Pythian Games

Pythian Games, The, ranked second to the Olympic among the four national festivals of the ancient Greeks. They were established in 586 B.C. and took place in the third year of each Olympiad on the Crisssean Plain near Delphi. The gymnastic and athletic contests were less important than the musical ceremonies, the chief of which was the Pythian nomos, a composition for the flute commemorating the victory of Apollo over the dragon Python.