The Myth of Tiresias | Odysseus's Underworld Prophecy and Homeward Journey Explained

Odysseus's ship reaches the far shore of the great river Oceanus, a dark coast where even the sun does not touch. Just as Circe instructed, here he must meet the dead prophet Tiresias and ask about the homeward journey that still lies ahead.

The Ritual of Summoning the Dead Before a Pit of Blood

Odysseus digs a pit about a cubit wide in that spot, first pouring in honey and milk, then wine, then water, and sprinkling barley meal as he offers prayers to the dead. He then cuts the throats of two black sheep and lets their blood flow into the pit.

Drawn by the smell of the blood, the souls of the dead swarm in from every direction, but Odysseus draws his sword and bars them from approaching the blood. He judged that no one's words could be heard until the soul of Tiresias drank the blood first and opened his mouth.

Before long, the soul of Tiresias, holding a golden staff, approaches. Only after drinking the blood from the pit does he finally recognize Odysseus and speak.

The First Name Spoken: Poseidon's Grudge

The first words Tiresias utters are the reason the homecoming has been so hard. He tells Odysseus that Poseidon, god of the sea, still harbors a deep grudge against him because his son lost his eye.

Yet, he adds, the homecoming is not entirely impossible. But for that to happen, he says, Odysseus and his companions must restrain themselves and keep something on their own.

The Cattle of Helios: Why They Must Not Be Touched

Tiresias then speaks of the island of Thrinacia, which they will pass ahead. On that island graze the cattle and sheep beloved by the sun god Helios, and he warns that these animals must never be touched.

If they simply pass the island without harming the cattle, he says, they will suffer hardship but will ultimately reach Ithaca. But if they harm the cattle, he declares, the outcome will be entirely different.

They will lose both the ship and all the companions, and even if Odysseus alone escapes that fate, only after a very long time, and in the miserable state of having lost all his men, will he return home alone. The condition to keep and the terrible price of breaking it were both contained in that single warning.

Another Journey That Continues Even After Reaching Home

Tiresias's prophecy does not end at the moment of arriving in Ithaca. He says that even after returning home, Odysseus must set out on the road again, carrying an oar on his shoulder.

He is to keep walking until he reaches a land where people know nothing of the sea. When a passing traveler, seeing the oar, asks whether he is carrying a winnowing shovel on his shoulder, that moment, he explains, is the sign that he has arrived at his destination.

Only by planting the oar in the ground there and offering a sacrifice to Poseidon will the long conflict with the sea god finally be resolved. It means the story does not end with the homecoming; one more procedure remains to be observed even afterward.

The Final Prophecy of Death: Not Fear, but Rest

Finally, Tiresias also speaks of Odysseus's own death. Death, he says, will come from the sea, but it will not be a sudden calamity; it will come very quietly, after old age and a heart grown at peace.

This entire encounter, which begins with Poseidon's wrath and ends with a prophecy of death, was for Odysseus an occasion to learn in advance what he must endure and what he must keep. Carrying this prophecy, he climbs back onto the path leading to the world above.

Another Story Told by Ovid: Snakes and Gender

Among the stories surrounding Tiresias there is also a tradition recorded in a work entirely different from what has come before. According to the Roman poet Ovid's Metamorphoses, in his youth Tiresias once struck two snakes mating in the forest with his staff.

At that moment he was transformed from a man into a woman, and he is said to have lived in that body for seven years. Then, in the eighth year, when he came upon the same two snakes again and struck them once more with his staff, he returned to his original male form.

Because of this experience, Jupiter and Juno later quarreled over which of men and women felt greater pleasure in love, and they entrusted the judgment to Tiresias, who had known both sides. When he sided with Jupiter, an enraged Juno blinded him.

Jupiter could not undo the punishment Juno had already inflicted, but in its place, he is said to have granted Tiresias the power of prophecy to see what lies ahead. It is worth distinguishing that this story of the snakes and gender belongs to a separate work, a separate tradition, from Homer's underworld scene. In this way, another text fills in the background of why the prophet Odysseus met in the underworld was blind, and how he came to possess the power of prophecy.

Figures Leading into the Next Stories

The story of the figure who taught Odysseus this method before he descended to the underworld can be found in the myth of Circe. The long conflict with Poseidon that Tiresias warned about is covered in more detail in the myth of Poseidon.

How this prophecy is actually fulfilled, and the full order of the homecoming after Thrinacia, can be followed in the Odyssey plot in order, and in the story of Ithaca, the prophecy's destination, you can also explore the circumstances of the place that awaited Odysseus.