Teiresias
Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2022 9:58 pm
Phlegon's Book of Marvels, 4
1 Hesiod, Dikaiarchos, Klearchos, Kallimachos and certain
other authors relate the following incident about Teiresias.
They say that Teiresias, son of Eueres, saw some snakes
copulating on the mountain in Kyllene in Arkadia, wounded
the other of them, and forthwith changed form. He went
from being a man to being a woman, and had intercourse
2 with a man. Apollo informed him in an oracle that if he
observed the creatures copulating and similarly wounded
the one snake, he would be as he was before. Watching for
an opportunity Teiresias did what the god had said and
thereby recovered his former nature.
3 Zeus and Hera had a quarrel, he claiming that in sexual
intercourse the woman had a larger share of pleasure than
the man did, and she claiming the opposite. They decided to
send for Teiresias and ask him, inasmuch as he had experienced both. When they enquired of him he declared that a
man enjoyed one-tenth of the pleasure and a woman nine tenths. Hera angrily gouged out his eyes, making him blind,
but Zeus gave him the gift of prophecy and a life-span of
seven generations.
[LOL. -fin-]
1 Hesiod, Dikaiarchos, Klearchos, Kallimachos and certain
other authors relate the following incident about Teiresias.
They say that Teiresias, son of Eueres, saw some snakes
copulating on the mountain in Kyllene in Arkadia, wounded
the other of them, and forthwith changed form. He went
from being a man to being a woman, and had intercourse
2 with a man. Apollo informed him in an oracle that if he
observed the creatures copulating and similarly wounded
the one snake, he would be as he was before. Watching for
an opportunity Teiresias did what the god had said and
thereby recovered his former nature.
3 Zeus and Hera had a quarrel, he claiming that in sexual
intercourse the woman had a larger share of pleasure than
the man did, and she claiming the opposite. They decided to
send for Teiresias and ask him, inasmuch as he had experienced both. When they enquired of him he declared that a
man enjoyed one-tenth of the pleasure and a woman nine tenths. Hera angrily gouged out his eyes, making him blind,
but Zeus gave him the gift of prophecy and a life-span of
seven generations.
[LOL. -fin-]