From Man to Woman and Back Again:
Tiresias
|
Name: Hyginus Date: 64 BCE – 17 CE Region: Hispania [modern Spain] / Alexandria
[modern Egypt]; Rome [modern Italy] Citation: Fables 75.1 |
They say that when the shepherd Tiresias saw two
snakes mating, he struck one with a stick [others, however, say he kicked
them]. Because of this, he was turned into a woman. Later on, obeying a prophecy, he kicked
mating snakes in the same place and returned to his original form.
From Man To Woman And Back Again: Tiresias
In monte Cyllenio Tiresias Eueris filius pastor dracones venerantes dicitur
baculo percussisse alias calcasse. Ob id in mulieris figuram est conversus.
Postea monitus a sortibus in eodem loco dracones cum calcasset redit in
pristinam speciem.
Hyginus [Caius Julius Hyginus; 64 BCE – 17 CE, modern
Spain or Egypt] was one of Augustus’ freedmen and a famous mythographer. He was
originally from Hispania [modern Spain]. Some think that he was
actually from Alexandria [modern Egypt], and brought to Rome as a boy by Caesar
after the fall of Alexandria. He studied under the Greek scholar Cornelius
Alexander, then followed in his footsteps. He was in charge of the Palatine
library, and despite this, still had the time to teach many people. He was very
close friends with the poet Ovid and Clodius Licinius, the former consul and
historian who, after Hyginus fell into poverty, supported him financially
for as long as he lived.
