Christian times, John Chrysostom considered Pythia to be a woman possessed by demons, which drilled from the depths of the ground below the tripod into the body of the prophetess.

Editing
Modern historical research, based on ancient Greece and possibly tracing back to traditions about Delphi, seeks to determine the origin of the words spoken by Pythia during the rituals. One long-standing theory is that she inhaled gases emanating from the ground, which paralyzed her, but this theory has been questioned because excavations by the French Academy in Athens did not find the legendary fissure in the underground of the Temple of Apollo, and they believe that the geology of the local shale would also prevent the escape of gas. However, a more recent study suggests that the site of Delphi is indeed located at the intersection of two faults, and that the presence of bituminous limestone beneath the surface could generate ethylene-like substances during tectonic activity, which have neuroparalytic effects on humans. These details, combined with Plutarchs historical account, offer a new explanation.