However, Antigone has already hanged herself rather than be buried alive. The gods express their disapproval of Creon's decision through Tiresias. His sister, Antigone, defies the order and is caught Creon decrees that she is to be buried alive. King Creon of Thebes refuses to allow Polynices to be buried. After Oedipus blinds himself and wanders, Tiresias appears in Antigone, also by Sophocles. Tiresias refuses to give a direct answer and instead hints that the killer is someone Oedipus really does not wish to find. In Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles, Oedipus calls upon Tiresias to aid in the investigation of the killing of Laius. He is generally extremely reluctant to offer his visions like most Oracles.ĭuring the Seven Against Thebes, Megareus killed himself because Tiresias prophesied that a voluntary death from a Theban would save Thebes.Īfter the Seven Against Thebes battle, Tiresias appears in the tales associated with Oedipus. In Greek literature, Tiresias's pronouncements are always gnomic but never wrong. His mother, Chariclo, begged her to undo her curse, but Athena couldn't she gave him prophecy instead.Īs a seer, Tiresias was regarded as inerrant. Therefore, Tiresias offered Zeus and Hera evidence and gained the gift of male and female priestly prophecy.Īn alternative and less commonly told story has it that Tiresias was blinded by Athena after he stumbled onto her bathing naked. Also, prophecy was a gift given only to the priests and priestesses. Greek mythology contained other hermaphroditic figures (including Hermaphroditus), but Tiresias was fully male and then fully female. Tiresias's background was important, both for his prophecy and his experiences. Since Zeus could not undo what she had done, he gave him the gift of prophecy. When Tiresias sided with Zeus, Hera struck him blind. ![]() ![]() ![]() Zeus claimed it was women Hera claimed it was men. As a result of his experiences, Zeus and Hera asked him to settle the question of which sex, male or female, experienced more pleasure during intercourse. After seven years as a woman, Tiresias again found mating snakes, struck them with her staff, and became a man once more. According to some versions of the tale, Lady Tiresias was a prostitute of great renown. As a woman, Tiresias became a priestess of Hera, married and had children, including Manto. Tiresias was a priest of Zeus, and as a young man he encountered two snakes mating and hit them with a stick. A variant spelling of his name is Teiresias. Τειρησίας) was a blind prophet, the son of the shepherd Everes and the nymph Chariclo.
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