Teiresias in Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
Teire'sias
（Τειρησίας), or TIRE'SIAS, a son of Everes (or Phorbas,
Ptolem. Hephaest. 1) and Chariclo, whence he is sometimes
called Εὐηρείδης. (Callim. Lav. Pall. 81 ; Theocrit. Id.
24.70.) He belonged to the ancient family of Udaeus at
Thebes, and was one of the most renowned soothsayers in all
antiquity. He was blind from his seventh year, but lived to
a very old age. The cause of his blindness was believed to
have been the fact that he had revealed to men things which,
according to the will of the gods, they ought not to know,
or that he had seen Athena while she was bathing, on which
occasion the goddess is said to have blinded him, by
sprinkling water into his face. Chariclo prayed to Athena to
restore his sight to him, but as the goddess was unable to
do this, she conferred upon him the power to understand the
voices of the birds, and gave him a staff, with the help of
which he could walk as safely as if he had his eyesight
(Apollod. 3.6.7; Callim. Lav. Pall. 7.5, &c., with
Spanbeim's note.) Another tradition accounts for his
blindness in the following manner. Once, when on Mount
Cythaeron (others say Cyllene), he saw a male and a female
serpent together; he struck at them with his staff, and as
he happened to kill the female, he himself was metamorphosed
into a woman. Seven years later he again saw two serpents.
and now killing the male, he again became a man. It was for
this reason that Zeus and Hera. when they were disputing as
to whether a man or a woman had more enjoyments, referred
the matter to Teiresias, who could judge of both, and
declared in favour of the assertion of Zeus that women had
more enjoyments. Hera, indignant at the answer, blinded him,
but Zeus gave him the power of prophecy, and granted him a
life which was to last for seven or nine generations.
(Apollod. l.c. ; Hygin. Fab. 75 ; Ov. Met. 3.320, &c.;
Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 682 ; Pind. N. 1.91.) In the war of the
Seven against Thebes. he declared that Thebes should be
victorious, it Menoeceus would sacrifice himself (Apollod.
l.c. ; Hygin. Fab. 68); and during the war of the Epigoni,
when the Thebans laid been defeated, he advised them to
commmence negotiations of peace, and to avail themselves of
the opportunity that would thus be afforded them, to take to
flight. He himself fled with them (or, according to others,
he was carried to Delphi as a captive), but on his way he
drank from the well of Tilphossa and died. (Apollod. 3.7.3;
Paus. 9.33.1; Diod. 4.66.) His daughter Manto (or Daphne)
was sent by the victorious Argives to Delphi, as a present
to Apollo. (Diod. l.c. ; Apollod. 3.7.4.) Another daughter
of his is called Historis. (Paus. 9.11.2.) Even in the lower
world Teiresias was believed to retain the powers of
perception, while the souls of other mortals were mere
shades, and there also he continued to use his golden staff.
(Hom. Od. 10.492, 11.190, &c.; Ly-coph. Cuss. 682 ; Cic. de
Div. 1.40; Paus. 9.33.1.) His tomb was shown in the
neighbourhood of the Tilphusian well near Thebes (Paus.
9.18.3, 33.1, 7.3. § I), but also in Macedonia (Plin. Nat.
37.10); and the place near Thebes where lie had observed the
birds (οἰωνοσκόπιον) was pointed out as a remarkable spot
even in later times. (Paus. 9.16. § I; Soph. Oed. Tyr. 493.)
The oracle connected with his tomb lost its power and became
silent at the time of the Orchomenian plague. (Plut. De
Orac. Defect.) He was represented by Polygnotus in the
Lesche at Delphi. (Paus. 10.29.2.) The blind seer Teiresias
acts so prominent a part in the mythical history of Greece
that there is scarcely any event with which he is not
connected in some way or other, and this introduction of the
seer in so many occurrences separated by long intervals of
time, was facilitated by the belief in his long life. - A
Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology,
William Smith, Ed.
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