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beccaelizabethToday I did homework we probably won't be set until tomorrow.
... there's a thread on the discussion board that's interesting already. It says to write a short version of a Greek myth using research from books or internet. I can do that.
Actually some of them I can do from memory, but the being able to point at sources thing is recommended in academic work.
I wrote about Tiresias, partly because s/he is in one of the plays, mostly because s/he's just interesting.
Tiresias was a blind seer. All versions of the story agree about that. Beyond that things get complicated. Greek Myths weren't from one big book like Bible stories, they were passed on and reinvented repeatedly instead, so a lot of versions accumulate.
In one version he told too many divine secrets and got struck blind for it.
In another he saw Athena naked, and so was struck blind, possibly because she was annoyed and possibly just as an inevitable consequence, a (super)natural law. But to make up for it she made him able to understand birdsong so they could tell him futures.
The third gets a bit complicated. Tiresias was also famous for having lived as both a man and a woman. This involved seeing snakes have sex. Hitting them turned him from man to woman, but there's disagreement on how he got turned back. Either he did the same again or learned from the first time and left them alone. Or, possibly, it depends on which snake he hit. By whatever way, he ended up male again after 7 years as a woman. In those years she was a priestess of Hera, a mother, or possibly a famous prostitute. She definitely had sex. Which made her a somewhat unique expert on the subject. So, when Zeus and Hera were having an argument about which gender has more fun having sex, they asked Tiresias. He agreed with Zeus, who said women have more pleasure. Hera didn't like that at all; which possibly says something unflattering about her husband Zeus. Annoyed by his answer, she blinded Tiresias. Zeus, well pleased, gave him visions to make up for it.
So, Tiresias was blind, and a seer. And usually a he.
Tiresias was also known for living a very long time, and so had time to turn up in a whole lot of stories. He's in a lot of stories about Thebes.
In tragedy his was the warning voice that was inevitably right. Usually he gets ignored for long enough everything goes horribly wrong. Sometimes he gets listened to if that makes things go horribly wrong. He told Creon his son would have to die to save the country. This may explain some about how long it took Creon to listen to him in Antigone. Even after Tiresias died his ghost still turned up giving prophecies.
He had several daughters, one of them an oracle at Delphi.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiresias Wiki isn't usually a great source but this one has a lot of references.
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/t/tiresias.html short but not referenced
http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Tiresias.html has the different versions of the story numbered seperately. Also has handy quotes down the side. and lots of references at the end.
I've saved that as a draft, I can post it once we're told it's there.
If I've made any horrible typos or anything please to say.
PS You will notice that 'do homework we're not set yet' wasn't on the to-do list anywhere.
*sigh* *facepalm*
... there's a thread on the discussion board that's interesting already. It says to write a short version of a Greek myth using research from books or internet. I can do that.
Actually some of them I can do from memory, but the being able to point at sources thing is recommended in academic work.
I wrote about Tiresias, partly because s/he is in one of the plays, mostly because s/he's just interesting.
Tiresias was a blind seer. All versions of the story agree about that. Beyond that things get complicated. Greek Myths weren't from one big book like Bible stories, they were passed on and reinvented repeatedly instead, so a lot of versions accumulate.
In one version he told too many divine secrets and got struck blind for it.
In another he saw Athena naked, and so was struck blind, possibly because she was annoyed and possibly just as an inevitable consequence, a (super)natural law. But to make up for it she made him able to understand birdsong so they could tell him futures.
The third gets a bit complicated. Tiresias was also famous for having lived as both a man and a woman. This involved seeing snakes have sex. Hitting them turned him from man to woman, but there's disagreement on how he got turned back. Either he did the same again or learned from the first time and left them alone. Or, possibly, it depends on which snake he hit. By whatever way, he ended up male again after 7 years as a woman. In those years she was a priestess of Hera, a mother, or possibly a famous prostitute. She definitely had sex. Which made her a somewhat unique expert on the subject. So, when Zeus and Hera were having an argument about which gender has more fun having sex, they asked Tiresias. He agreed with Zeus, who said women have more pleasure. Hera didn't like that at all; which possibly says something unflattering about her husband Zeus. Annoyed by his answer, she blinded Tiresias. Zeus, well pleased, gave him visions to make up for it.
So, Tiresias was blind, and a seer. And usually a he.
Tiresias was also known for living a very long time, and so had time to turn up in a whole lot of stories. He's in a lot of stories about Thebes.
In tragedy his was the warning voice that was inevitably right. Usually he gets ignored for long enough everything goes horribly wrong. Sometimes he gets listened to if that makes things go horribly wrong. He told Creon his son would have to die to save the country. This may explain some about how long it took Creon to listen to him in Antigone. Even after Tiresias died his ghost still turned up giving prophecies.
He had several daughters, one of them an oracle at Delphi.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiresias Wiki isn't usually a great source but this one has a lot of references.
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/t/tiresias.html short but not referenced
http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Tiresias.html has the different versions of the story numbered seperately. Also has handy quotes down the side. and lots of references at the end.
I've saved that as a draft, I can post it once we're told it's there.
If I've made any horrible typos or anything please to say.
PS You will notice that 'do homework we're not set yet' wasn't on the to-do list anywhere.
*sigh* *facepalm*