The Odyssey Tiresias Quotes

"Royal son of Laertes, Odysseus, old campaigner,
stay on no more in my house against your will.
But first another journey calls. You must travel down
to the House of Death and the awesome one, Persephone,
there to consult the ghost of Tiresias, seer of Thebes,
the great blind prophet whose mind remains unshaken.
Even in death – Persephone has given him wisdom,
everlasting vision to him and him alone…
the rest of the dead are empty, flitting shades."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 10, lines 537-545. When Odysseus asks Circe for help in getting home, the immortal goddess tells him that he must first make a journey to the underworld. She tells him that he needs to consult there with the ghost of Tiresias, the blind Theban prophet.

"Soon, soon
the great seer will appear before you, captain of armies:
he will tell you the way to go, the stages of your voyage,
how you can cross the swarming sea and reach home at last."
And with those words Dawn rose on her golden throne.

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 10, lines 592-596. Circe tells Odysseus that to make it home he must travel to the House of Death to speak to the prophet Tiresias, who will tell him the way to go. The goddess is helping Odysseus get back to Ithaca. The last line features the personification of dawn.

At last he came. The shade of the famous Theban prophet,
holding a golden scepter, knew me at once and hailed me:
"Royal son of Laertes, Odysseus, master of exploits,
man of pain, what now, what brings you here,
forsaking the light of day
to see this joyless kingdom of the dead?
Stand back from the trench – put up your sharp sword
so I can drink the blood and tell you all the truth."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 11, lines 100-107. The famous blind prophet Tiresias greets Odysseus in the underworld. Tiresias is the seer of Thebes, who inhabits the underworld and who is meant to guide Odysseus on how to get home.

"A sweet smooth journey home, renowned Odysseus,
that is what you seek
but a god will make it hard for you – I know –
you will never escape the one who shakes the earth,
quaking with anger at you still, still enraged
because you blinded the Cyclops, his dear son."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 11, lines 111-116. Prophet Tiresias warns Odysseus that Poseidon will make his journey home to Ithaca difficult, because he blinded the god’s son Polyphemus. His prophecy foreshadows the misfortunes and pain that Odysseus has yet to face.

"There you will find them grazing,
herds and fat flocks, the cattle of Helios,
god of the sun who sees all, hears all things.
Leave the beasts unharmed, your mind set on home,
and you all may still reach Ithaca – bent with hardship,
true – but harm them in any way, and I can see it now:
your ship destroyed, your men destroyed as well."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 11, lines 122-128. The prophet Tiresias warns Odysseus and his men not to kill and eat the cattle of the sun god Helios. If they leave them unharmed, they may all still reach home. But slaughter them and Tiresias prophesies that a grim fate awaits them: their ship destroyed with all of Odysseus’ men. There is much foreshadowing here.

"And even if you escape, you’ll come home late
and come a broken man – all shipmates lost,
alone in a stranger’s ship –
and you will find a world of pain at home,
crude, arrogant men devouring all your goods,
courting your noble wife, offering gifts to win her.
No doubt you will pay them back in blood when you come home!"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 11, 129-135. Tiresias prophesies that if Odysseus escapes the destruction of his ship for killing the sun god’s cattle, he will come home a broken man, his shipmates dead. He will discover a world of pain at home: greedy suitors devouring his estate and courting his wife. He forecasts that Odysseus will exact vengeance on them. The fates of many are foreshadowed in this passage.

"But once you have killed those suitors in your halls –
by stealth or in open fight with slashing bronze –
go forth once more, you must…
carry your well-planed oar until you come
to a race of people who know nothing of the sea,
whose food is never seasoned with salt, strangers all
to ships with their crimson prows and long slim oars,
wings that make ships fly. And here is your sign –
unmistakable, clear, so clear you cannot miss it:
When another traveler falls in with you and calls
that weight across your shoulder a fan to winnow grain,
then plant your bladed, balanced oar in the earth
and sacrifice fine beasts to the lord god of the sea,
Poseidon – a ram, a bull and a ramping wild boar –
then journey home and render noble offerings up
to the deathless gods who rule the vaulting skies,
to all the gods in order.
And at last your own death will steal upon you…
a gentle, painless death, far from the sea it comes
to take you down, borne down with the years in ripe old age
with all your people there in blessed peace around you.
All that I have told you will come true."

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 11, lines 136-157. Odysseus that he has one last journey to make before he dies a gentle death in his old age, Tiresias prophesies. After arriving home and killing the suitors, Odysseus must journey to a race of people who don’t know the sea, plant his oar in the earth, and sacrifice a ram, bull and wild boar to Poseidon. Then he must return home and honor all the gods with offerings. This would be seen as atonement by Odysseus for having blinded the sea god’s son. This passage foreshadows the deaths of the suitors.

And I was struck once more
by the words of the blind Theban prophet, Tiresias,
and Aeaean Circe too: time and again they told me
to shun this island of the Sun, the joy of man.
So I warned my shipmates gravely, sick at heart,
"Listen to me, my comrades, brothers in hardship,
let me tell you the dire prophecies of Tiresias
and Aeaean Circe too: time and again they told me
to shun this island of the Sun, the joy of man.
Here, they warned, the worst disaster awaits us.
Row straight past these shores – race our black ship on!"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 12, lines 289-299. After making it past Scylla and Charybdis, Odysseus’ ship reaches the island of the Sun, where Helios keeps his cattle and purebred sheep. Odysseus tells his men that they must avoid the island after prophet Tiresias and Circe warned how great disaster awaited them if they didn’t.

"Dear woman…we have still not reached the end
of all our trials. One more labor lies in store –
boundless, laden with danger, great and long,
and I must brave it out from start to finish.
So the ghost of Tiresias prophesied to me,
the day that I went down to the House of Death
to learn our best route home, my comrades’ and my own.
But come, let’s go to bed, dear woman – at long last
delight in sleep, delight in each other, come!"

– Homer

The Odyssey, Book 23, lines 282-290. As Odysseus and Penelope retire to their marriage bed, after his twenty-year absence from it, he tells of one more trial to be endured. He is referring to Tiresias’ prophecy of a sacrifice he must make to Poseidon for the hurt Odysseus caused the sea god’s son Polyphemus.
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