Siren

The Siren, by John William Waterhouse(circa 1900

In Greek mythology the Sirens or Seirenes (Greek Σειρήνες or Acheloides) were Naiads (sea nymphs) who lived on an island called Sirenum scopuli. In some different traditions they are placed on Cape Pelorum, others in the island of Anthemusa, and still others in the Sirenusian islands near Paestum, or in Capreae (Strab. i. p. 22 ; Eustath. ad Horn. p. 1709 ; Serv. I.e.}. All locations were described to be surrounded by cliffs and rocks. Approaching sailors were drawn to them by their enchanting singing, causing them to sail into the cliffs and drown. They were considered the daughters of Achelous (by Terpsichore, Melpomene or Sterope) or Phorcys (Virgil. V. 846; Ovid XIV, 88). Homer says nothing of their number, but later writers mention both their names and number ; some state that they were two, Aglaopheme and Thelxiepeia (Eustath. ad Horn. p. 1709) ; and others, that there were three, Peisinoe, Aglaope, and Thelxiepeia (Tzetz. ad LycopL7l2) or Parthenope, Ligeia, and Leucosia (Eustath. /. c.; Strab. v. pp. 246, 252 ; Serv. ad Virg. Georg. iv. 562). Their number is variously reported as between two and five, and their individual names as Thelxiepia/Thelxiope/Thelxinoe, Molpe, Aglaophonos/Aglaope, Pisinoe/Peisinoë, Parthenope, Ligeia, Leucosia, Raidne, and Teles. According to some versions, they were playmates of young Persephone and were changed into the monsters of lore by Demeter for failing to intervene when Persephone was abducted (Ovid V, 551). The term "siren song" refers to an appeal that is hard to resist but that, if heeded, will lead to a bad result.

Appearance

File:Syrenka warszawska0205.jpg

Syrenka in Warszawa

In early Greek art the Sirens were represented as birds with large heads and scaly feet, and sometimes manes, of lions. Later, they were represented as female figures with the legs of birds, with or without wings playing a variety of musical instruments, especially harps. The 10th century encyclopedia Suda [1] says that from their chests up Sirens had the form of sparrows, below they were women, or, alternatively, that they were little birds with women's faces. Birds were chosen because of their characteristic, beautiful voices. However, later in history Sirens were sometimes also depicted as beautiful women (whose bodies, not only their voices, are seductive), or even as mermaids (half woman, half fish). The fact that in some languages (such as Spanish, French, Italian, Polish or Portuguese) the word for mermaid is Siren, Sirène, Sirena, Syrena or Sereia adds to this confusion. In English however, "Siren" does not commonly denote "mermaid."

In his Notebooks Leonardo da Vinci wrote the following on the siren: The siren sings so sweetly that she lulls the mariners to sleep; then she climbs upon the ships and kills the sleeping mariners.

In 1917, Franz Kafka wrote in The Silence of the Sirens:

Now the Sirens have a still more fatal weapon than their song, namely their silence. And though admittedly such a thing never happened, it is still conceivable that someone might possibly have escaped from their singing; but from their silence certainly never.

Encounters with the Sirens

Odysseus and the Sirens, eponymous vase of the Siren Painter, ca. 480-470 B.C.E., British Museum

Odysseus was curious as to what the Sirens sounded like, so he had all his sailors plug their ears with beeswax and tie him to the mast. He ordered his men to leave him tied to the mast, no matter how much he would beg. When he heard their beautiful song, he ordered the sailors to untie him but they stuck to their orders (or they couldn't hear him). When they had passed out of earshot, Odysseus stopped thrashing about and calmed down, and was released (Odyssey XII, 39).

Odysseus and the Sirens. An 1891 painting by John William Waterhouse.

Jason had been warned by Chiron that Orpheus would be necessary in his journey. When Orpheus heard their voices, he drew his lyre and played his music more beautifully than they, drowning out their voices. One of the crew, however, the sharp-eared hero Butes, heard the song and leapt into the sea, but he was caught up and carried safely away by the goddess Aphrodite. It is said that after a ship successfully sailed by the Sirens, they threw themselves into the water to show protest. Varying traditions associate this event with their encounters with Jason or Odysseus, though the incident appears in neither Homer's Odyssey nor Apollonius Rhodius's Argonautica. It is also said that Hera, queen of the gods, persuaded the Sirens to enter a singing contest with the Muses. The Muses won the competition and then plucked out all of the Sirens' feathers and made crowns out of them.

In popular culture

The following are a selection of prominent popular culture references to the mythological Sirens.

In print

• In Terry Brooks' Shannara series there is a species of carnivorous plant called 'Sirens' that grows on the Battlemounds in the Eastlands. The plants have poison thorns which they are capable of launching at prey. They lure their prey within reach with an illusion of a beautiful woman singing.

