InGreek mythology,Manto (Ancient Greek: Μαντώ) was the daughter of the prophetTiresias and mother ofMopsus.[1] Tiresias was aTheban oracle who, according to tradition, was changed into a woman after striking a pair of copulating snakes with a rod, and was thereafter a priestess ofHera.[2]
Veiled head of Manto (left) and a Thessalian horse rider inscribed on a 3rd-2nd century coin (right)
During the War of theEpigoni, a later myth relates, Manto was brought toDelphi as a war prize.Apollo made her his priestess and sent her toColophon to found anoracle devoted to him. She had a son namedMopsus by Apollo,[3][4] although by some accounts, the father of Mopsus isRhacius, whom Manto later married. According to theBibliotheca, she had two children byAlcmaeon,Amphilochus andTisiphone. In an early version, Apollo instructed her to marry the first man she saw outside of Delphi (who turned out to be Rhacius). Rhacius then took her toClaros (which, like Colophon, is in westernAsia Minor) and there she founded the oracle of Apollo Clarios. When she arrived, Manto wept bitter tears for her ravaged city. As they fell in the ground, the tears transformed into a spring.[5]
InRoman myth, Manto went toItaly and gave birth toOcnus (father:Tiberinus, thegenius of the riverTiber). Ocnus foundedMantua and named it after his mother. It was said that Manto's abilities in prophecy were much greater than her father's.
Manto also appears in the myth ofNiobe, the boastful queen ofThebes who degradedLeto. Manto warns her not to anger the gods and suggests she ask for Leto's forgiveness. Niobe refuses and continues to insult Leto, and consequently is punished by Apollo and Artemis.[6]
Lampus, who tried to violate Manto on her couch, was killed by Apollo for this act.[7]
She is one of the fortune-tellers and diviners whom Dante sees in the fourth pit of the eighth circle of theInferno.[8]
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