Gaia bore Python, the great serpentine dragon, to guard her oracle at Delphi. Apollo later slew Python and claimed the sanctuary, establishing the Pythian Games in the creature's honor.
Python guarded the oracle at Delphi on behalf of Gaia before Apollo arrived to slay the serpent and claim the sanctuary.
Hera sent Python to pursue the pregnant Leto across the earth, preventing her from finding a place to give birth to Apollo and Artemis. Leto finally found refuge on the floating island of Delos.
The young Apollo slew Python, the monstrous serpent guarding the oracle at Delphi, avenging Python's pursuit of his mother Leto. Apollo established the Pythian Games to atone for the killing.
In the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, Hera prayed to Gaia for a son mightier than Zeus after he birthed Athena alone. Gaia answered by producing Typhon, whom Hera gave to Python at Delphi to raise.
Apollo used his silver bow to slay Python at Delphi, claiming the oracle site. The Bow of Apollo was the instrument that established Delphi as his sacred sanctuary and himself as god of prophecy.
Python was born from the stagnant waters left at the site of Delphi after Deucalion's flood, making the serpent a creature of the place itself before Apollo arrived to slay it.
⚠ The Homeric Hymn to Apollo does not specify Python's origin; the birth from floodwaters at Delphi appears in later sources and scholia.
In some traditions, the oracle at Delphi belonged to Themis before Python guarded it. When Apollo slew the serpent and claimed the site, he inherited the prophetic function that Themis had originally established there.
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