Siren

Overview

Sirens are mythological singers of Greek tradition, originally depicted as bird-women whose irresistible song lures sailors to their deaths on rocky islands of the western Mediterranean. From the early medieval period the figure was progressively conflated with the fish-tailed mermaid; modern usage encompasses both forms.

Details

Origin:

Greek and Roman literary geography places the sirens in the western Mediterranean, principally off the Tyrrhenian and Campanian coasts of Italy. The medieval mermaid-siren is much more widely distributed across European bestiary geography.

Regions:

Tyrrhenian Sea, Sorrentine Peninsula, Bay of Naples, Campania

First Reported:

Late 8th century BCE

Full Account

The Sirens (Greek Σειρῆνες, Seirênes) are mythological singers of ancient Greek tradition, daughters in most accounts of the river-god Achelous and one of the Muses (Terpsichore, Melpomene, or Calliope) and companions of Persephone before her abduction. In the earliest literature — Homer's Odyssey (book 12) — they sing from a meadow piled with the bones of sailors; Odysseus has himself bound to the mast and his crew's ears stopped with beeswax to pass them safely. In Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica (3rd century BCE) Orpheus drowns out their song with his lyre to save the Argonauts. From the 7th century BCE onwards, they appear in Greek vase-painting and sculpture as bird-women — the body and feathered legs of a bird and the head and torso of a woman — and were widely associated with funerary art. Roman poets located their islands as the Sirenum scopuli, variously identified with the Galli/Li Galli islets off the Sorrentine coast, the Sirenuse near Paestum, Capreae (Capri), or Cape Pelorum. Named individuals include Parthenope (whose tomb was held to be the legendary foundation of Naples), Ligeia, Leucosia, Thelxiope/Thelxiepeia, Molpe, Peisinoe, Aglaope, and Himerope; the number varies between two and eight by source. From the early Middle Ages — most clearly in the Anglo-Latin Liber Monstrorum (8th century) — sirens were progressively redrawn as fish-tailed sea-women, the form that dominates in medieval bestiaries, the Physiologus, and Romance-language descendants of the word ('sirena' as 'mermaid'). The phrase 'siren song' has entered modern languages as the standard metaphor for an irresistible but destructive temptation.

Also Known As

• Σειρήν (Ancient Greek (singular: Seirḗn))
• Σειρῆνες (Ancient Greek (plural: Seirênes))
• Sirena (Latin / Romance (descendant))
• Parthenope (Greek)
• Ligeia (Greek)
• Leucosia (Greek)
• Thelxiepeia / Thelxiope (Greek)

Etymology

Origin:

Greek Σειρήν (Seirḗn), of disputed pre-Greek origin; possibly connected to a root meaning 'to bind / entangle' (cf. seirá, 'rope').

Meaning:

The 'binder' or 'entangler'; figuratively, the singer whose voice binds the listener.

First Use:

Homer, Odyssey (Book 12) — late 8th century BCE oral composition; written redaction archaic period.

Timeline

• Late 8th century BCE — Homer's Odyssey describes the encounter with the sirens (Book 12) (Earliest extant literary attestation)
• 3rd century BCE — Apollonius of Rhodes describes Orpheus outsinging the sirens in the Argonautica (Major Hellenistic literary treatment)
• c. 1st century BCE / 1st century CE — Apollodorus's Bibliotheca lists named sirens and their parentage (Achelous and a Muse) (Standard mythographic genealogy)
• 8th century CE — Anglo-Latin Liber Monstrorum describes sirens with women's bodies and fish tails (Earliest clear textual attestation of the fish-tailed siren)
• 12th century — Sirens regularly figure in medieval bestiaries derived from the Physiologus (Consolidation of the medieval siren-mermaid as Christian moral allegory)

Sightings & Evidence

Cultural Significance

In classical antiquity the sirens were treated as real (or genuinely dangerous) mythological beings; in medieval Christian tradition they functioned as moral allegories of fleshly temptation.

Related Phenomena

• Harpy — Greek bird-woman of less aesthetic and more violent character
• Mermaid — Northern European fish-tailed sea-woman with which the medieval siren image was conflated
• Rusalka — Slavic water-spirit luring men to drown
• Lorelei — Rhenish singing rock-spirit luring boatmen
• Naga (women) — South-Asian water-being with comparable hybrid forms

Tags

Sources

• Siren (mythology) — Wikipedia
• The Odyssey (Book 12) — Various editions; e.g. Penguin Classics, trans. Robert Fagles
• Argonautica (Book 4) — Loeb Classical Library
• Bibliotheca (Library) — Loeb Classical Library
• Greek Myths and Christian Mystery — Burns & Oates