The Blind Man Who Gives Sight

Teiresias, or also transliterated as “Tiresias”, often appears in Greek mythology and dramas. In brief, he was a blind prophet from Thebes, who was famous for the skill of soothsaying. Nonetheless, how many of us really know who he was? Where did he come from? Why was he blind? Was his soothsaying skill inborn? Or a gift from God? Or developed through training? Most of these questions will be answered once we get to know the stories behind his blindness.

To begin with, Teiresias was the son of the shepherd, Everes and the nymph, Chariclo. Well, this will easily explain his background and there is no other source that contradicts with the statement. Nonetheless, the story about the rest of his life is a mess, as there are different myths about the cause of his blindness.

According to Luc Brisson, eighteen allusions to mythic Tiresias were found and they were categorized into three groups. The first group recounts Teiresias’ blindness in two episodes – Tiresias' sex-change and his encounter with Zeus and Hera. The second group accuses Athena for blinding him. Lastly, stories that fall into the third group recount the misadventures of Tiresias, but all of them are now nowhere to be found.

Practically, most of the sources have only identified three versions of the story regarding the cause of Teiresias’ blindness. In order to tell more about Teiresias without creating more confusion, I will only concentrate on these three versions.

The first version of the story says that Teiresias was blinded by the gods for disclosing their secrets to mortal men. Another version says that he was blinded when he was young, after he had seen Athena take a bath. Teiresias’ mother, Chariclo, who was Athena’s favourite nymph, begged her to undo her curse and restore his sight. Unfortunately, Athena could not do so. Instead, she cleansed Teiresias’ ears and gave him the gift of augury, which is the ability to understand bird language. Kind Athena also gave Tiresias a staff made of cornel-wood, so that he could walk with the help of the staff. The second version of the story could be found in Pherecydes Callimachus' poem "The Bathing of Pallas".

The last version of the story regarding the cause of Teiresias’ blindness can be told in two episodes – Tiresias' sex-change and his encounter with Zeus and Hera. This myth claims that Tiresias was once out on a walk on Mount Cyllene in the Peloponnese. When he came upon a pair of copulating snakes, he sat there watching them mating for hours. However, the snakes sensed his presence and attacked him, as they would not want to be disturbed. As self-defense, he killed the female snake. At the same moment he killed her, he turned into a woman. Being a woman, Tiresias became a prostitute of great fame. Some sources claim that he became a priestess of Hera, married and had children. After seven years, the episode with the snake was repeated. This time, Tiresias killed the male snake, which turned him back into a man. Hence, Teiresias was also famous for being transformed into a woman for seven years, besides his soothsaying skill.

In the second episode, Zeus and his wife, Hera were having an argument about who has more pleasure in sex. Is it the man (as Hera claimed) or the woman (as Zeus claimed)? Knowing Teiresias had experienced both, they ask him to judge. Tiresias told them that, "Of ten parts a man enjoys one only, but a woman enjoys the full ten parts in her heart." (Apollodorus, Library 3.6.7). This statement anger Hera, who instantly blinded him. Unable to stop her, Zeus bestowed Tiresias the gift of foresight (wisdom and the ability to see the future), which explains how Teiresias gained the power of a seer. Zeus also extended Teiresias’ lifespan to seven generations. This explains how Tiresias was able to live at Thebes for seven generations as a sought-after soothsayer, starting as the advisor to Cadmus.

Now, story time is over. The questions about the cause of Teiresias’ blindness and his foresight may be answered, but the mysteries remain unsolved as there are too many versions of story taken from different sources. This makes me wondering whether Teiresias is a myth in a myth after all? Anyway, there is one thing I’m sure about Teiresias. No matter how he was blinded or how he gained the power of foresight, he was nonetheless the famous blind seer in Greek mythology. If you ask me who Teiresias is, I will tell you in brief words, “He is the blind man who gives sight”.