Editing Castalian Spring (section)

{{Short description|Sacred fountain at Delphi}}
{{refimprove|date=April 2013}}
[[File:Castalian Spring.jpg|thumb|Castalian Spring]]
[[File:Castalian spring - The Roman fountain.jpg|thumb|The Roman Fountain]]
[[File:Castalian spring at Delphi; the cavities in the rock are for Wellcome V0020100.jpg|thumb|Print from [[Frederick Rudolph Hay]] etching of [[Edward Daniel Clarke]]'s ''Castalian spring at Delphi'']]
The '''Castalian Spring''', in the [[ravine]] between the [[Phaedriades]] at [[Delphi]], is where all visitors to Delphi &mdash; the contestants in the [[Pythian Games]], and especially pilgrims who came to consult the [[Pythia|Delphic Oracle]] &mdash; stopped to wash themselves and quench their thirst; it is also here that the Pythia and the priests cleansed themselves before the oracle-giving process. Finally Roman poets regarded it as a source of poetic inspiration. According to some mythological versions it was here that [[Apollo]] killed the monster, [[Python (mythology)|Python]], who was guarding the spring, and that is why it was considered to be sacred.