The Pythia serves as Apollo's mouthpiece at Delphi, seated on the sacred tripod above the chasm, breathing vapors and delivering the god's prophecies in ecstatic speech.
The Pythia prophesied to Acrisius that his daughter's son would kill him. This oracle drove Acrisius to imprison Danaë in a bronze tower, but the prophecy was fulfilled when Perseus accidentally struck him with a discus.
The Pythia gave Aegeus the cryptic oracle to not loosen the wineskin's foot until he returned to Athens. Aegeus failed to understand the prophecy, leading to the conception of Theseus at Troezen.
The Pythia told Cadmus to abandon his search for Europa and instead follow a cow, founding a city where it lay down. This oracle led Cadmus to establish Thebes.
In Sophocles' Oedipus Rex, Creon was sent to consult the Pythia about the plague ravaging Thebes. The oracle declared that Laius's unpunished killer must be found and exiled, setting the tragedy in motion.
The Pythia told Croesus that if he crossed the Halys River, a great empire would fall. Croesus attacked Persia and destroyed his own empire, making his story the paradigmatic example of oracular ambiguity.
The Pythia sat upon her tripod within Apollo's temple at Delphi, breathing sacred vapors rising from the earth, and spoke prophecies that guided kings, founded colonies, and shaped the fate of nations.
In Aeschylus's Eumenides, the Pythia discovered the Erinyes sleeping at Apollo's temple in Delphi, where they had pursued Orestes. Her horrified description of them opens the play.
The Pythia told Heracles to serve Eurystheus to expiate his guilt for killing his family. Heracles later attempted to steal the Delphic tripod when the Pythia refused to purify him for the murder of Iphitus.
The Pythia warned Laius that his son would kill him. This prophecy drove Laius to expose the infant Oedipus on Mount Cithaeron, but the oracle's fulfillment proved inescapable.
The Pythia warned Pelias to beware a man wearing one sandal. When Jason arrived at Iolcos having lost a sandal crossing the river Anauros, Pelias recognized the fulfillment of the oracle and sent Jason on the quest for the Golden Fleece.
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