About the Book
Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 27. Chapters: Ancient Egyptian priestesses, Ancient Greek priestesses, Ancient Japanese priestesses, Ancient Roman priestesses, Sacred prostitution, Pythia, Peleiades, Erythraean Sibyl, God's Wife of Amun, Cumaean Sibyl, Neferure, Plancia Magna, Divine Adoratrice of Amun, Saiin, Aconia Fabia Paulina, Meresamun, Paculla Annia, Eumachia, Aurelia Paulina, Nad tu, Henutmehyt, Tabekenamun, Maatkare Mutemhat, Neferhetepes, Iset, Gautseshen, Themistoclea, Meritamen, Gerarai, Aristoclea, Henuttawy, Caecilia Metella Balearica, Karomama Meritmut, Hui, Shamhat, Hellespontine Sibyl, Arrephoros, Qedesha. Excerpt: The Pythia (Greek: ), 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 Pythia was widely credited for her prophecies inspired by Apollo. The Delphic oracle was established in the 8th century BC. The last recorded response was given in 393 AD, when the emperor Theodosius I ordered pagan temples to cease operation. During this period the Delphic Oracle was the most prestigious and authoritative oracle in the Greek world. The oracle is one of the best-documented religious institutions of the classical Greek world. Writers who mention the oracle include Herodotus, Thucydides, Euripides, Sophocles, Plato, Aristotle, Pindar, Aeschylus, Xenophon, Diodorus, Diogenes, Strabo, Pausanias, Plutarch, Livy, Justin, Ovid, Lucan, Julian, and Clement of Alexandria. The name 'Pythia' derived from Pytho, which in myth was the original name of Delphi. The Greeks derived this place-name from the verb pythein (, "to rot"), used of the decomposition of the body of the monstrous serpent Python after she was slain by Apollo. One common view has been that the Pythia delivered oracles in a frenzied state induced by vapors rising from a chasm in the rock, and that sh...
