Manthone Tyresie filia · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: Manthone Tyresie filia
Subject: Important Women; Famous Women; Seers; Prophecies; Greek Legend; Tiresias; Manto
Period: 1450-1500;
Geographic: Thebes; Ancient Greece
Description: This engraving depicts Manto, the daughter of the famous seer Tiresias. She is depicted with her body leaning over a burning fire. Boccaccio explains that Manto became an incredible seer just like her father. She used the movement and colour of the fire’s flames to tell the future, which is why there is a fire in the engraving. She also used the entrails of animals such as sheep and oxen for signs of the future. There is an ox and a sheep illustrated in the engraving with their organs sticking out from their bodies. There are two distinct looking characters on the right side of the engraving, which signifies Manto’s involvement in the dark arts and summoning spirits and gods from the underworld.
Image Creator: Anonymous (Engraver)
Type: Text; Woodcut Engraving
Identifier: mta:18149
Language: lat
Source Name: Iohannis Bocacij in librum de claris mulieribus
Parent Collection: 1487 Leuven
Image: mta_18149_OBJ.png