Source Verification: Tiresias
Every claim below is either what a named ancient source attests, in its own line or section, or a point where the sources themselves disagree.
What the Sources Attest
How did Tiresias become blind?
The ancient sources give two main answers. Apollodorus reports Pherecydes's version, in which Tiresias saw Athena naked and she covered his eyes, and Callimachus tells the same story. In the version Apollodorus credits to Hesiod, Tiresias had lived as a woman, so Hera and Zeus asked him who enjoys love more. He said women, nine parts to one, and Hera blinded him. Zeus gave him prophecy in return. A third view held that the gods blinded him for revealing their secrets.
Source: Apollodorus, Library 3.6.7
Why did Tiresias turn into a woman?
Because he struck a pair of coupling snakes. Apollodorus, following Hesiod, says Tiresias saw snakes mating on Mount Cyllene, wounded them, and was turned from a man into a woman. When he came upon the same snakes again, he became a man. Ovid says he hit them with his staff, remained a woman for seven autumns, and in the eighth year struck them again to change back. Hyginus adds that an oracle told him to return to the spot.
Source: Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.316-338
What role did Tiresias play in the Odyssey?
He is the prophet Odysseus must consult among the dead. Circe tells Odysseus that Persephone let Tiresias alone keep his mind in Hades, and sends him there. After drinking the sacrificial blood, Tiresias warns that Poseidon is angry over the blinding of Polyphemus. He says the crew can still reach home if they spare the cattle of Helios on Thrinacia. He also foretells the suitors' deaths, a journey inland carrying an oar, and a gentle death far from the sea.
Source: Homer, Odyssey 11.90-137
How does Tiresias die?
He dies after drinking from the spring of Tilphusa, but the sources disagree about the circumstances. Apollodorus says that when the sons of the Seven took Thebes, Tiresias told the Thebans to flee by night. On the way he drank from Tilphusa and died. Pausanias records that the Argives were taking him to Delphi as part of their spoils when he drank from the spring and died. Pausanias adds that his grave lay beside it.
Source: Apollodorus, Library 3.7.3
Where Accounts Differ
- who blinded Tiresias and why
- who gave Tiresias the gift of prophecy
- how long Tiresias lived and how long he was a woman
- how and where Tiresias died
- what kind of staff Tiresias carried
- Why Tiresias was blind differs by source. Apollodorus (Library 3.6.7) gives three explanations: the gods punished him for revealing their secrets; Athena blinded him after he saw her naked, which he credits to Pherecydes; or Hera blinded him for his verdict in her dispute with Zeus, which he credits to Hesiod. Callimachus's hymn on the Bath of Pallas tells the Athena version. Ovid (Metamorphoses 3.316-338) and Hyginus (Fabulae 75) tell the Hera version.
- Who gave him prophecy follows from the blinding story. In the Hera version, Zeus gives it (Apollodorus, Library 3.6.7; Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.316-338). In the Athena version, Athena cleanses his ears so he understands birds (Apollodorus), and in Callimachus she also promises him a long life and his mind among the dead.
- How long he lived is told differently. Apollodorus (Library 3.6.7) says only that he lived to a great age. Hyginus (Fabulae 75) says Jupiter gave him seven lives. How long he spent as a woman also varies: Ovid (Metamorphoses 3.316-338) says seven autumns, with the change back in the eighth year. The Hesiodic Melampodia, cited by Apollodorus, is known only in fragments and is not quoted here.
- How he died differs. In Apollodorus (Library 3.7.3) he flees Thebes with its people after advising them to abandon the city, and dies drinking from the spring of Tilphusa. In Pausanias (9.33.1; 7.3.1) the Argives are leading him to Delphi as part of the spoils when he drinks from the same spring and dies.
- His staff differs too. Apollodorus (Library 3.6.7) says Athena gave him a staff of cornel-wood. In the Odyssey (11.90-137) his shade carries a golden staff.
- Callimachus's Hymn 5 (The Bath of Pallas) is named without a line reference, because the site has no checkable edition of it. Its content was read in A. W. Mair's Loeb translation.
Sources
- Apollodorus, Library 3.6.7
- Apollodorus, Library 3.7.3
- Apollodorus, Library 3.7.4
- Apollodorus, Library 2.4.8
- Homer, Odyssey 10.490-495
- Homer, Odyssey 11.90-137
- Homer, Odyssey 11.138-151
- Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus 300-462
- Sophocles, Antigone 988-1090
- Euripides, Bacchae 170-369
- Euripides, Phoenissae 834-959
- Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.316-338
- Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.339-350
- Pindar, Nemean Odes 1.60-69
- Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.16.1
- Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.33.1
- Pausanias, Description of Greece 7.3.1
- Hyginus, Fabulae 75