Apollo spoke through his oracle: the sibyl or priestess of the oracle at Delphi was known as the Pythia ; she had to be an older woman of blameless life chosen from among the peasants of the area.

The Sibyl had no connection to the oracle of Apollo, and should not be confused with the Pythia.

Inside was the adyton, the centre of the Delphic oracle and seat of Pythia.

The most important oracles of Greek antiquity were Pythia, priestess to Apollo at Delphi, and the oracle of Dione and Zeus at Dodona in Epirus.

In the heyday of the oracle, the Pythia may have been a woman chosen from an influential family, well educated in geography, politics, history, philosophy, and the arts.

Several other officials served the oracle in addition to the Pythia.

Once a month, thereafter, the oracle would undergo purification rites, including fasting, to ceremonially prepare the Pythia for communications with the divine.

Orestes at Delphi flanked by Athena and Pylades among the Erinyes and priest esses of the oracle, perhaps including Pythia behind the tripod-Paestan Red-figure pottery | red-figured bell-krater, c. 330 BC

The priestess of the oracle at Delphi became known as the Pythia, after the place-name Pytho, which Greeks explained as named after the rotting ( πύθειν ) of the slain serpent's corpse in the strength of Hyperion ( day ) or Helios ( the sun ).

* Pythia: The famous Delphic oracle, she foretells the triumph of the sausage-seller early in the play ( line 220 ) and her words confirm Cleon's defeat at the end of the play ( 1229, 1273 ).

* Delphic oracle or Pythia, located in Delphi

When the Emperor Hadrian asked the Oracle at Delphi about Homer, the Pythia proclaimed that he was Ithacan, the son of Epikaste and Telemachus, from the Odyssey.

Priestesses in antiquity often performed sacred prostitution, and in Ancient Greece, some priestesses such as Pythia, priestess at Delphi, acted as oracles.

* The Pythia was the title of a priestess at the very ancient temple of Delphi that was dedicated to the Earth Mother.

The Pythia ( pronounced or, ), commonly known as the Oracle of Delphi, was the priestess at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, located on the slopes of Mount Parnassus.

The scholar Martin Litchfield West writes that the Pythia shows many traits of shamanistic practices, likely inherited or influenced from Central Asian practices, although there is no evidence of any Central Asian association at this time.

Though little is known of how the priestess was chosen, the Pythia was probably selected, at the death of her predecessor, from amongst a guild of priestesses of the temple.

The Pythia, the priestess presiding over the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi, was believed to be able to deliver prophecies inspired by Apollo during rituals beginning in the 8th century BC.

Some reptilian attributes such as a belt made of snakes and snakes emanating from the head or entwined in the hair, as in the temple of Artemis in Corfu, are symbols likely derived from the guardians closely associated with early Greek religious concepts at the centers such as Delphi where the dragon Delphyne lived and the priestess Pythia delivered oracles.

The enemy dragoness "... actually became an Apollonian serpent, and Pythia, the priestess who gave oracles at Delphi, was named after him.

The Pythia advised them that an unnamed hero was angry at being neglected, and that they should find his grave and offer him worship forthwith.

One of the earliest recorded group of prophets to utilise this technique was the Pythia, the priestess at the temple of Apollo in Delphi, who acted as the conduit for the Delphic Oracle.

The priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi was the Pythia, credited throughout the Greco-Roman world for her prophecies, which gave her a prominence unusual for a woman in male-dominated ancient Greece.

The Pythia at Delphi saw the blood on the walls during the Persian War ; and, in the Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius, blood and fire appear to Circe in her chamber on the night before the arrival of the fratricidal Jason and Medea.

* In Delphi, the Pythia became filled with the pneuma of Apollo, said to come from a spring inside the Adyton.

: For a list of some of the most noted oracular pronouncements of the Pythia, go to Famous Oracular Statements from Delphi.

Priestess of Delphi ( 1891 ) by John Collier ( artist ) | John Collier ; the Pythia was inspired by pneuma rising from below

The name ' Pythia ' derived from Pytho, which in myth was the original name of Delphi.

Priestess of Delphi ( 1891 ), as imagined by John Collier ( artist ) | John Collier ; the Pythia is inspired by pneuma rising from below as she sits on a tripod

The Via Pythia, or Pythian road, was the route to Delphi which was revered throughout the Greek world as the site of the omphalos stone, the centre of the earth and the universe.

Other scholars believe records from the time indicate that the Pythia spoke intelligibly, and gave prophecies in her own voice .< ref >

Ancient Gallifreyans are all telepathic and were ruled by a female cult centred on a figure called the Pythia, who controlled the population through mysticism and prophecies.

The Pythia was widely credited for her prophecies inspired by Apollo.

The usual theory has been that the Pythia delivered oracles in a frenzied state induced by vapors rising from a chasm in the rock, and that she spoke gibberish which priests interpreted as the enigmatic prophecies preserved in Greek literature.

" Others argue instead that methane might have been the gas emitted from the chasm, or CO < sub > 2 </ sub > and H < sub > 2 </ sub > S, arguing that the chasm itself might have been a seismic ground rupture, although this idea has been challenged by scholars such as Joseph Fontenrose and Lisa Maurizio, who argue that the ancient sources uniformly represent the Pythia speaking intelligibly, and giving prophecies in her own voice.

He cites the Pythia sitting in a cauldron on a tripod, while making her prophecies in an ecstatic trance state, like shamans, and her unintelligible utterings.

" The prophetai are referred to in literary sources, but their function is unclear ; it has been suggested that they interpreted the Pythia's prophecies, or even reformatted her utterances into verse, but it has also been argued that the term prophētēs is a generic reference to any cult officials of the sanctuary, including the Pythia.

All of these symptoms match the experience of the Pythia in action, as related by Plutarch, who witnessed many prophecies.

It is often said that the Pythia delivered oracles in a frenzied state induced by vapors rising from the ground, and that she spoke gibberish, believed to be the voice of Apollo, which priests reshaped into the enigmatic prophecies preserved in Greek literature.

It is revealed in the novel that Ancient Gallifrey was ruled by the Pythia, who controlled the population through prophecies and superstition.

At the end of each period the Pythia would be like a runner after a race or a dancer after an ecstatic dance, which may have had a physical effect on the health of the Pythia.