Tiresias was a blind prophet of Thebes, gifted with inner sight. In his youth, he was struck blind after accidentally seeing the goddess Athena bathing in a woodland lake. Enraged, Athena cursed the offender to perpetual blindness. Upon realizing the act was unintentional, she could not revoke her curse but compensated him with gifts: exceptional longevity from Zeus, the divine power of prophecy from Apollo, incredibly sharp hearing to understand birds, and profound knowledge of past and future events.
Tiresias became a revered seer. He was the first in Thebes to recognize and welcome Dionysus, god of wine. He foretold the divine destiny of the infant Heracles. He fearlessly revealed the truth to Oedipus, identifying him as the murderer of King Laius. Even in the underworld, his prophetic power persisted, where he offered crucial advice to the hero Odysseus. Honored in life, he was granted a blessed afterlife in the Elysian Fields.