Oracle of Delphi (The Pythia) Sightings

Oracle of Delphi (The Pythia) Sightings

  • The Libation Bearers by Aeschylus 459BC

    In this play, Orestes receives orders from Apollo via the Oracle that he must kill his mother, Clytemnestra.


  • The Eumenides by Aeschylus 459BC

    This sequel to The Libation Bearers opens at Delphi, where Orestes is taking refuge from some vengeful Furies, angry over his mother's death.


  • Oedipus the King by Sophocles 431BC

    The Oracle of Delphi proves to be all too right when she says that Oedipus is destined to sleep with his mother and kill his father. (Something tells us that the Pythia's prophecies wouldn't be too popular in fortune cookies.)


  • Oedipus at Colonus by Sophocles 402BC

    In this final Oedipus play, it's revealed that the Oracle also told Oedipus that he would die in a place sacred to the Furies. (Yup, she was totally right again.)


  • Electra by Euripides 421BC - 411BC

    Check out another version of Orestes' Oracle-ordered execution of his own mother.


  • Ion by Euripides 415BC - 413BC

    Set at Delphi, this play portrays a temple boy named Ion who finds out that Apollo is his long lost father.


  • Electra by Sophocles 411BC

    Aaaaaand here's yet another version of Orestes' famous Oracle-ordered matricide. (Sometimes we wonder if the Oracle should've kept her big mouth shut.)


  • Oedipus by Seneca 1 - 99

    The big deal Roman playwright puts his spin on the Oedipus story, complete with the Oracle's prediction.


  • The Metamorphoses by Ovid 2

    The Oracle pops up in tons of stories in this book of mythological poems. (Don't miss the tale of how Apollo conquered the Python and made it his own.)


  • The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan 2006

    The spirit of the Oracle is trapped in a corpse by Hades in this first Percy Jackson novel.


  • The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan 2009

    The Oracle's spirit is finally able to pass on to its new host, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, in this Percy Jackson adventure.