Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Apollo killing Python. A 1581 engraving by Virgil Solis for Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book I. In Greek mythology, Python (Greek: Πύθων; gen. Πύθωνος) was the serpent, sometimes represented as a medieval-style dragon, living at the center of the Earth, believed by the ancient Greeks to be at Delphi.
In Greek mythology, Delphyne (Greek: Δελφύνη) is the name given, by some accounts, to the monstrous serpent killed by Apollo at Delphi.Although, in Hellenistic and later accounts, the Delphic monster slain by Apollo is usually said to be the male serpent Python, in the earliest known account of this story, the Homeric Hymn to Apollo (6th century BC), the god kills a nameless she-serpent ...
Apollo slew it but had to do penance and be cleansed afterward, since though Python was a child of Gaia, it was necessary that the ancient Delphic Oracle passed to the protection of the new god. Another one was the giant Tityos , a phallic being who grew so vast that he split his mother's womb and had to be carried to term by Gaia (the Earth ...
Delphi among the main Greek sanctuaries. Delphi (/ ˈ d ɛ l f aɪ, ˈ d ɛ l f i /; [1] Greek: Δελφοί), [a] in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), was an ancient sacred precinct and the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world.
The name Pythia is derived from "pythia hiereia" (Greek: πυθία ἱέρεια), meaning ' priestess of the Pythian Apollo '; it is related to Pythios (Πύθιος), an epithet of Apollo, itself deriving from Pytho, which in myth was the original name of Delphi. [13]
Strabo has recorded a slightly different version where Python was actually a cruel and lawless man who was also known by the name "Drakon". When Apollo was teaching the humans to cultivate fruits and civilise themselves, the residents of Parnassus complained to the god about Python. In response to their pleas, Apollo killed the man with his arrows.
Typhon mythology is part of the Greek succession myth, which explained how Zeus came to rule the gods. Typhon's story is also connected with that of Python (the serpent killed by Apollo), and both stories probably derived from several Near Eastern antecedents.
Then a ritual cleansing took place, which was accomplished with the use of fire, which the Athenians took them back to their city by means of a torch. An effort was made to identify the rituals with historic and mythological events, such as the killing of Python, paralleled to the defeat of the Gauls in the 3rd century B.C.