ABSTRACT
The great blind Theban seer, a son of Everes-a Theban nobleman descended from Udaeus, one of the ‘Sown Men’—and of Chariclo, a nymph. There were two alternative myths to explain Tiresias’ blindness. According to one of them his mother was the favourite of Athena and bathed with her at a spring. One day the youthful Tiresias was hunting nearby when he caught sight of Athena naked. The goddess at once covered his eyes with her hands and blinded him. Then, to comfort Chariclo in her distress at her son’s punishment, Athena purged his ears so that he could understand the speech of birds. She also gave him a cornel-wood staff able to guide him as well as if he could see, and endowed him with a life seven generations long, as well as granting him the gift of prophecy.
