Pythiann.adj.
/ˈpɪθɪən/, /ˈpʌɪθɪən/, U.S. /ˈpɪθiən/, /ˈpaɪθiən/ Chiefly Greek History.
A. n.
a. A native or inhabitant of Delphi. Frequently applied as a cognomen of Apollo (cf. Pythian Apollo n. at Compounds).
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > classical deity > [noun] > Apollo
Phoebusc1275
Pythian1565
far-darter1598
the Latoniana1822
Loxian1840
1565 A. Golding tr. Ovid Fyrst Fower Bks. Metamorphosis i. f. 7 Hee did ordeine in mynde thereof a great and solemne game, Which of the Serpent that hee slewe of Pythyans bare the name [L. ludos, Pythia de domitae serpentis nomine dictos].
1586 G. Whetstone Eng. Myrror iii. viii. 243 The Sabarites..for their better knowledge counselled with the Oracle at Delphos, to whom Apollo the Pithian made aunswere, your land shall go to ruine [etc.].
1739 H. Baker & J. Miller Magnificent Lovers v. iv. 177 We shall see the Games of the young Pythians.
1753 S. Whatley tr. B. Le B. de Fontenelle Hist. Oracles 63 If the statue deliver Oracles without this Daemon, then that of Apollo the Pythian might do so as well.
1821 P. B. Shelley Adonais xxviii. 16 How they fled, When like Apollo, from his golden bow, The Pythian of the age one arrow sped And smiled.
1860 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters V. 327 That contest of Apollo with the Python..the victor deity..took his great name from it..the Pythian.
1908 G. Murray tr. U. Von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff Greek Hist. Writing, & Apollo 36 It need not be disputed that in many places there must have been an older Apollo-cult, which only gradually reconciled itself to the Pythian.
1957 H. Driver & W. Massey Compar. Stud. N. Amer. Indians vi. 236 Acorns have been found in the Swiss Lake dwellings, dating from around 2500 B.C...Their consumption is also reported for the Pythians by Herodotus around 500 B.C.
1985 P. Harding tr. Treaty in From End of Peloponnesian War to Battle of Ipsus lv. 74 Let them be inscribed by the generals of the Iulietai..on a stele of marble and set up in the sanctuary of Apollo the Pythian.
b. The priestess of Apollo at Delphi; = Pythia n. Also figurative and in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > divination through oracles > [noun] > medium or mouthpiece of the deity, oracle > priestess of Apollo, Pythia
Pythia?1529
pythoness1823
Pythian1844
society > faith > church government > member of the clergy > priest > kinds of priest > [noun] > ancient Greek > delivering oracles
Pythia?1529
oracler1584
pythoness1823
Pythian1844
1598 J. Marston Scourge of Villanie ii. vi. sig. E8 But when I saw him read my fustian, And heard him sweare I was a Pythian.
a1644 F. Quarles Virgin Widow (1649) v. i. 64 Dead upon the ground, and the 3. Pythians kneeling upon the floore.
1765 T. H. Croker et al. Compl. Dict. Arts & Sci. II. (at cited word) Engastrimythi, In pagan theology, the pythians or priestesses of Apollo, who delivered oracles from within, without any action of the mouth or lips.
1844 E. B. Browning Vision of Poets clxxvi If poets on the tripod must Writhe like the Pythian to make just Their oracles and merit trust.
1868 E. H. Plumptre tr. Æschylus Agamemnon in tr. Æschylus Trag. II. 70 Cass. And yet I know the Hellenic tongue right well. Chor. So does the Pythian, yet her words are hard.
1935 A. Quiller-Couch Poet as Citizen 58 With a score or two of Pythians each drawing inspiration from the centre of his own unbelted personality, the hum of the Oracles passes into a noise not less hideous because confused and dissipated.
1970 tr. A. Chekhov Let. in Slavic & E. European Jrnl. 14 472 Liza and Elena are not Russian girls but Pythians, soothsaying and abounding in pretensions.
2002 T. Elder Trav. & Explor. 168 At first the Pythians were comely young women but, after one was kidnapped, those subsequently chosen were said to be peasant women over 50 years old.
B. adj.
Of or relating to Delphi or to the oracle or priestess of Apollo at Delphi. Also: of or relating to the Pythian games (see Pythian games n. at Compounds).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > divination through oracles > [adjective] > relating to an oracle > relating to the priestess of Apollo
Pythian1570
Pythic1746
1570 T. Wilson tr. Demosthenes 3 Orations Olynthians iii. 70 Hath not he in his handes besides the townes that he hath destroyed and beaten downe, the gouernment of the Pithyan oracles [Gk. τὰ Πύθια], where the common games of Grece weare?
1576 T. Rogers Philos. Disc. Anat. Minde sig. A vi Me thinks a whistling wind from Pithian Caues, of Delphos Temple blown Vpon me lights.
1655 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. I. iii. 13 The Pythian Oracle.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost x. 531 [Satan] Now Dragon grown, larger then whom the Sun Ingenderd in the Pythian Vale on slime, Huge Python. View more context for this quotation
1714 L. Theobold in tr. Sophocles Electra Pref. p. ix Orestes's Governor..dresses up his feigned Story of Orestes's Death with so many minute Circumstances, and so particular an Account of the Pythian Horse-Races..that the truth of it seeming undeniable [etc.].
1723 J. Hughes Rape of Proserpine VI. 70 He sought not Delos, or the Pythian Cave, Or vocal Oak, whence Jove his Answers gave.
