PRIESTESS OF DELPHI (fine art print)

Oracle of Delphi

In this painting Priestess of Delphi (from 1891) the Pythia was inspired by »pneuma« (gas) rising from below (chasm in rocks).
The Pythia (Greek: Πυθία), commonly known as the Oracle of Delphi, was the name of any priestess throughout the history of Temple of Apollo at Delphi, located on the slopes of Mount Parnassus, beneath the Castalian Spring. Every new priestess was selected after the death of the current
priestess. The Pythia was widely credited for her prophecies inspired by Apollo. During this period the Delphic Oracle was the most prestigious and authoritative oracle among the Greeks. The oracle is one of the best-documented religious institutions of the classical Greeks.
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«), which refers to the decomposition of the body of the monstrous Python after he was slain 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.
Recent geological investigations have shown that gas emissions from a geologic chasm in the earth could have inspired the Delphic Oracle to »connect with the divine.« Some researchers suggest the possibility that ethylene gas caused the Pythia’s state of inspiration.

fine art print size : 16 x 33,5 cm

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