Sirens

Half-birds, half beautiful maidens in the later tradition, the Sirens were singing enchantresses capable of luring passing sailors to their island, and, subsequently, to their doom. Daughters of the river god Achelous and a Muse, they were fated, according to one tradition, to die when a ship sailed past them. When Odysseus passed them by unharmed, they hurled themselves into the sea and were drowned.

What Are Sirens in Greek Mythology?

The Sirens were singing women of Greek myth whose song lured sailors to steer toward their island and die there. They were not sea creatures and not mermaids: in the ancient sources that describe them, a Siren is partly a bird, with the head of a maiden (Apollonius, Argonautica 4.898–899; Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.552–562).

• Parents: the river god Achelous and one of the Muses – Melpomene in Apollodorus (Library 1.3.4), Terpsichore in Apollonius (Argonautica 4.895–896); Apollodorus also mentions Sterope, daughter of Porthaon, as their mother (Library 1.7.10)
• Number: two in Homer, whose verbs for them are dual (Odyssey 12.52, 12.167); three in Apollodorus (Epitome 7.18); Plato’s Myth of Er puts a Siren on each of the eight rims of the spindle, producing the eight notes of one harmony (Republic 10.617b)
• Home: a flowery meadow on an island, with a great heap of the bones of rotting men (Odyssey 12.44–46); the Roman poets call their rocks the Sirenum scopuli (Virgil, Aeneid 5.864–866)
• Weakness: according to Apollodorus, it was foretold that they would die when a ship sailed past them (Epitome 7.19); Hyginus says their fate was to live only as long as no mortal who heard their song sailed past unharmed (Fabulae 125)

What Do Sirens Look Like?

In the later poets a Siren is a bird with a woman’s head: Apollonius says that the Sirens were partly maidens and partly birds, Ovid gives them the feet and feathers of birds with the faces of maidens, and Hyginus describes them as women above and birds below (Argonautica 4.898–899; Metamorphoses 5.552–563; Fabulae 125). The fish-tailed mermaid of later European tradition does not appear in these ancient sources.

• Homer never describes them at all: their appearance in the Odyssey is left blank, and only the voice matters (Odyssey 12.39–54, 12.158–200)
• Pausanias saw an ancient image of Hera at Coroneia that held Sirens in her hand (9.34.3)
• Greek myth already had sea-women in the Nereids and Oceanids; the Sirens are daughters of a river god, not sea nymphs

What Do Sirens Do to Their Victims?

The Sirens sing, and the men who hear them forget their homes and stay, wasting away beside the Sirens’ meadow, which is piled with the bones of men and their shrivelled skin (Odyssey 12.44–46). The Sirens do not attack, chase, or drag anyone under in Homer; the danger is the song.

• Circe warns Odysseus that a man who hears them will never see his wife and children welcome him home, for the Sirens sit in a meadow and charm him with their clear song (Odyssey 12.39–46)
• What they actually offer in Homer is not beauty or love but knowledge – they claim to know all that the Argives and Trojans suffered at Troy and all that happens on the fruitful earth (Odyssey 12.184–191)
• Apollonius says that the Sirens used to beguile with their sweet songs whoever cast anchor, and then destroy him (Argonautica 4.893–894)
• Whether they eat their victims is never said; Homer mentions only the bones

Are Sirens Gods or Monsters?

The Sirens sit between the two. They are divinely descended – daughters of a river god and a Muse – and the poets treat them as dangerous, supernatural singers. They are mortal, in the sense that they can die.

• They can die, and in several versions they do, which separates them from the immortal gods
• Their gift for music comes from their mother, one of the Muses, according to Apollodorus and Apollonius
• One Siren, Parthenope, received honours at Naples: Strabo says that her monument is shown there (Geography 1.2.13), and Lycophron that the people there honour her yearly with libations and sacrifices of oxen (Alexandra 714 ff.)

Are Sirens Real?

Sirens are not real. They are mythological creatures, and no animal or sea phenomenon is attested to correspond to them. Ancient writers did look for the real location of their island, though.

• Euripides calls on the winged virgin Sirens, daughters of Earth, to come to a mourner’s aid with pipe and lyre and songs of death (Helen 167–178), which shows that Greeks also thought of them as singers of lament
• Strabo places the three small rocky islets called the Sirenes near Capri and Surrentum, with a temple of the Sirens on the headland (Geography 1.2.12)
• Strabo adds that the tomb of the Siren Parthenope shown at Naples confirms that the Sirens’ home lay near Italy and Sicily (Geography 1.2.13)

Sirens Family

Traditionally, the Sirens were daughters of the river god Achelous and a Muse; it depends on the source which one. Apollodorus names Melpomene (Library 1.3.4; Epitome 7.18) and Apollonius names Terpsichore (Argonautica 4.895–896). Apollodorus also reports that Sterope, a daughter of Porthaon, was said to be their mother (Library 1.7.10).

In Homer, only two nameless Sirens are mentioned. Later authors usually talk about three, naming them in different ways. Apollodorus calls them Peisinoe, Aglaope and Thelxiepeia (Epitome 7.18), and Lycophron gives Parthenope, Leucosia and Ligeia (Alexandra 712 ff.).

Siren Names in Greek Mythology

No two ancient authors give the same list. Homer leaves them unnamed, and later writers supply names that suggest their voices.

