Tiresias

I woke up the other day and had this vision in my mind of a blindfolded man floating in the dark. Since I've been working on Greek Mythology illustrations I thought it looked like a character I saw in a Greek themed movie before. I thought he should have been "an oracle" at first, but I looked it up and I worked out it was Tiresias. Then I made this illustration.

From theoi.com:

" (Tiresias) A lord of Thebes in Boiotia (central Greece) who accidentally came across the goddess Athena as she was bathing and was struck blind. To compensate him for his loss, the goddess made him a great seer, and bestowed various other gifts. "

There are more detailed versions of the story you can look up. Basically he was blinded but then given the gift to see the future, and given a very long life. They say he lived over many generations.

Tiresias seems to have two very completely different stories. Another popular version of the myth says he interfered with two snakes mating and was turned into a woman for some reason, likely punishment from a goddess. Then years later he saw snakes mating again, but acted differently, and was turned back into a man. Go figure :) But I needed the prior version to work with my original vision of course.