pythii

PY´THII(πύθιοι), called also Ποίθιοι (Phot. s. v.), were four officers at Sparta who were chosen by the kings, two by each king, as their assistants in their religious and priestly functions. Their most important duty was to go as envoys to Delphi, to receive the oracles committed to writing, and to take charge of them when they had been delivered to the kings. They were in immediate attendance on the kings, and messed with them, boarded at the public expense. [DAMOSIA] (Hdt. 6.57; Plut. Pel. 21; Xen. de Rep. Lac. 15.5; Suid. s. v.; Schomann, Antiq. p. 246; Gilbert, Staatsalt. 1.48.)