Saturday, May 2, 2020

From Man to Woman and Back Again: Tiresias, Apollodorus, Bibl.III.vi.7

Hesiodus autem enarravit, conspicatum aliquando Tiresiam non procul a Cyllene coeuntes angues baculo cecidisse, eumque de viro in mulierem mutatum fuisse, et rursus ita coeuntes eosdem serpentes observasse, et in priorem viri formam rediisse.

Ἡσίοδος δέ φησιν ὅτι θεασάμενος περὶ Κυλλήνην ὄφεις συνουσιάζοντας καὶ τούτους τρώσας ἐγένετο ἐξ ἀνδρὸς γυνή, πάλιν δὲ τοὺς αὐτοὺς ὄφεις παρατηρήσας συνουσιάζοντας ἐγένετο ἀνήρ

--Apollodorus, Bibliothekes III.vi.7,  translated into Latin by Thomas Gale (1675)

According to Hesiod, Tiresias caught sight of two mating snakes near Mt. Cyllene, and when he struck them with his walking stick, he transformed from a man to a woman. When he observed those same two snakes mating again a little later, he returned to his original manly form.

APOLLODORUS
MAP:
Name:  
Date:  1st – 2nd c. CE
Works:  Bibliotheca

REGION  UNKNOWN
Region 1: Peninsular Italy; Region 2: Western Europe; Region 3: Western Coast of Africa; Region 4: Egypt and Eastern Mediterranean; Region 5: Greece and the Balkans

BIO:
Timeline:
 The Bibliotheca is a collection of Greek myths written between the 1st and 2nd century CE. Although originally thought to be written by the Athenian author Apollodorus (2nd c. BCE), it is now thought to be an epitome of a larger work written centuries later.
 ROMAN GREECE
ARCHAIC: (through 6th c. BCE); GOLDEN AGE: (5th - 4th c. BCE); ALEXANDRIAN: (4th c. BCE - 1st c. BCE); ROMAN: (1st c. BCE - 4th c. CE); POST CONSTANTINOPLE: (4th c. CE - 8th c. CE); BYZANTINE: (post 8th c CE)