First of a series of three illustration i'm doing for some conferences about women and power.
the pythia was the priestess of delphi, she was the medium between the men and the oracle. only a virgin woman could become pythia; this is because before being changed by the doric invaders, bringing a male-centred religion, there was the cult of Mother Earth, a matriarcal religion. the symbol of earth was the python, hence the ancient delphi's god, Python, then killed by Apollo.