Tiresias, a myth about clairvoyance

Within Greek mythology, Tiresias played the role of clairvoyance…in contrast to his physical blindness. He was very important in the development of several myths, such as that of Narcissus, and today we want to get closer to his figure.

The myth of Tiresias is extremely interesting for its approach to sexuality.. Related to clairvoyance, we refer to a story that also talks about transsexualism, female pleasure, voyeurism and that would be closely related to the famous Oedipus Complex.

Tiresias was the most important fortune teller in Greek mythology. . It appears in countless episodes, in different works, written by different authors. His figure has even continued to be used in later creations, some of them contemporary.

The most obvious characteristic of Tiresias was, perhaps, his blindness. He could see the future but he was blind. This was how the Greeks expressed the ultimate meaning of tragedy: paradoxical situations, with no way out, in which a gift always implied a punishment, and vice versa.

“All my clairvoyance turns into ignorance when I am awake.”.

-Julio Cortazar-

The origin of Tiresias

The myth of the origin of Tiresias is one of those with the most versions: it is possible that there are more than 15 different ones; Here we will focus on two of the most cited.

Both agree that the fortune teller was the son of the nymph Chariclo and Everes.. Where they differ is the reasons why she ended up being blind and clairvoyant at the same time.

A classic version points out that Chariclo, the mother of Tiresias, was one of the closest friends of Athena, goddess of wisdom. The two used to go to Mount Helicon to bathe naked, immersing themselves in a fountain that was there. One day Tiresias went out to walk and hunt in the forest and, without meaning to, he saw the two naked women.

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Athena became angry and immediately punished him, depriving him of his sight. Chariclo defended his son by pointing out that he had simply looked at what he had before his eyes, without any bad intentions.

However, no mortal could see a naked god. So Athena He did not restore his sight, but to compensate, he gave him the gift of divination.. He assured that, even in death, he would not lose it.

The transsexuality of Tiresias

The second of the best-known versions of the origin of Tiresias states that he was walking through the fields when he saw two snakes mating. He wanted to separate them and to do so he gave them a strong blow, as a result of which the female died. Due to this, Tiresias himself became a woman.

Seven years later, something similar happened. He again caught two snakes mating and struck them with his staff, but this time he killed the male. Then he himself became a man again. After those incidents, the god Zeus and the goddess Hera, his wife, got into a heated argument about who felt more sexual pleasure.: Men or women.

Since Tiresias had had both sexes, the gods called him to consult him and to serve to bring experience to the controversy. When asked, Tiresias said that the woman felt more pleasure.

This angered Hera, who felt ashamed and humiliated in front of her husband. So he punished the mortal by taking away his sight, but Zeus, to compensate, granted him the gift of divination.

Zeus

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Some fortune teller legends

Tiresias was a protagonist in several of the most important Greek stories. It was he who predicted a dark future for Narciso. When his mother asked him about the fate of his son, the fortune teller predicted that he would live a long time, as long as he did not cast his eyes on his own image reflected from him.

This clairvoyant also appears in the tragedy of Oedipus the King. He decides to consult him following a plague that devastated Thebes. The king consulted with the Oracle of Delphi and he said that the evil was due to the disgrace caused by the murder of the previous king, Laius. If the crime was not purified, the plague would continue.

Oedipus did not know that it was he himself who had killed Laius, who, in reality, was his father; nor that he had then married his own mother. That is why he sent for Tiresias to reveal the name of Laius’ murderer. At first, he did not want to collaborate, but ended up giving in to the torture to which he was subjected.. He said that Oedipus himself was the murderer. Oedipus did not believe him and expelled him from the palace, but then he understood everything and put out his eyes.