Meden Agan

Pythia was the priestess presiding over the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi. There are more than 500 supposed Oracular statements which have survived from various sources referring to the oracle at Delphi. Many are anecdotal, and have survived as proverbs. Several are ambiguously phrased, apparently in order to show the oracle in a good light regardless of the outcome. Such prophesies were admired for their dexterity of phrasing. One such famous prediction was the answer to an unknown person who was inquiring as to whether it would be safe for him to join a military campaign; the answer was: "Go, return not die in war", which can have two entirely opposite meanings, depending on where a missing comma is supposed to be – before or after the word "not". Nevertheless, the Oracle seems consistently to have advocated peaceful, not violent courses generally. The following list presents some of the most prominent and historically significant prophecies of Delphi.

Some early oracular statements from Delphi may have been delivered to Lycurgus, the semi-legendary Spartan lawgiver (fl. 8th century BC).

According to the report by Herodotus (Histories A.65, 2-4), Lycurgus visited and consulted the oracle before he applied his new laws to Sparta,

Lycurgus, a man of reputation among the Spartans, went to the oracle at Delphi. As soon as he entered the hall, the priestess said in hexameter: [3] 'You have come to my rich temple, Lycurgus,/ A man dear to Zeus and to all who have Olympian homes./ I am in doubt whether to pronounce you man or god,/ But I think rather you are a god, Lycurgus.' [4] Some say that the Pythia also declared to him the constitution that now exists at Sparta, but the Lacedaemonians themselves say that Lycurgus brought it from Crete when he was guardian of his nephew Leobetes, the Spartan king.

Lycurgus built a constitution for the Spartans that combined features of a monarchy with two kings, a free population that owned equal shares of land and of a democracy.

Both Xenophon and Plutarch also attribute to Lycurgus the introduction of a very cumbersome coinage made from iron (in order to prevent attachment to wealth). In the account of Plutarch and Diodorus, this was also based on an oracular statement,

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