Who is Tiresias in The Odyssey?

Tiresias is a blind prophet whom Odysseus meets in the underworld during his journey home from Troy. Odysseus travels to the land of the dead on Circe’s advice because Tiresias is the one figure who can tell him how to return safely to Ithaca.

Tiresias warns Odysseus that Poseidon is still angry because Odysseus blinded the Cyclops Polyphemus, Poseidon’s son. He explains that Odysseus and his crew can still reach home “if you only have the power / to curb their wild desire and curb your own.” Tiresias specifically warns them not to harm the sacred cattle of the sun god Helios. When Odysseus’s men later ignore this warning and kill the cattle, Zeus destroys their ship, fulfilling Tiresias’s prophecy.

Tiresias is important because he represents knowledge of fate and the limits of human control. Even Odysseus, famous for his cunning and intelligence, must listen to prophetic wisdom. Tiresias’s warning also reinforces the idea that survival depends on self-restraint. Odysseus’s greatest dangers often come not from monsters, but from reckless desire and disobedience.