~ Pythia ~ Oracle at the Temple

The Pythia or Priestess was widely credited for her prophecies inspired by Apollo.

The inscription on the "Temple of Delphi" is the Maxim ~Know Thyself~ as well as ~Nothing In Excess~

Delphi is known as the center of worship for Apollo who embodied Moral Discipline & Spiritual Clarity.

In the ancient Aegean, the people worshipped a Great Goddess, the supreme deity who was creator and life-giver to all. This great goddess was known in ancient Greece as Gaia (land, earth), the founder of the gods of Olympus. Gaia is thought by some scholars to be the original goddess communicating with the Oracles of Delphi, and the site would have been originally dedicated to her.

Apollo is associated with the Oracle at Delphi. He had killed Gaia's female-serpent child, Python. Python was a protector of the Oracle at Delphi & of the navel of the earth. Apollo had thus taken over the chthonic power of Python. Apollo buried Python under the omphalos stone & became the possessor of Delphi. He cast the goddess behind superior male gods.

Women had no power at all, & the priests of Apollo could control a 'lucrative industry' she could be manipulated at times of men's choosing. Entering a trance the priestess could accurately predict the future.