Editing Pythia (section)

===Priestess===
{{See also|Hiereia}}
[[File:The Oracle of Delphi Entranced.jpg|thumb|230x230px|''The Oracle of Delphi Entranced'' by [[Heinrich Leutemann]]]]
Since the first operation of the oracle of the Temple of Delphi, it was believed that the god lived within a laurel (his holy plant) and gave oracles for the future with the rustling of the leaves. It was also said that the art of divination had been taught to the god by the three winged sisters of Parnassus, the Thriae, at the time when Apollo was grazing his cattle there. The Thriae used to have a {{Lang|grc-latn|Kliromanteion}} (oracle by lot) in that area in the past and it is possible that such was the first oracle of Delphi, i.e. using the lot (throwing lots in a container and pulling a lot, the color and shape of which were of particular importance).

Three oracles had successively operated in Delphi – the {{Lang|grc-latn|chthonion}} using {{Lang|grc-latn|egkoimisi}} (a procedure that involved sleeping in the holy place, so as to experience a revealing dream), the {{Lang|grc-latn|Kliromanteion}} and finally the Apollonian, with the laurel. But ever since the introduction of the cult of Dionysus at Delphi, the god that brought his followers into ecstasy and madness, the Delphic god gave oracles through Pythia, who also fell into a trance under the influence of vapors and fumes coming from the opening, the inner sanctum of the Oracle. Pythia sat on top of a tall gilded tripod that stood above the opening. In the old days, Pythia was a virgin, young girl, but after [[Echecrates of Thessaly]] kidnapped and violated a young and beautiful Pythia in the late 3rd century BC, a woman older than fifty years old was chosen, who dressed and wore jewelry to resemble a young maiden girl. According to tradition, [[Phemonoe]] was the first Pythia.<ref>Πάνος Βαλαβάνης, Ιερά και Αγώνες στην Αρχαία Ελλάδα – Νέμεα – Αθήνα, Αθήνα, 2004, 176.</ref><ref>Γιάννης Λάμψας, Λεξικό του Αρχαίου Κόσμου, τ. Α', Αθήνα, εκδόσεις Δομή, 1984, 758.</ref>

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. These women were all natives of Delphi and were required to have had a sober life and be of good character.{{sfn|Broad|2007|p=31-32}}<ref>Herbert W Parke, ''History of the Delphic Oracle'' and H.W. Parke and D.E.W. Wormell ''The Delphic oracle'', 1956 Volume 1: The history attempt the complicated reconstruction of the oracle's institutions; a recent comparison of the process of select at Delphi with Near Eastern oracles is part of Herbert B. Huffman, "The Oracular Process: Delphi and the Near East" ''[[Vetus Testamentum]]'' '''57'''.4, (2007:449–60).</ref> Although some were married, upon assuming their role as the Pythia, the priestesses ceased all family responsibilities, marital relations, and individual identity. 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. During later periods, however, uneducated peasant women were chosen for the role, which may explain why the poetic [[pentameter]] or [[hexameter]] prophecies of the early period were later made only in [[prose]]. Often, the priestess's answers to questions would be put into hexameter by a priest.{{sfn|Godwin|1876|p=11}} The archaeologist John Hale reports that:

{{quotation|the Pythia was (on occasion) a noble of aristocratic family, sometimes a peasant, sometimes rich, sometimes poor, sometimes old, sometimes young, sometimes a very lettered and educated woman to whom somebody like the high priest and the philosopher Plutarch would dedicate essays, other times who could not write her own name. So it seems to have been aptitude rather than any ascribed status that made these women eligible to be Pythias and speak for the god.<ref>quoted in an interview on the radio program "The Ark", [http://www.abc.net.au/rn/relig/ark/stories/s1266794.htm transcript available] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070602183338/http://www.abc.net.au/rn/relig/ark/stories/s1266794.htm |date=2007-06-02 }}.</ref>}}

The job of a priestess, especially the Pythia, was a respectable career for Greek women. Priestesses enjoyed many liberties and rewards for their social position, such as freedom from taxation, the right to own property and attend public events, a salary and housing provided by the state, a wide range of duties depending on their affiliation, and often gold crowns.{{sfn|Broad|2007|p=32}}

During the main period of the oracle's popularity, as many as three women served as Pythia, another vestige of the triad, with two taking turns in giving prophecy and another kept in reserve.<ref>Plutarch ''Moralia'' 414b.</ref> Only one day of the month could the priestess be consulted.{{sfn|Godwin|1876|p=11}}

Plutarch said<ref>{{cite web |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/De_defectu_oraculorum*.html |title=Plutarch • On the Failure of Oracles |publisher=Penelope.uchicago.edu |access-date=2012-03-19 |archive-date=2024-02-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240213030019/https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/De_defectu_oraculorum%2A.html |url-status=live }}</ref> that the Pythia's life was shortened through the service of Apollo. The sessions were said to be exhausting. 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.