Just in time for this year’s Nobel Prize announcements, here’s how the symbolism of a plant associated with the god Apollo lives on in modern-day laureates.
An Attic red-figure kylix from Vulci (Italy), 440-430 BC, depicting King Aigeus in front of the Pythia at the Oracle of Delphi.
Wikimedia Commons
In a time and place that offered few career opportunities for women, the role of priestess at Delphi was enormously influential. She was consulted on everything from warfare to love to public policy.
Heinrich Leutemann [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons