Manto was the daughter of the blind seer Tiresias of Thebes. She inherited prophetic abilities from her father and served as his guide.
Circe instructed Odysseus on Aeaea to sail to the Underworld and consult the prophet Tiresias, whose shade alone could reveal the path home to Ithaca.
After Hera sent serpents to the twins' cradle, Amphitryon summoned the seer Tiresias, who interpreted the event and prophesied Heracles' future glory. Pindar's Nemean 1 recounts this consultation.
In Odyssey Book 11, Odysseus encountered Anticlea's shade while visiting the Underworld to consult Tiresias. After speaking with the prophet, Odysseus recognized his mother among the gathering dead.
Tiresias warned Creon that the gods demanded Polynices's burial and Antigone's release. His prophecy of disaster finally moved Creon to relent, though too late to save Antigone.
The shade of Tiresias alone retained his prophetic powers in the Asphodel Meadows, a gift from Persephone. Odysseus traveled there specifically to consult Tiresias about his journey home.
Athena blinded Tiresias after he accidentally saw her bathing, then compensated him with the gift of prophecy and a staff to guide his steps, as told by Callimachus in the Bath of Pallas.
Tiresias served as prophet of Thebes from Cadmus's reign onward. In Euripides' Bacchae, Tiresias and the aged Cadmus together dress in fawnskins to worship Dionysus.
Circe directed Odysseus to sail to the underworld and consult the shade of Tiresias, providing detailed instructions for the necromantic rites needed to summon the dead prophet.
Tiresias warned Creon that the gods were angered by the unburied dead and the entombed living. In Sophocles' Antigone, Creon rejected the prophet's counsel until it was too late to save his family.
Tiresias, the blind prophet of Thebes, died at the spring Tilphussa while fleeing the city during its destruction by the Epigoni.
In Euripides' Phoenician Women, Tiresias prophesied that Thebes could only be saved if Creon's son Menoeceus was sacrificed. Eteocles relied on the blind seer's counsel during the siege by the Seven.
Tiresias revealed to Oedipus the truth that Jocasta already feared — that Oedipus was both Laius's killer and Jocasta's son. His prophecy set in motion the final catastrophe in Sophocles' Oedipus Rex.
Mopsus inherited his prophetic gift from his father Apollo and his maternal grandfather Tiresias through Manto. His lineage made him one of the most powerfully gifted seers in Greek mythology.
Tiresias prophesied that Narcissus would live a long life only if he never came to know himself. The prophecy was fulfilled when Narcissus recognized his own reflection and wasted away by the pool.
Odysseus journeyed to the edge of the underworld to consult the blind prophet Tiresias, who foretold the trials of his homecoming and the manner of his eventual death.
Tiresias revealed to Oedipus that the king himself was the murderer of Laius and the source of Thebes' plague. Oedipus initially accused the blind prophet of conspiracy before the truth was confirmed.
In Euripides' Bacchae, the blind seer Tiresias urged Pentheus to accept Dionysus and honor his rites. Pentheus rejected the prophet's counsel, mocking both Tiresias and his grandfather Cadmus for joining the Bacchic worship.
Tiresias prophesied that Odysseus's death would come 'from the sea.' Telegonus fulfilled this prophecy literally — the stingray spine on his spear, a creature of the sea, delivered the fatal wound.
Tiresias served as the blind prophet of Thebes across several generations of rulers, from Cadmus through Creon. His prophecies shaped the city's fate during the reigns of Oedipus and the war of the Seven.
Tiresias retains his prophetic powers in the Underworld, where Odysseus seeks his counsel during the nekuia in the Odyssey.
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