• In Apollodorus: Peisinoe, Aglaope and Thelxiepeia (Epitome 7.18)
• In Lycophron: Parthenope, Leucosia and Ligeia (Alexandra 712 ff.)
• Parthenope is the most famous: Lycophron says she was washed ashore and buried at Naples, and Strabo says that her monument is shown there (Alexandra 714 ff.; Geography 1.2.13)

Sirens Dwelling Place

In any case, most agree that they lived on a small rocky island or islands, called Sirenum scopuli by the Romans (Aeneid 5.864–866). It was said that the Sirens’ dwelling place was a ghastly sight to behold: a great heap of bones lay all around them, with the skin of the victims still shrivelling on them (Odyssey 12.45–46). Apollonius calls their island Anthemoessa, “the flowery” (Argonautica 4.893), and Strabo places the Sirenes off the coast of Italy (Geography 1.2.12).

Sirens Portrayal

In the “Odyssey,” Homer says nothing about the Sirens’ outward appearance, so one may infer that he had humanlike singers in mind. At a later date, both poets and artists started depicting the Sirens as creatures with the body of a bird and a woman’s face (Apollonius, Argonautica 4.898–899; Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.552–562).

The Abduction of Persephone

Quite a few stories tried shedding some light on this transformation, but the most famous two are related to the abducting of Persephone, to whom the Sirens were said to have been companions. Ovid, who calls them Achelous’ daughters, asks why they have the feet and feathers of birds, and offers two answers: either they asked the gods for wings so that they could search for Persephone over land and sea, or the gods were glad to give them wings, so that their songs might be heard over the waves (Metamorphoses 5.552–563). Hyginus gives a harsher version: Demeter punished the Sirens for not helping her daughter by giving them the bodies of birds (Fabulae 141).

Sirens, The Myths

The most famous appearance of the Sirens in classical mythology is in Homer’s “Odyssey” however, they also take part in one or two other myths as well.

Sirens and Odysseus

After Odysseus had made up his mind to leave Aeaea and head back to Ithaca, Circe let him go and, on parting, warned him of the dangers that yet awaited him on his journey.

“First you will come to the Sirens,” she told him, “who enchant all who come near them. If anyone unwarily draws in too close and hears the singing of the Sirens, his wife and children will never welcome him home again, for they sit in a green field and warble him to death with the sweetness of their song” (Odyssey 12.39–46).

There was only one way for a sailor to pass the Sirens unharmed; and that was by not hearing them sing. So, advised by Circe, Odysseus stopped the ears of each member of his crew with beeswax. As for himself, he opted for a riskier solution.

Circe had told him that if he wished to hear the Sirens, he could do so while bound hand and foot to the mast, and that if he begged to be released, his men must bind him even tighter (Odyssey 12.47–54). Odysseus followed her advice. When the Sirens sang, he begged to be released by nodding with his brows, but his crew, led by Perimedes and Eurylochus, bound him with more ropes and rowed on (Odyssey 12.165–200). Not until the singing faded away did they unplug their ears.

Sirens and Orpheus

As enchanting as their singing might have been to mortals, the Sirens seem to have been no match to divine musicians. The Argonauts, for example, had no problem evading them, since they had none other than Orpheus on board. The very moment he heard their voices, the poet took up his lyre and played a tune so loud and quick that it drowned out the Sirens’ song (Apollonius, Argonautica 4.903–911; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.25).

Truth be told, even a moment of the Sirens’ singing was enough to lure one member of the Argonauts’ crew – Butes of Athens, son of Teleon – to jump overboard and swim towards them. Fortunately, he was saved by Aphrodite, who snatched him away and settled him at Lilybaeum in Sicily (Apollonius, Argonautica 4.912–919; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.25). Apollonius calls her there the goddess who rules Eryx (4.917), and Diodorus says that Eryx, a king in Sicily, was the son of Aphrodite and Butas (Library of History 4.83.1).

Sirens and The Muses

The Sirens were never more humiliated than when Hera persuaded them to challenge the Muses to a singing contest. Unsurprisingly, the Muses won, and, as a punishment, they plucked out the Sirens’ feathers and used them to make crowns for themselves (Pausanias 9.34.3).

The Death of the Sirens

It was said that the Sirens were fated to die when a ship should pass them by. So, once Odysseus passed them, the Sirens died: Apollodorus says that this was foretold (Epitome 7.19), and Hyginus that their fate was to live only as long as no mortal who heard them sailed past (Fabulae 125). Lycophron tells how they killed themselves, hurling themselves from the cliff-top into the Tyrrhenian Sea, and how the bodies of Parthenope, Leucosia and Ligeia were washed ashore at Naples, Poseidonia and Tereina (Alexandra 712 ff.). Homer himself does not say what became of them.

Sirens Sources

Find out how Odysseus managed to outlive the song of the Sirens in the 12^th book of Homer’s “Odyssey” (12.39–54, 12.158–200). The episode with Orpheus and Butes is in Apollonius’ “Argonautica” (4.891–919) and in Apollodorus’ Library (1.9.25). Apollodorus also gives their parentage and names (Library 1.3.4, 1.7.10; Epitome 7.18–19), and Diodorus (4.83.1) the parentage of Eryx. The Sirens’ shape and the story of Persephone are in Ovid’s Metamorphoses (5.552–563) and Hyginus’ Fabulae (125, 141); the contest with the Muses is in Pausanias 9.34.3. Further passages: Euripides, Helen 167–178; Plato, Republic 10.617b; Lycophron, Alexandra 712 ff.; Strabo 1.2.12–13; Virgil, Aeneid 5.864–866.

See Also: Achelous, The Muses, Odysseus, Orpheus, Circe, Scylla, Persephone, Demeter