Sublime and Tragic Fall: When Tiresias Met Athena

Abstract: The Western cultural tradition has always been fascinated by the myth of Tiresias ever since the prophet’s first appearance in the Odyssey, an event  that marks the beginning of his career in both literature and the arts. Among the many versions handed over by Antiquity to modernity, the one recorded by Callimachus in the Fifth Hymn. For the Bath of Pallas touches upon one of the most enigmatic questions in human life, the relationship between man and the gods. The encounter between Tiresias and Athena, as a matter of fact, hides that obscure sense which is at the root of the genesis of secrecy in literature and results in the most tragic and, at the same time, the most sublime of events. Lord Tennyson’s rewriting is one of the many shadows that the myth of Tiresias casts on the western cultural tradition. In his Tiresias the English poet conflates Callimachus’ version with the myth of Moeneceus in the Phoenician Women and establishes significant links with Scripture. Tennys.... https://www.thersites-journal.de/index.php/thr/article/view/31

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Sublime and Tragic Fall: When Tiresias Met Athena ; volume:3 ; day:10 ; month:11 ; year:2016 ; Thersites ; 3 (10.11.2016)

Contributors, Places and Time

• Creator: Emilia Di Rocco

Further information

• DOI: 10.34679/thersites.vol3.31
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2020050709444059577345
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 14.08.2025, 10:57 AM CEST