Tiresias who is he

Fabulae , The Library iii, 7. Description of Greece ix, Diodorus Siculus, l. Odyssey x, , xii, ff. De Divinatione i, 40; Pausanias. Pliny the Elder. Naturalis Historia xxxvii, This act of snake-smiting gender-switching made Tiresias something of a celebrity among the gods, so that the goddess Hera called upon Tiresias to intervene in an argument she was having with the god Zeus.

Hera and Zeus disagreed over who enjoyed sex more: men or women. Hera believed that men enjoyed sex more than women, and Zeus thought women enjoyed sex more. Since Tiresias was in the unique position of having experienced sex as both a man and a woman, he seemed like the ideal adjudicator for this particular quarrel. He said that of the pleasure derived from sex, nine parts belonged to woman and only one part to men.

But to compensate for it, Zeus gave Tiresias the gift of foresight, so Tiresias became a seer, who could see the future. Zeus also, in some versions, gave Tiresias long life — seven times the normal human lifespan. These — the snake-hitting story and the Hera-Zeus disagreement — are the two main stories involving Tiresias. But the Hera story is the more commonly told. His role and significance in much classical literature and myth is to foretell, prophesy, and warn, using his powers of prophecy to avert disaster or to attempt to avert it and to reveal the truth to others.

Several tales account for his blindness. Later Athena felt sorry for Tiresias but could not restore his sight. Instead, she gave him the gift of prophecy and the ability to understand the language of the birds. In another myth, Tiresias came across two snakes mating. He killed the female snake and was transformed into a woman.

Some show him as a man, while others as a woman. In some, he still has his sight, while in others he is blind. Many show him using his prophetic abilities. Other artistic works show him striking down the snakes that led to him experiencing life as a member of the opposite sex.

Tiresias can be described as a wise looking man who unfortunately was not taken seriously by many, even though he had the true gift of prophecy. His physical description includes a long beard and lifeless eyes, representing his blindness. The prophet is usually associated with snakes, as they were what changed his future.

He is also linked to his gift of prophecy and extended lifespan. He is pictured often with a cane, which is symbolic of both his blindness and power. He is featured in The Waste Land, a poem by T. Another novel, Orlando , by Virginia Woolf is similar in nature.

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