# Cassandra = A Psychic?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cassandra-a-psychic/264997>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 19, 2004, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cassandra-a-psychic/264997 "2004-09-19T16:03:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cassandra-a-psychic/264997/1 "2004-09-19T16:03:13Z")

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Why is the name Cassandra synonomous with a person who is a fortune teller or other psychic phenomenon? - Jinx

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**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cassandra-a-psychic/264997/2 "2004-09-19T16:07:18Z")

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Because Cassandra was the name of a girl from the Iliad she was given the gift of prophecy by Apollo but spurned him, so he gave it a twist. She was doomed to tell the truth, but never be believed.

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**Author:** ![Chairman\_Pow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cassandra-a-psychic/264997/3 "2004-09-19T16:33:31Z")

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Aha! So today it’s used for irony: to speak lies but always be believed! Clever.

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**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cassandra-a-psychic/264997/4 "2004-09-19T17:08:17Z")

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See [here](http://fjkluth.com/cassandra.html) for more detail of the legends.

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**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cassandra-a-psychic/264997/5 "2004-09-19T17:54:10Z")

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Thanks Silenus, I was going to link to Wikipedia but it’s down right now.