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Tiresias

Tiresias was a legendary blind prophet of Apollo in Thebes. He was struck snakes mating on Mount Cyllene and was turned into a woman by Hera as punishment. As a woman, Tiresias had children and later was turned back into a man. Tiresias was also struck blind by Athena after seeing her naked. In a dispute between Zeus and Hera over sexual pleasure, Tiresias sided with Zeus and was blinded by Hera, but given the gift of prophecy by Zeus.

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139 views6 pages

Tiresias

Tiresias was a legendary blind prophet of Apollo in Thebes. He was struck snakes mating on Mount Cyllene and was turned into a woman by Hera as punishment. As a woman, Tiresias had children and later was turned back into a man. Tiresias was also struck blind by Athena after seeing her naked. In a dispute between Zeus and Hera over sexual pleasure, Tiresias sided with Zeus and was blinded by Hera, but given the gift of prophecy by Zeus.

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Bruins2013
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Tiresias

By: Joe Parrish

Tiresias was the legendary blind prophet of


Apollo in Thebes. Tiresias was the son of the
Sheppard Everes and the nymph Chariclo.
Tiresias was the parent of Manto.
There are three main stories involving Tiresias’
life. One is when Tiresias was walking on mount
Cyllene where he struck two copulating snakes
and Hera was not pleased. She turned him into
a woman. Another involves Tiresias walking
and he saw Athena naked and to punish him
she struck him blind even though his mother
tried to stop it. And the last involves Zeus and
Hera arguing over who has more pleasure in
intercourse, the man or the woman so they
asked Tiresias and he agreed with Zeus. Hera
was not pleased so she struck him blind and
Zeus gave him the gift of prophecy.
“While walking on mount Cyllene, Tiresias came
upon a pair of copulating snakes, he hit the pair a
smart blow with his stick. Hera was not pleased,
and she punished Tiresias by transforming him
into a woman. As a woman, Tiresias became a
priestess of Hera, married and had children. Her
children were Manto, Historis, and Daphne
Throughout her life, Lady Tiresias was a prostitute
of great renown. After seven genarations as a
woman, Tiresias again found mating snakes and
left them alone. Hera was pleased and
transformed Tiresias back into a man.”
-Hesiod’s, Theogony
“Tiresias was blinded by Athena after he saw her
naked. Chariclo, his mother, was unable to
prevent this punishment, but she made it
possible for Tiresias to understand the speech
of birds and gave him a staff made of cornel
wood and gave him the gift of prophecy, long
life, and sense after death and he would be
the honored prophet of Thebes.”
-Morford & Lenardon, Classical Mythology
“They say that Jupiter once had driven away his
serious worries with nectar and was joking with
Juno, saying, ‘You women have more pleasure
in sex than men, I’m sure.’ She disagreed, and
they decided to ask the experienced Tiresias for
his opinion was made the judge of the
lighthearted quarrel, he agreed with Jupiter.
Juno, they say, was more angry than just and
condemned the arbiter [Tiresias] to eternal
blindness. But the all-powerful father [Jupiter]
granted him in return for the loss of his sight
knowledge of the future.”
-Ovid, Metamorphoses III
Works Cited:

• Hesiod. Theogony. 700 B.C.

• Morford, Mark, and Robert Lenardon. Classical Mythology 8 th Edition. Oxford: Oxford

University Press, 1999. Print.

• Ovidius, Publius Naso. Metamorphoses. 8 A.D.

• Tiresias. Carlos Parada. Greek Mythology Link. 19 April. 2010. web. 1999.

http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Tiresias.html

• Tiresias. The Transsexual Blind Prophet. Andrew Wilson. The Classics Pages. Globalnet.

19 April. 2010. web. http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~loxias/tiresias.htm

• Tiresias. Wikipedia. 19 April. 2010. web. 16 April. 2010 http

://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiresias

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