Pythia

The historical figure

The name "Pythia" derives from Pythō, ancient name of the place where Delphi was located, related to Python (the great mythological serpent that Apollo killed in the foundational myth of the oracle). Originally the Pythias were apparently young virgins, but after a particularly distressing incident in the 5th century BC (where a young Pythia was abducted and raped by a Thessalian visitor), the rule changed: from then on the Pythia was always mature woman over 50 years (although she dressed in young woman robes for ritual purposes). Selected from among the inhabitants of the Delphi region, she had to undergo specific rituals of purity and dedication.

The Pythia served full-time: her position was permanent; she lived in the temple sanctuary in conditions of devotional dedication. In peak periods of demand for the oracle, there were up to three Pythias simultaneously to handle the volume of consultations. Throughout the centuries-long history of the oracle, the names of the historical Pythias are unfortunately mostly lost — they are anonymous in the tradition that came down to us.

Method and conditions of trance

The Pythia entered a state of altered consciousness (trance) to deliver oracles. The classical method (according to ancient sources): 1) Day of consultation (only certain specific days of the year were valid for consultations — initially only one day per year; later expanded to several months). 2) The Pythia bathed in the sacred Castalian fountain. 3) She drank water from the sacred fountain Cassotis. 4) She entered the inner sanctuary (adyton) of the Apollo temple. 5) Sat on a sacred tripod over a fissure in the rock from which "vapours" rose. 6) Chewed sacred laurel leaves (probably Laurus nobilis, the laurel of Apollo). 7) Pronounced cryptic oracular phrases that the temple priests "translated" into coherent verses for the consultant.

Modern interpretation of the trance: scientific studies of the 21st century (especially the team of Jelle de Boer, geologist) have demonstrated that the Apollo temple of Delphi sits on the intersection of two geological faults that emit ethylene gases — a sweet aromatic gas that, in low concentrations, produces euphoria and altered states of consciousness; in high concentrations, can produce violent uncoordinated reactions and delusional states. This explains plausibly the trance of the Pythia: she did not sit on a literal "fissure of vapours" inventing it, but on a real geological emission of a psychoactive gas that altered her consciousness.

Historical influence

The Pythia was politically influential through more than a millennium: her predictions affected: foundation of Greek colonies (Cyrene, Massalia (Marseille), Naples, etc., consulted Delphi before founding), great battles, marriages of royalty, individual decisions of the wealthy. Famous case: Croesus of Lydia consulted before war against Persia; the oracle replied "if you cross the river Halys, a great empire will fall" — Croesus crossed and was defeated. Socrates went to consult Delphi about his wisdom; the famous answer "no one is wiser than Socrates" launched his philosophical mission. Decline: the oracle was definitively closed in 393 AD by the Christian Roman emperor Theodosius I. The last historical Pythia is anonymous — but her dignified figure remained in the legend.