Great women in history

[Bill Ryan]

I posted this a few hours ago on Bluegreen's thread, about the widely-mocked 'first female astronaut crew' joyride on Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin 11-minutes-up-and-down fairground ride.

I'm sure most (but maybe not all) readers here know about Valentina Tereshkova, the first women in space back in 1963, aged just 26. She's the inspiration for this thread, simply because of what must have taken a vast amount of real personal courage. And to this day she's still the youngest woman who ever became a true astronaut.

Of course, there have been many, many brave, brilliant, and game-changing women all throughout recorded history. So please do post some inspiring stories that maybe we can all wonder about and learn from.



~~~

This is Katy Perry in space, for 4 very brief minutes in 2025, holding up a daisy for the camera with her long manicured fingernails, saying she was an 'astronaut'.





But this is Valentina Tereshkova, who orbited the earth in a tiny capsule all on her own 48 times over a period of nearly 3 whole days way back in 1963... 62 years ago.

That's an astronaut. And I'd bet quite a lot that Katy Perry doesn't even know her name.

[Ravenlocke]

Posting this here, if it doesn't count, Mods please remove.



https://x.com/StephenUzzell2/status/1390563041385664515

Text:
They were called the “Night Witches”—not by their own people, but by the Germans who feared them. The nickname wasn’t just insult or myth. It was awe. Terror. Respect. These were the women of the Soviet Union’s 588th Night Bomber Regiment, the only all-female combat flying unit of World War II. Born in 1942 under the vision and leadership of Marina Raskova, they turned the impossible into routine.

They flew in fragile Polikarpov Po-2 biplanes—slow, outdated, made of plywood and canvas, offering no protection from bullets, wind, or the bitter night cold. These weren’t war machines—they were barely above training tools. Yet these women used them to fly straight into the jaws of enemy territory.

Their targets were German supply lines, camps, and rear positions. And their weapon was fear. They’d kill their engines mid-flight, gliding in absolute silence until they were almost on top of their target—then dropped their bombs. The only warning was a soft “whoosh” in the dark, like the sweep of a witch’s broom. That’s all the enemy heard before chaos rained down.

They were young—some barely out of school. Many wore hand-me-down uniforms from male soldiers. They had no parachutes. No radar. No radios. Just courage, instincts, and one another. And still, they flew. Sometimes 12, 15, 18 missions in a single night, returning to base with frostbitten fingers, shot-up wings, and empty fuel tanks—only to reload and take off again.

They were shot at, hunted by enemy fighters, battered by the elements. Some never came back. About 30 of the nearly 200 women in the regiment died in action. Yet fear never grounded them. Instead, it gave way to something fiercer: defiance.

Legends like Nadezhda Popova—who flew 852 missions—and commander Yevdokia Bershanskaya led the way. These were women who stared down death night after night, not for glory, but because someone had to—and no one thought they could.

By war’s end, they had flown over 23,000 missions and dropped thousands of tons of bombs. They shattered not just Nazi supply lines, but every assumption about what women could do in war.

They didn’t ask for recognition. But they earned it—along with dozens of Hero of the Soviet Union medals and a place in history carved not in marble, but in grit, gunpowder, and sky.

Nadezhda Popova (picture)

https://x.com/Zlatti_71/status/1912099814273143157

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/FonsiLoaiza/status/1911892253263757388

https://x.com/TwisterFilm/status/1912237206057451712

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/BBCArchive/status/1236705741953576961

[Ravenlocke]

https://x.com/tektronix/status/1501960079645585408

https://x.com/CodementorIO/status/1102504102737539072

https://x.com/KleimK/status/1361349062231019521

[Satori]

Most great women in history are not even known to history. So, too, most great men.

[Jaak]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypatia

[Ewan]

Katherine Johnson (1918-2001) worked 33yrs for NASA and was a maths prodigy as a child.

from Wiki

Johnson's work included calculating trajectories, launch windows, and emergency return paths for Project Mercury spaceflights, including those for astronauts Alan Shepard, the first American in space, and John Glenn, the first American in orbit, and rendezvous paths for the Apollo Lunar Module and command module on flights to the Moon.[4] Her calculations were also essential to the beginning of the Space Shuttle program, and she worked on plans for a mission to Mars. She was known as a "human computer" for her tremendous mathematical capability and ability to work with space trajectories with such little technology and recognition at the time.

