It was situated inland a little southwest of Delphi, at the southern end of a projecting spur of Mount Parnassus.
[3] In like manner, Nonnus, following the description of the ancient epic poets, speaks of Crissa as surrounded by rocks.
[4] Moreover, the statement of Pindar, that the road to Delphi from the Hippodrome on the coast led over the Crissaean hill,[5] leaves no doubt of the true position of Crissa, since the road from the plain to Delphi must pass by the projecting spur of Parnassus on which the modern village of Chrisso stands.
In the Homeric hymn to Apollo, Crissa appears as a powerful place, possessing as its territory the rich plain stretching down to the sea, and also the adjoining sanctuary of Pytho itself, which had not yet become a separate town.
[6] Even in Pindar, the name of Crissa is used as synonymous with Delphi, just as Pisa occurs in the poets as equivalent to Olympia.
Between Crissa and Cirrha was a fertile plain, bounded on the north by Parnassus, on the east by Mount Cirphis, and on the west by the mountains of the Ozolian Locrians.
[12] As of the mid-19th century, ancient Crissa's ruins could still be seen at a short distance from the modern village of Chrisso, surrounding the church of the Forty Saints.