1797 T. Holcroft tr. F. L. Stolberg Trav. II. lxiii. 430 Pindar mentions this victory in his first Pythian hymn.
1860 C. R. Kennedy in tr. Demosthenes Olynthiac App. 262 It is probable enough, that both the Phocians and the Amphissian Locrians had committed trespasses upon this land, tilling or inclosing from the waste portions which were of no value either to the temple or to the Pythian festival.
1884 J. Tait Mind in Matter 180 The Pythian deliverances became very intermittent after the birth of Christ, and ceased finally in the time of the Apostles.
1935 R. A. Knox Barchester Pilgrimage i. 19 Unlike the oracles of old, he never found it needful to wrestle with any Pythian vapours before making up his mind, on matters ecclesiastical at any rate.
1974 J. Fontenrose Python 90 The fifth part of the Pythian nome, the katachoreusis, represented his [sc. Apollo's] dance of victory.
1992 Jrnl. Hellenic Stud. 112 223/1 There is a learned account of the Pythian festival..but it includes the curious statement that the victor of a Pythian contest was awarded apples as a prize.
Compounds
Pythian Apollo n. the god Apollo as associated with Delphi (see Delphian adj.).
ΚΠ
1619 E. M. Bolton tr. Florus Rom. Hist. i. xii. 52 The hugenesse of the bootie was such, that the tithes thereof were sent ouer-sea to Pythian Apollo [L. Apollini Pythio], and the whole people of Rome were called foorth to share in the pillage.
1778 E. Apthorp Lett. Prevalence Christianity iv. 331 One moiety of their territories should be consecrated to the Pythian Apollo and the Olympian Jupiter.
1888 Jrnl. Hellenic Stud. 9 285 The period of the advent of Apollo to Delphi, as described in the Homeric hymn to the Pythian Apollo.
1993 N. A. Winter Greek Archit. Terracottas 166 One of the floral raking simas from the Argive sanctuary of Pythian Apollo..preserves a scar on its upper surface which might indicate the presence of an acroterion.
Pythian games n. one of the four national festivals of ancient Greece, celebrated near Delphi in the third year of each Olympiad.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > social event > large or public event > [noun] > celebratory games > specific ancient Greek
Nemean games1559
Panathenaea1578
Pythian games1579
Olympian Gamesa1586
Olympic Games1597
Isthmian games1603
Pythic games1603
Panathenaics1678
Nemean festival1844
society > leisure > sport > match or competition > [noun] > series of, as public spectacle > in ancient world > specific
Olympiada1456
Nemean games1559
Panathenaea1578
Pythian games1579
Olympian Gamesa1586
Olympic Games1597
Isthmian games1603
Pythic games1603
Capitoline games1609
Olympics1621
Panathenaics1678
Nemean festival1844
1579 T. North tr. Plutarch Liues 92 Aristotle, in the storie he wrote of those that wanne the Pythian games [Fr. de ceulx qui ont gaigné le prises ieux Pythiques; Gk. τῶν Πυθιονικῶν]..ascribeth vnto Solon the honour of that determination.
1647 R. Baron Εροτοπαιγνιον iii. 181 What running velletation, combates, and contentions were in the Pythian and Olympicke games to obtaine the Chaplet.
1728 J. Ralph Touch-stone 201 The Pythian Games were consecrated to Apollo, in Memory of his destroying the Serpent Python.
1842 L. Schmitz in W. Smith Dict. Gr. & Rom. Antiq. at Pythia Previous to Ol[ympiad] 48 the Pythian games..had been celebrated at the end of every eighth year, but [after Ol. 48. 3] they were held at the end of every fourth year.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 886/1 The proverbs of the Seven Sages on the walls..bestowing crowns on benefactors of the god..preparing for the Pythian games, awarding the prizes.
2002 T. Scanlon Eros & Greek Athletics 17 The sentiment is echoed in Pindar, where a father who was an Olympic victor lives to see his son win in the Pythian Games.
Pythian metre n. (also Pythian meter) [after post-classical Latin Pythium metrum (4th cent.); compare earlier pythiambic n.] now rare a metre consisting of dactylic hexameters. [Said (already by ancient writers) to be so called either from its use in the Pythian oracles, or from the first song of triumph to Apollo on his victory over the Python; the former view is found in Pliny, and both theories in grammarians and metrical writers, from the 4th cent.]
ΚΠ
1851 Encycl. Americana 298/2 Grecian tradition attributed the origin of the hexameter to the Delphic oracles, and hence it was called also the theological and Pythian metre.
1890 Cent. Dict. Pythian meter, Pythian verse, the dactylic hexameter: probably so called from its use in the oracles delivered by the Pythia, or, according to ancient writers, from the first song of triumph to Apollo for his victory over the Python.
1943 J. T. Shipley Dict. World Lit. 467 Pythian meter, verse, the dactylic hexameter (Pythios: Apollo, of Delphi. Perhaps from use in the oracles; explained in ancient times as named from Apollo's song of triumph on defeating the Python.).
Pythian verse n. (a) heroic verse; a verse in heroic meter; (b) = Pythian metre n.
ΚΠ
1738 E. A. Burgis Ann. Church II. 487 Heroic verses..in full numbers and measure, such as the Pythian verses are.
1890 Cent. Dict. Pythian meter, Pythian verse, the dactylic hexameter: probably so called from its use in the oracles delivered by the Pythia, or, according to ancient writers, from the first song of triumph to Apollo for his victory over the Python.
1905 S. Dill Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius (ed. 2) iii. 437 A host of venal impostors who, around the great temples, cheated the ears of slaves and silly women with a mockery of the mysterious solemnity of the Pythian verse.
2002 L. Pompa tr. G. Vico First New Sci. iii. xxxix. 214 After the slaying of the Python, heroic verse continued to be referred to as ‘Pythian’ verse, though it was more commonly called ‘heroic’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1565