1995, Gordon MacDonald Kirkwood,A Short Guide to Classical Mythology,page11:
Here Apollo killed a serpent called thePython, and established a great prophetic shrine. Sometimes it is said that the Titaness Themis had the shrine before him, and this, as well as the killing of thePython, suggests that Apollo took over a place already of religious significance, associated with chthonic (i.e., earth) powers.
2000, Otar Lordkipanidze,Phasis: The River and City in Colchis,page70:
It would seem, therefore, that what we have on the Phasian phiale is thePython coiled round the omphalos.[…]Paintings on Greek pottery and coins have preserved many an example of gods seated on an omphalos, including those of Apollo, Nike, Asclepius and others.413Python on the omphalos must have carried some symbolic meaning.
2005, M. A. Dwight, Taylor Lewis,Grecian and Roman Mythology,page183:
Python, says Bailey, is derived from Putho to putrify, and the serpentPython being slain by Apollo, is thus interpreted: byPython is understood the ruin of the waters; Apollo slew this serpent with his arrows; that is, the beams of the sun dispersed the noxious vapours, which destroyed man like a devouring serpent.
Python (genus) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
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