Previous thread here

[norman]

Were some 'Great Women' masculine imitators ?

Aubrey Marcus - 495 - Kelsey Kazarian - Returning “Feminine Empowerment” To The TRUE POWER of a Devotional Woman

[Open Minded Dude]

Sophie Scholl ('White Rose' Nazi resistance group)

Not really a game changer at the time since she did not succeed as Nazi resistance activist and was executed by them. Or maybe she did succeed after all, differently and in hindsight as a moral symbol and role model. She is revered in my country and schools, places and streets are named after this brave young lady.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Scholl

"Somebody, after all, had to make a start. What we wrote and said is also believed by many others. They just don't dare express themselves as we did."
Statement to the Volksgerichtshof [People's Court] of Judge Roland Freisler (21 February 1943) - https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sophie_Scholl

There was a movie many years ago. Not seen it and don't know how good or accurate it is:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie...The_Final_Days

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=XM5A4ETW_Io

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Jaak (here)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypatia

Thanks for citing Hypatia. She was a true genius, more than a thousand years ahead of her time, and hers was a remarkable but ultimately tragically brutal story.

There was a major film about her, called Agora, released in 2009. There are many documentary videos about her life and legacy, easily found. Here's one, just a minute long.

Hypatia of Alexandria | The Ancient World's Fearless Female Thinker

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=NrZwIm5vGvg

[lunaflare]

Great women in herstory.
Many.
All healers, mystics and visionaries who held the holy in their hearts, even through their brutal deaths.

[Open Minded Dude]

Hildegard von Bingen 1098—1179

A nun who was and did MANY things. Certainly a game changer.

Vast amount of info already here on this thread:

https://projectavalon.net/forum4/sho...ard-von-Bingen

From this thread a quote from Avalonian krzyztian:

(as a Metal fan myself I do like #6 a lot / #2 is a bit disputable though since many people grew old, average life expectancy as a statistical value was low due to early infant deaths at the time)

Ten facts about Hildegard von Bingen

1. Hildegard von Bingen was the first ever named composer. Although she had no musical training, she is considered the most prolific composer of the middle ages. Her hauntingly beautiful music is arguably the most enduring to come out of medieval Catholicism and Hildegard’s music was first played in the UK to mark her octocentenary in 1979. The first recorded album A Feather on the Breath of God won a Grammy in 1983 and went on to sell more than half a million copies. German composer Klaus Zundel shared disco remixes of her soaring monodies with Ibizan ravers in the late 1990s.

2. Hildegard von Bingen lived until the age of 80 at a time when average life expectancy was 41.

3. At the tender age of three Hildegard first saw a heavenly light: a life was defined by rapturous multisensory visions. Contemporary analysis suggest she was a migraine sufferer, however.

4. She is celebrated as the founder of German naturalism and considered (one of) the first woman doctors and the first woman scientist. She compiled two substantial systematic works Physica - a study of botany, zoology, stones, metals and elements and Causae et Curae - a study of the causes and consequences of disease, with plant-based remedies.

5. Hildegard ran surgeries, offering advice on health in general, and sexual relations. Considering her lifetime’s confinement in monastic institutions, she had an impressive grasp of the heterosexual sex life: “When a woman is making love with a man, a sense of heat in her brain, which brings forth with it sensual delight, communicates the taste of that delight during the act and summons forth the emission of the man’s seed.”

6. Metal fans love her compositions and many 21st century music journalists cite the ‘origins of metal’ as sitting within Hildegard’s work.

7. From a contemporary perspective, Hildegard was the original ecological activist too: “The earth which sustains humanity must not be injured. It must not be destroyed!” ~ “Glance at the sun. See the moon and stars. Gaze at the beauty of the green earth. Now think.”

8. Many of Hildegards’s visions were prophetic. It seems she also foresaw the perils of fake news and manipulated social media: “We cannot live in a world that is not our own, in a world that is interpreted for us by others. An interpreted world is not a home. Part of the terror is to take back our own listening, to use our own voice, to see our own light.”

9. Hildegard saw music as the ultimate connection with the divine. She tells us: “There is the music of Heaven in all things.”

10. One of Hildegard’s more mundane divine revelations was the design of a plumbing and draining system for her monastery.And this is fun… so one more….

11. “Cerevisiam Bibat! (drink beer for health)” Hildegard of Bingen.

