Chariclo is Tiresias mother and is also a nymph who serves Athena, in fact they are very close friends. In this version Athena is the reason Tiresias becomes a prophet. To make up for it Athena gave Tiresias the ability to read and understand birds to give prophecies. Chariclo pleaded her best friend to give his vision back but she was unable to do so. Tiresias seeing a naked goddess, something no mortal is allowed to see, had his vision taken by Athena. He decides to go to Hippocrene for a drink of water, little did he know Athena and his mother Chariclo had undressed and were bathing in the spring. This is not the only version of the myth however, another version has Tiresias out hunting around mount Helicon. Along with being in Ovid’s Metamorphoses 3.343-370, this can be found in Apollodorus’ library 3.6.7. In this version he leaves the snakes alone to show he learned his lesson, but in Ovid’s version he hits them again as hitting them the first time changed him so hitting them again would change him back, and it did. The biggest variation however is when Tiresias turns from a woman back into a man. This version of the myth differs in some small ways from Ovid’s version in Metamorphoses, firstly in location, the snakes Tiresias first stumbles upon are located at mount Cithaeron or the valleys of Cyllene whereas Ovid’s version takes place in the greenwood. In a way Hera indirectly made Tiresias a prophet through her actions towards him.
Tiresias also got his prophetic ability because of Hera, if she didn’t blind him Zeus wouldn’t have needed to repay Tiresias with future sight. Tiresias was able to settle the gods argument because of Hera, if it wasn’t for her changing his gender he wouldn’t have been as helpful to the gods. 380 B from a Lucanian red-figured calyx-krater Odysseus seated between Eurylochos (left) and Perimedes (right), consulting the shade of Tiresias. Hera got upset by his answer and blinded him, Zeus being unable to undo what Hera did gave Tiresias the ability to see the future and a longer life for the loss of his vision. Tiresias took Zeus’ side claiming women felt more pleasure during sex.
They decided to ask Tiresias to settle the argument as he has lived as both genders and could easily answer the question. Some time later Zeus and Hera got into an argument about which gender felt more pleasure during sex, Zeus was sure that women did and Hera believed men felt more pleasure. Learning his lesson from the first time he didn’t hit them and was turned back into a man as a reward. One day Tiresias happened to find the same two snakes mating again. Tiresias spent seven years as a woman serving as a priestess of Hera and had children. This displeased Hera and she transformed him into a woman as punishment. He hit them with his staff out of disgust and injured one of them. Tiresias was in the mountain valleys of Cyllene and came upon two snakes mating.
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