Tiresias

In Greek mythology, Tiresias (/taɪˈriːsiəs/; Greek: Τειρεσίας, Teiresias) was a blind prophet of Apollo in Thebes, famous for clairvoyance and for being transformed into a woman for seven years. He was the son of the shepherd Everes and the nymph Chariclo. Tiresias participated fully in seven generations at Thebes, beginning as advisor to Cadmus himself.

Overview

Eighteen allusions to mythic Tiresias, noted by Luc Brisson, fall into three groups: one, in two episodes, recounts Tiresias' sex-change and his encounter with Zeus and Hera; a second group recounts his blinding by Athena; a third, all but lost, seems to have recounted the misadventures of Tiresias.

How Tiresias obtained his information varied: sometimes, like the oracles, he would receive visions; other times he would listen for the songs of birds, or ask for a description of visions and pictures appearing within the smoke of burnt offerings, and so interpret them.

On Mount Cyllene in the Peloponnese, as Tiresias came upon a pair of copulating snakes, he hit the pair a smart blow with his stick. Hera was not pleased, and she punished Tiresias by transforming him into a woman. As a woman, Tiresias became a priestess of Hera, married and had children, including Manto, who also possessed the gift of prophecy. According to some versions of the tale, Lady Tiresias was a prostitute of great renown. After seven years as a woman, Tiresias again found mating snakes; depending on the myth, either she made sure to leave the snakes alone this time, or, according to Hyginus, trampled on them. As a result, Tiresias was released from his sentence and permitted to regain his masculinity. This ancient story is recorded in lost lines of Hesiod.

Tiresias (horse)

Tiresias (1816–1837) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that lasted from April 1819 to July 1820 he ran thirteen times, all but two of them at Newmarket and won eleven races. Both of his defeats came when he was attempting to concede weight to opponents in match races. His most important win came in May 1819 when he won the Derby. Tiresias's racing career was ended by injury in the summer of 1820, after which he was retired to stud.

Background

Tiresias was a brown horse standing 16 hands high bred by his owner William Bentinck, 4th Duke of Portland a leading member of the Jockey Club who owned much of the land around Newmarket Racecourse. Nicknamed "The Farmer Duke", Portland bred horses at his stately home at Welbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire. Tiresias was sired by Soothsayer, who won the St Leger in 1811 and went on to be a successful stud horse, being the Leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland in 1819. Apart from Tiresias, his most notable winner was the 2000 Guineas winner Interpreter. He was eventually sold and exported to Russia.

Tiresias (ballet)

Tiresias is a ballet in a prelude and three acts choreographed by Frederick Ashton to an original score by Constant Lambert. With scenery and costumes designed by the composer's wife Isabel Lambert, it was first presented by the Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, London, on 9 July 1951.

Background

The idea of a ballet on the subject of the Greek seer who changes sex was first considered by Lambert in the 1930s. Lambert started composing the score in Paris, but due to the distractions of other work he had to enlist assistance for the orchestration from younger colleagues, such as Robert Irving, Humphrey Searle, Gordon Jacob, Alan Rawsthorne and Elisabeth Lutyens.

One of three ballets commissioned for the Festival of Britain, Lambert's score is roughly contemporary with French composer Francis Poulenc's short comic opera Les mamelles de Tirésias first performed at the Opéra-Comique in 1947, on a similar sex-change theme, based on Guillaume Apollinaire's surrealist text of 1917.