And a quote from Avalonian ExomatrixTV:

Vision - From The Life Of Hildegard Von Bingen - Official U.S. Trailer:

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=aEI1QrZINeg

The story of twelfth-century Benedictine abbess Hildegard von Bingen—a Christian mystic, author, counselor, naturalist, scientist, philosopher, physician, herbalist, poet, channeller, visionary, composer and polymath—directed by New German Cinema legend Margarethe von Trotta and starring Barbara Sukowa. VISION opens October 13th.

Hildegard von Bingen was truly a woman ahead of her time. A visionary in every sense of the word, this famed 12th-century Benedictine nun was a Christian mystic, composer, philosopher, playwright, poet, naturalist, scientist, physician, herbalist and ecological activist.

In Vision - from the Life of Hildegard von Bingen, New German Cinema auteur Margarethe von Trotta (Marianne and Juliane, Rosa Luxemburg, Rosenstrasse) reunites with recurrent star Barbara Sukowa (Zentropa, Berlin Alexanderplatz) to bring the story of this extraordinary woman to life. In a staggering performance, Sukowa portrays von Bingen’s fierce determination to expand the responsibilities of women within the order, even as she fends off outrage from some in the Church over the visions she claims to receive from God. Lushly shot in the original medieval cloisters of the fairytale-like German countryside, Vision is a profoundly inspirational portrait of a woman who has emerged from the shadows of history as a forward-thinking and iconoclastic pioneer of faith, change and enlightenment.

[Bluegreen]

Hedy Lamarr: From Wartime to Wi-Fi





Hedy Lamarr was the type of woman judgmental people love to underestimate. With her hazy green eyes, jet black hair, full lips, and coy smile, she was once known as the most beautiful woman in the world. Her looks were so captivating that she captured the attention of Hollywood producers in the 1930s and 1940s. However, as Lamarr once said, “The brains of people are more interesting than the looks . . .”

This especially rang true with her. Although she became typecast as the exotic, seductive femme fatale, she was one of the most prolific inventors of the 20th century, embodying the phrase “women in tech” before the concept even existed.

People tend to recognize true genius after a person is long gone—just ask Galileo, Thoreau, Van Gogh, and Tesla. Despite the fame that she experienced as a glamorous actress, Lamarr was no exception to the rule. She died as a hermit with little money to her name, although she invented the technology that powers so much of our world today.

If you’re reading this article on a smartphone or computer hooked up to WiFi, you can thank the patent owner, Hedy Kiesler Markey.

Hedy Lamarr

Frequency Hopping Communication System

U.S. Patent No. 2,292,387

Inducted in 2014

Born Nov. 9, 1914 - Died Jan. 19, 2000

Actress Hedy Lamarr was best known for her work in Hollywood during its Golden Age, starring in films such as "Ziegfeld Girl" and "Samson and Delilah". But Lamarr also worked with Hollywood composer George Antheil to invent a frequency hopping technique that today is referenced as an important development in the field of wireless communications.

Born in Austria, Lamarr had at one time been married to a munitions manufacturer, giving her the foundation for her knowledge of weapons systems, including torpedo control systems. Lamarr and Antheil's frequency hopping reduced the risk of detection or jamming of radio-controlled torpedoes. Multiple radio frequencies were used to broadcast a radio signal, switching frequencies at split-second intervals in a seemingly random manner that would sound like mere noise to anyone listening. But if both the sender and receiver of the signal hopped frequencies at the same time, the signal was clear.

Although Lamarr and Antheil never profited from their invention during their lifetime, it was acknowledged by the Electronic Frontier Foundation in 1997 as an important development in wireless communications. When the patent was issued in 1942, it listed her maiden and married name at the time, Hedy Kiesler Markey.

https://www.invent.org/inductees/hedy-lamarr

More
https://leaders.com/articles/leaders...rr-inventions/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamarr

https://x.com/mcdean/status/1241068266493300736

[edina]

Veritasium just did a video about Emmy Noether who played a key role with helping Einstein with his conservation equations through her symmetry theorums.


The Biggest Misconception In Physics

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=lcjdwSY2AzM

Last year, Jack Kruse shared a post expressing the impact of her theorem on him, which I saved because it was thought-provoking



She made history, but I think her theorems will continue to have impact in the future, especially, her logic.

Her birthday was 14 April, which is probably why Veritasium published the video that day, to honor Emmy on her birthday.

[Johnnycomelately]

Hanna Reitsch.

