Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Chariclo.
The gallery
Tiresias Transformed into a Woman
Pietro della Vecchia, c. 17th century
Della Vecchia paints Tiresias' sex-change — the Theban seer whose mother Chariclo is Athena's favorite nymph in the parallel blinding myth. Not Chariclo wife of Chiron.
Teiresias Foretells the Future to Odysseus
John Henry Fuseli, c. 1780–1785
Fuseli's Nekyia: the shade of Tiresias speaks to Odysseus — Chariclo's son as the underworld prophet Homer made immortal.
In play
Tiresias
Chariclo's son — the Theban prophet blinded (in one tradition) when he saw Athena bathing, while his mother begged the goddess for mercy.
Athena
Chariclo's divine companion — the goddess who blinds Tiresias and, at Chariclo's plea, grants him prophecy and a staff in Callimachus' hymn.
Callimachus
Callimachus
Callimachus' Hymn 5 (The Bath of Pallas) stages Athena bathing with Chariclo when Tiresias looks — the Hellenistic telling that makes the mother the goddess's intimate.