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One of Tiresias 's gifts was that his spirit could still utter prophecies in the underworld.
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Prophecy foretelling of what is to come also something that is predicted Prophet one who claims to have received divine messages or insights To make up for this deed, Zeus gave Tiresias the ability to foresee the future and allowed him to live an extraordinarily long life. Because he had been both man and woman, Zeus* and Hera* asked him to settle an argument: Which of the sexes enjoys love more? When Tiresias replied that man gives more pleasure than he receives, Hera struck him blind. Seven years later, he again saw two mating snakes this time he killed the male snake and became a man. He killed the female snake and was transformed into a woman. In another myth, Tiresias came across two snakes mating. Instead, she gave him the gift of prophecy and the ability to understand the language of the birds. Later Athena felt sorry for Tiresias but could not restore his sight. One tells that he was struck blind as a boy when he saw Athena* bathing. Tiresias, a blind prophet, appears in many Greek myths. The Oedipus Cycle: Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone, trans. Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
#THE BLIND PROPHET IN OEDIPUS HOW TO#
At his death, Persephone permitted Tiresias to keep his memory and mind, which Tiresias used from the underworld to advise Odysseus about how to get back home in The Odyssey. Near the end of his life, he and his daughter Manto were captured and put in the service of Apollo at Delphi. Only in Euripides' The Bacchae does Tiresias appear as a fool along with Cadmus. Zeus, who could not stop the blinding, gave Tiresias the gift of prophecy and insight.Īs a blind seer, Tiresias advised Theban leaders during Thebes crises, telling Oedipus a truth he did not want to hear, in Oedipus Rex advising Creon to unbury the living before burying the dead, in Antigone and telling Creon that Thebes can withstand its attackers only if he sacrifices his son, in the Phoenician Women. Tiresias honestly answered that the female gets the most pleasure, and an angry Hera struck him blind. Because Tiresias had lived as both, they presumed he might be able to settle the dispute, even though Hera, who had been fooling Zeus into believing that he had the best time, did not want her pleasure exposed. But Tiresias was then asked to arbitrate an argument between Hera and Zeus about which partner, the man or the woman, enjoyed sex more. After a substantial period, the female Tiresias again came upon copulating snakes, only this time he/she left them alone and Hera returned her/him to masculinity. This angered Hera, who was a sensuous woman, and she punished him by transforming him into a woman. One day coming upon two snakes in the throes of passion, Tiresias hit them with his staff. His mother then begged Athena to give him his sight, but unable to do so, Athena instead gave him a walking staff that enabled him to walk as if he could see and also enabled him to understand what birds say.Īnother legend, recorded by Ovid in The Metamorphosis, was that both Tiresias's blindness and his sojourn as a woman came from his involvement with copulating snakes and the gods Hera and Zeus. Angry, she threw water on him and blinded him. One is that he came upon the goddess Athena in her bath. There are several different accounts of how Tiresias became blind. Tiresias was born in Thebes, son of Eueres and Chariclo, who was himself descended from Udaeus, one of the Sparti. In addition, he has been granted a long life by Zeus, so his life spans Theban history from Cadmus to Oedipus's children. His role is to predict the future, unearth the true past, and give correct advice, all of which he does. Tiresias's insight comes not only from his blindness, but also from his having been transformed into a woman for seven years, and hence being able to see life from all perspectives.
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The blind prophet of Greek myth, Tiresias appears in all of the Greek tragedies that take place in Thebes- Oedipus Rex, Antigone, and The Phoenician Women-as well as in Euripides' The Bacchae and in Homer's The Odyssey.