Complicated, re her love of Hitler and refusal to see the horrors his regime enacted.

Intense. “Hyperactive”, and that is evident in the few clips of her 1973 interview.

“Great”. But I think the quotes are appropriate, about across the board. Non of us is perfect, but we are all genius at something.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=3It04_TIMtc

[Tintin]

As it has influenced us culturally I think we can share a little about Lizzie Magie Phillips renowned for her inspiration behind the worldwide popular board game 'Monopoly' although its best known and later marketed versions ran counter to her original premise.

Magie designed the game with two rule sets: one promoting wealth for all through cooperation, and another emphasizing monopolization and bankruptcy. She intended to show the contrast between the two systems. In the 1930s, Parker Brothers bought her rights for $500 and no royalties, primarily to secure the Monopoly brand. They published her game briefly to protect their legal claims. She later expressed disappointment that the monopolist version of her game had become popular, rather than the version meant to promote economic fairness.

Here's an early draft:

[Bill Ryan]

Sophie Germain, one of the very greatest mathematicians. She lived in late 19th century France, where she could not publish anything under her own name — because she was a woman.

She wrote letters containing some of her work to the famous mathematicians Joseph Lagrange and Carl Gauss, using a pseudonym: Monsieur LeBlanc. They were deeply impressed — and even more so when she later revealed her true identity to them.

This new short video uses AI to animate known historical portraits, and it really is quite well done.

Sophie Germain: The Fearless Female Mathematician who Changed History

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ILhNhhkrOwg

[Bill Ryan]

This was posted by RT as part of their reporting on the Russian Victory Day celebrations. Lilya Litvyak learned to fly when aged 15, and died in an air battle aged just 21. Mikhail Gorbachev posthumously awarded her the title Hero of the Soviet Union. I hadn't heard of her before.

• https://rt.com/russia/617304-red-ace...-soviet-pilots

Lydia Litvyak: The White Lily of Stalingrad

Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak, known as Lilya, shattered expectations as a female fighter ace in World War II. Born in Moscow in 1921, she was captivated by aviation from an early age. Her father fell victim to Stalin’s purges, but Litvyak pressed forward, performing her first solo flight at 15. By the time Germany invaded the USSR, she had already trained dozens of pilots.

Initially rejected for frontline duty, she exaggerated her flight hours and joined the all-female 586th Fighter Regiment, founded by the famous navigator Marina Raskova. Later, she transferred to a men’s unit flying over Stalingrad. On September 13, 1942, she scored her first kills – downing a Ju 88 and a Bf 109, the latter piloted by a stunned German ace who couldn’t believe he’d been bested by a woman.

Litvyak’s reputation soared. Aggressive, skilled, and daring, she flew with top Soviet aces and earned a spot in elite “free hunter” missions. Though wounded multiple times, she refused to stand down. In May 1943, her partner and love interest, ace Aleksey Solomatin, died in a training crash. Devastated, she flew with renewed fury.

She became the first woman to down a German observation balloon, a feat many others had failed to accomplish. By July 1943, now a flight commander, Litvyak had racked up an impressive score. But on August 1, during her fourth sortie of the day near Orel, she was ambushed and disappeared behind a cloud, never to return. She was 21.

Known as the White Lily of Stalingrad, Litvyak was both a warrior and a romantic. She dyed her hair blonde, crafted scarves from parachutes, and picked flowers for her cockpit. She remains an enduring icon, inspiring books, films, and songs. Here she is, with her handsome young partner Aleksey Solomatin, on a modern Russian stamp.

[onawah]

Madame Helena Blatvasky

"H. P. Blavatsky (1831-1891) was one of the most extraordinary and controversial figures of the 19th century. The influence of her life, writings and teachings on world thought has been significant. Below is an overview of her life, work, and writings.

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky Helena Petrovna von Hahn was born at Ekaterinoslav, a town on the river Dnieper, in Southern Russia, on the 12th of August, 1831. She was the daughter of Colonel Peter von Hahn, and Helena de Fadeyev, a renowned novelist. On her mother’s side, she was the granddaughter of the gifted Princess Helena Dolgorukov, a noted botanist and writer. After the early death of her mother in 1842, Helena was brought up in her maternal grandparents’ house at Saratov, where her grandfather was Civil Governor.

