Pythia
Pythia was an ancient human oracle, believed to have been one of the writers of the Sacred Scrolls some 3,600 years ago. Her writings are both obscure and yet well-known: obscure, in that her entire writings are not widely studied among modern Colonials, but well-known in that extracts are widely quoted, often out of context, such as the following:
- "All this has happened before. All this will happen again."
Key to Pythia's writings are two passages, relating to the exile and rebirth of the human race:
- "And the Lords anointed a leader to guide the caravan of the heavens to their new homeland. And unto the leader, they gave a vision of serpents, numbering two and ten, as a sign of things to come."
President Laura Roslin, while giving a press briefing 36 days into the flight of the surviving Colonials, had a hallucination that her podium had first two snakes crawling on it, and then a dozen (The Hand of God). What is more, Pythia wrote that the anointed leader had a "wasting illness" and would not live to enter the new land; Roslin is dying of cancer.
In the second passage, Pythia foretells of an initial battle in which the Colonials are "lead by serpents two and ten" and are victorious over their foes. During their flight from the Cylons, the Colonials are forced to attack a Cylon base in order to obtain fuel. The attack is lead by 12 Vipers (The Hand of God). However, Pythia's writings on the battle note that it leads to a larger confrontation, this time "at the home of the Gods." (The Hand of God)
The writings of Pythia appear to have particular interest to the Cylons. Leoben Conoy used quotes from Pythia during his interrogation (Flesh and Bone), and goes on to point out to Kara Thrace that while her people kneel before idols, "You don't realise your destiny has already been written" — another reference to Pythia's foretelling of the exile.
Greek Parallels[edit]
The Pythia was a Sibyl, the Oracle of Delphi. While the temple at Delphi was closely identified with Gaia, the mother of Earth (and responsible for laying the foundations for the Olympian gods), Delphi itself had a close association with Apollo.