Note 36 — ORACLE.
Reading edition
Pythian or Pythia, in antiquity, the priestess of Apollo, by whom he delivered oracles. She was thus called from the god himself, who was styled Apollo Pythius, from his slaying the serpent Python; or as others will have it, αποτου ποδεσδαι, because Apollo, the sun, is the cause of rottenness; or, according to others, from πυνδανομαι, I hear, because people went to hear and consult his oracles.—The priestess was to be a pure virgin. She sat on the covercle, or lid, of a brazen vessel, mounted on a tripod; and thence, after a violent enthusiasm, she delivered her oracles; i. e. she rehearsed a few ambiguous and obscure verses, which were taken for oracles.
All the Pythiæ did not seem to have had the same talent at poetry, or to have memory enough to retain their lesson.—Plutarch and Strabo make mention of poets, who were kept in by Jupiter, as interpreters.
The solemn games instituted in honor of Apollo, and in memory of his killing the serpent Python with his arrows, were called Pythia or Pythian games.