Helena was an exceptional child, and at an early age was aware of being different from those around her. Her possession of certain psychic powers puzzled her family and friends. At once impatient of all authority, yet deeply sensitive, she was gifted in many ways. A clever linguist, a talented pianist and a fine artist, she was yet a fearless rider of half-broken horses, and always in close touch with nature. At a very early age she sensed that she was in some way dedicated to a life of service, and was aware of a special guidance and protection.

When almost eighteen, she married the middle-aged Nikifor V. Blavatsky, Vice-Governor of the Province of Yerivan, in a mood of rebellious independence and possibly with a plan to become free of her surroundings. The marriage, as such, meant nothing to her and was never consummated. In a few months she escaped and travelled widely in Turkey, Egypt, and Greece, on money supplied by her father.

Master Morya On her twentieth birthday, in 1851, being then in London, she met the individual whom she had known in her psycho-spiritual visions from childhood --- an Eastern Initiate of Rajput birth, the Mahatma Morya or M. as he became known in later years among Theosophists. He told her something of the work that was in store for her, and from that moment she accepted fully his guidance.

Later the same year, Helena embarked for Canada, and after adventurous travels in various parts of the U.S.A., Mexico, South America and the West Indies, went via the Cape and Ceylon to India in 1852. Her first attempt to enter Tibet failed. She returned to England via Java in 1853. In the Summer of 1854, she went to America again, crossing the Rockies with a caravan of emigrants, probably in a covered wagon.

In late 1855, she left for India via Japan and the Straits. On this trip she succeeded in entering Tibet through Kashmir and Ladakh, undergoing part of her occult training with her Master. In 1858 she was in France and Germany, and returned to Russia in the late Fall of the same year, staying a short time with her sister Vera at Pskov. From 1860 to 1865, she lived and travelled through the Caucasus, experiencing a severe physical and psychic crisis which placed her in complete control over her occult powers. She left Russia again in the Fall of 1865, and travelled extensively through the Balkans, Greece, Egypt, Syria and Italy and various other places.

Master Koot Hoomi In 1868 she went via India to Tibet. On this trip H.P.B. met the Master Koot Hoomi (K.H.) for the first time and stayed in his house in Little Tibet. In late 1870 she was back in Cyprus and Greece. Embarking for Egypt, she was shipwrecked near the island of Spetsai on July 4, 1871; saved from drowning, she went to Cairo where she tried to form a Societe Spirite which soon failed. After further travels through the Middle East, she returned for a short time to her relatives at Odessa, Russia in July, 1872. In the Spring of 1873, Helena was instructed by her Teacher to go to Paris, and on further direct orders from him, left for New York City where she landed July 7, 1873.

H.P. Blavatsky was then forty-two years old and in controlled possession of her many and most unusual spiritual and occult powers. In the opinion of the Mahatmas, she was the best available instrument for the work they had in mind, namely to offer to the world a new presentation, though only in brief outline of the age-old Theosophia, "The accumulated Wisdom of the ages, tested and verified by generations of Seers...," that body of Truth of which religions, great and small, are but as branches of the parent tree. Her task was to challenge on the one hand the entrenched beliefs and dogmas of Christian Theology and on the other the equally dogmatic materialistic view of the science of her day. A crack, however, had recently appeared in the twofold set of mental fortifications. It was caused by Spiritualism, then sweeping America. To quote Helena’s own words: "I was sent to prove the phenomena and their reality, and to show the fallacy of the spiritualistic theory of spirits."

Colonel Henry S. Olcott In October, 1874, H.P.B. was put in touch by her Teachers with Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, a man of sterling worth who had acquired considerable renown during the Civil War, had served the U.S. Government with distinction, and was at the time practicing law in New York. She also met William Quan Judge, a young Irish Lawyer, who was to play a unique role in the future Theosophical work.

On September 7, 1875, these three leading figures, together with several others, founded a society which they chose to call The Theosophical Society, as promulgating the ancient teachings of Theosophy, or the Wisdom concerning the Divine which had been the spiritual basis of other great movements of the past, such as Neo-Platonism, Gnosticism, and the Mystery-Schools of the Classical world. The Inaugural Address by the President-Founder, Colonel Olcott, was delivered November 17, 1875, a date which is considered to be the official date of the founding of the Society. Starting from a generalized statement of objectives, namely, "to collect and diffuse a knowledge of the laws which govern the Universe," the Founders soon expressed them more specifically. After several minor changes in wording, the Objects stand today as follows:

1. to form a nucleus of the Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or color.

2. to encourage the study of Comparative Religion, Philosophy and Science.

3. to investigate unexplained laws of Nature, and the powers latent in man.

