Tiresias

Tiresias (/taɪˈriːsiəs/; Ancient Greek: Τειρεσίας, romanized: Teiresías) was a renowned blind prophet of Apollo in Thebes according to Greek mythology. He was famous for his clairvoyance and for experiencing life as both a man and a woman. Born to the shepherd Everes and the nymph Chariclo, Tiresias served as an advisor across seven generations in Thebes, beginning with his counsel to Cadmus, the city's founder.

Mythological accounts of Tiresias, as noted by Luc Brisson, can be divided into three distinct categories: the first recounts his gender transformation and subsequent dispute between Zeus and Hera; the second describes his blinding by Athena; and the third, largely lost to history, apparently described various misadventures.

In one prominent myth, while walking on Mount Cyllene in the Peloponnese, Tiresias encountered two snakes mating and struck them with his staff. This action angered the goddess Hera, who transformed him into a woman as punishment. During his seven years as a woman, Tiresias became a priestess of Hera, married, and had children, including his daughter Manto, who inherited his prophetic abilities. According to the prophecy god Apollo, Tiresias could return to male form if he encountered and responded similarly to another pair of mating snakes. After seven years, Tiresias did find another pair of copulating snakes and, depending on the version of the myth, either left them undisturbed or struck them again, resulting in his transformation back into a man.

An alternative account by Eustathius presents a more complex narrative: Tiresias was originally a woman who promised Apollo her favors in exchange for music lessons, only to later reject him. This led to a series of transformations—Apollo turned her into a man, then she became a woman again under unclear circumstances, was transformed into a man by the offended Hera, then back to a woman by Zeus. Following an encounter with the Muses, Tiresias became a man once more, until Aphrodite ultimately transformed him first into a woman and finally into a mouse.