Cassandra

Cassandra, according to Homeric legend, was the fairest daughter of Priam and Hecuba, and the twin-sister of Helenus. The two children were left one night in the sanctuary of Apollo, and during their sleep their ears were touched and purified by two snakes, so that they could understand the meaning of the language of birds, and thus know the future. Cassandra afterwards attracted the love of Apollo by her beauty, and he taught her the secrets of prophecy; but displeased by her rejection of his suit, laid upon her the curse that her prophecies should never be believed. So she prophesied in vain the treachery of the Grecian horse and the destruction of Troy, and was looked on by the citizens as a mere mad woman, whose words had no value whatever. On the capture of the city she fled to the temple of Athena, but was torn from the altar by Ajax Oileus, and ravished in the temple. In the distribution of the spoil she fell to the share of Agamemnon, and was afterwards murdered by Clytemnestra. The name is now often used generically of one who takes gloomy views of the political or social future, as the late W. R. Greg in his book, Rocks Ahead, or the Warnings of Cassandra.