Tiresias- Greek FigureMortal"The Blind Prophet of Thebes"

The Blinding and the Gift

Tiresias was a Theban man of the line of the Spartoi, descended from Udaeus, one of the warriors who sprang from the dragon's teeth sown by Cadmus. He became blind through divine agency, though the cause varies by tradition. In one account, the young Tiresias stumbled upon Athena bathing on Mount Helicon. The goddess had no choice but to blind him according to divine law, but at his mother Chariclo's plea she compensated him with the gift of prophecy, a staff of cornel wood, and the ability to understand the speech of birds. In the alternative tradition, Tiresias was blinded by Hera after he sided with Zeus in a dispute over which sex derived more pleasure from love — Tiresias, who had lived seven years as a woman after striking a pair of mating serpents, answered that women did, and Hera struck him blind in anger. Zeus, unable to undo another god's punishment, granted him the compensating gift of prophecy and a lifespan of seven generations.

Prophet of Thebes

Tiresias served as the chief seer of Thebes across multiple generations of rulers. He counseled Cadmus, the city's founder, and together they donned fawnskins to honor Dionysus, urging the young king Pentheus to accept the god's worship. Pentheus mocked them both and paid with his life. During the Oedipus crisis, Tiresias was summoned by the king to identify the source of the plague afflicting Thebes. The prophet reluctantly revealed that Oedipus himself was the pollutant — the murderer of his father Laius and the husband of his own mother Jocasta. Oedipus accused Tiresias of conspiracy with Creon before the truth was confirmed.

The Last Days

During the siege of the Seven against Thebes, Tiresias prophesied that the city could be saved only through the sacrifice of Creon's son Menoeceus. After the war, when Creon decreed that the traitor Polynices should lie unburied, Tiresias warned him that the gods were angered — but Creon rejected the prophet's counsel until it was too late. When the Epigoni finally destroyed Thebes, the aged Tiresias fled the city and died at the spring Tilphussa. His daughter Manto, who had served as his guide during his blindness, was dedicated to Apollo at Delphi.

The Shade in the Underworld

Alone among the dead, Tiresias retained his prophetic powers in the afterlife — a gift from Persephone. Circe instructed Odysseus to sail to the edge of the underworld and consult Tiresias's shade about the path home to Ithaca. The prophet warned Odysseus not to harm the cattle of Helios on Thrinacia and foretold the suitors infesting his palace. He also prophesied that Odysseus's death would come "from the sea" — a prophecy later fulfilled by Telegonus, who killed his father with a spear tipped with a stingray spine.