In September 1877, a powerful impact was made upon the reading and thinking public by the publication of H.P. Blavatsky’s first monumental work, Isis Unveiled, which was issued by J.W. Bouton in New York City, the one thousand copies of the first printing being sold within ten days. The New York Herald-Tribune considered the work as one of the "remarkable productions of the century," many other papers and journals speaking in similar terms. Isis Unveiled outlines the history, scope and development of the Occult Sciences, the nature and origin of Magic, the roots of Christianity, the errors of Christian Theology and the fallacies of established orthodox Science, against the backdrop of the secret teachings which run as a golden thread through bygone centuries, coming up to the surface every now and then in the various mystical movements of the last two thousand years or so."
MORE HERE: https://blavatskyarchives.com/longseal.htm

*************************
Witches and Healers
Psychic Gigi Young often refers to Madame Blavatsky in her online talks, not just in the roles that she is most noted for, but also as an amazing healer.
Recently Gigi focused on the history of women as healers and psychics, and how much they have been persecuted and put to death for possessing and utilizing those gifts.
I think it's interesting that in these times, those particular gifts in women are often still sidelined and ignored, and women are praised more for excelling in fields that are normally occupied more by males.

Posted by onawah (here)
Revival 01| The Era of the Witch | Gigi Young
Gigi Young
140K subscribers
1,149 views
4/27/25

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ai3-xa9KmdI

***********
Pythia, the Oracle of Delphi


"The Oracle of Delphi was an important Greek priestess and soothsayer who practiced divination in the Temple of Apollo at the ancient sanctuary of Delphi on Mount Parnassus. Also known as the Pythia, the oracle was a real woman carefully selected by the priests of the sanctuary. When one Pythia died, another one took her place as the high priestess. Sometimes high on botanical plants or toxic fumes that rose from the earth, the oracle entered a divine trance and channeled the god Apollo to foretell the future. Although there were other oracles around the world, the Pythia of Delphi was the most legitimate.
After a Pythia or prophetess died, the priests would select another to become the new Oracle of Delphi.
What Does Oracle Mean?
By definition, an oracle can be a priestess or priest who serves as a medium to provide prophecies or advice. It can also be the place where such prophecies are given, or it can be the prophecy itself. For the sake of clarity, in this article, the word oracle will usually refer to the priestess, seer, prophetess, medium, or Sibyl.
How Was the Oracle of Delphi Created?
Located about 100 miles northeast of Athens, Delphi was the very navel or center of the world to the Greeks. In the first century CE, Plutarch wrote about the Delphic sanctuary as having a “three thousand years’ old reputation.” However, the evidence does not support this. Many experts agree that between 1700 BCE-1400 BCE, the sanctuary, previously called Pytho, began as a place of the worship of Gaia (Hoyle). As a primordial goddess, Gaia was the Mother Earth who gave birth to the gods.
The prestige and power of the Oracle of Delphi peaked between the sixth century BCE and the fourth century BCE. Kings and Queens, Generals, and soldiers from many countries traveled far to visit the Delphic prophetess. Early on, there was one priestess who divined the future on only one day per year — the birthday of Apollo. Later, as the oracle’s popularity spread, two or three priestesses shared the job by rotating across most days for nine months out of the year.
During the winter, as the Greeks believed, Apollo left the Oracle at Delphi to spend the season in the warm mythical Land of the Hyperboreans. Without their god of light and prophecy, the seers at Delphi did not divine the future until Apollo returned in the spring.
Although anyone could see the Pythia at Delphi for a price — usually an animal sacrifice or valuable votive offering — wealthy people and heads of state paid the oracle well for preferential treatment. Through her, they heard the will of the gods on essential matters, such as military campaigns or auspicious places to found a new colony.
Why Was the Oracle at Delphi Important?
Oracles were important to the Greeks because of their belief that the gods communicated with people directly through mediums. Based on Greek religion, the bodies of the oracles served as vessels that gods could possess to give humans advice or relay the outcome of a war or someone’s fate. The oracles at Delphi specifically channeled the god Apollo.
An entire settlement developed around the sacred site at Delphi. Besides the Temple of Apollo, there was a sanctuary of Athena, a theater, an athletic arena, cemeteries, and treasuries that held valuable votives and the rich spoils of wars. The Sacred Way path connected everything at Delphi. However, by far, it was the prophetesses that made the site famous. "

MORE HERE: https://www.historicmysteries.com/hi...-pythia/14715/

**********