• There is a Marvel Comics superhero named Siryn, whose mutant power is an ability to use a 'sonic scream,' much like Banshee, her father. Both characters' names come from mythological characters best known for their vocal abilities.

• The DC Comics-character and Titans-foe Siren is a mermaid and uses her singing as her main weapon.

• Sirena is a young-adult novel by Donna Jo Napoli told from the perspective of one young Siren, her lover, and the affairs of the Gods of ancient Greece.

• The "veela" (wila (pronounced VEE-lah) are Slavic fairies, equivalent to nymphs in Greek mythology) in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire are beautiful, humanoid creatures that entrance men with their singing in a manner similar to that of the sirens. In one incident Ron Weasley almost jumps off the edge of a balcony when he sees them and hears their song.

In television

• In the final season of Sailor Moon, one of the Sailor Animamates (Sailor Galaxia's cronies) mentioned is Sailor Aluminum Siren. In the anime, she doesn't sing, but just as her name suggests, she lures victims to their doom, by disguising herself in human form and when she has the opportunity tries to extract their star seeds but fails, turning them into phages.

• An episode of the BBC comedy Red Dwarf titled Psirens featured repulsive creatures who could create the illusion they were beautiful women. They did this hoping to lure unwary travellers to them so they could suck out their brains with a straw.

• In the 2003 Pax Network made-for-cable movie Mermaids, the mermaid character Venus played by actress Nikita Ager had a siren ability that allowed her to enchant and hypnotize male characters.

• Melinda Clarke plays a siren on an episode of Charmed titled "Siren Song."

• From April 21, 2006 on, the NBC soap opera Passions featured the character of Siren, a mermaid in love with Miguel Lopez-Fitzgerald.

• In the Batman TV series, a villain named Lorelei Circe (a.k.a. The Siren), played by Joan Collins, appears in episode 97, titled "The Wail of The Siren." The episode aired on September 28, 1967.

• In the Disney Channel's own show So Weird the character Carey Bell was entranced by a siren he met in a performing bar who wanted to run away with him.

• The character Angel (Experiment 624) is a siren-like genetic experiment whose song can turn good people evil.

In film

• Elle MacPherson, Portia de Rossi and Kate Fischer starred as sirens alongside Hugh Grant, Tara Fitzgerald and Sam Neill in John Duigan's Sirens (1994) a mildly erotic comedy. The basic (fictional) plotline being that a young English clergyman and his wife are drawn into an enticing world of lascivious art while attempting to persuade the genuine Australian artist Norman Lindsay (played in the film by Sam Neill) to withdraw a controversial work of art from an upcoming exhibition. Once on the artist's estate, however, the couple find themselves increasingly drawn into a more sexually liberated world by Lindsay's family and his three beautiful models.

• Three "Sirens" were featured in the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?

In music

• Jerome Kern wrote "The Siren's Song" to words by P.G. Wodehouse (1917).

• Enrique Iglesias recorded a song called "Sirena" in which he explains his obsession over a mermaid.

• It Dies Today recorded an album in 2006 called Sirens with imagery relating to the seductive powers of Sirens.

• Tim Buckley wrote and performed a song called "Song to the Siren" which has been covered by many artists including, perhaps most famously, This Mortal Coil.

• The Chemical Brothers released a separate song also called "Song to the Siren" on their 1995 debut album Exit Planet Dust.

• The British synthpop band Erasure has a song titled Siren Song on their 1991 album Chorus

• The song "Siren" by Tori Amos is featured on the Great Expectations soundtrack.

• The Finnish heavy metal band Nightwish also has a song called "The Siren," which describes a man tying himself to the wheel of his ship to resist the beautiful siren of the sea.

• Heavy Metal band Savatage has a song called "Sirens" on their debut album of the same name, Sirens, released in 1983.

• The Progressive Rock band Radiohead wrote song entitled "There There. (The Boney King of Nowhere.)" including the lyrics "There's always a siren, singing you to shipwreck," directly referencing The Odyssey.

In theatre

• The Siren was a Broadway musical in the style of an operetta, which played at the Knickerbocker Theatre on Broadway in 1911.

• In George Bernard Shaw's Augustus Does His Bit the character of the lady is compared to a siren.

In computer and video games

• A Siren can be summoned by characters in many games of the Final Fantasy series; she can usually inflict silence upon the player's opponents. She is often the fourth summon made available to the player, following the fire-, cold-, and lightning-based summons.

• In the video game series Star Control, one alien species is a race of beautiful blue women named "Syreens." Also, their ships can use mind-control to beckon crew from enemy ships to work on theirs.

• The characters Elle, Flameshe and Monique in the console role-playing game Legend of Mana are sirens. Flameshe is a mermaid, while Elle and Monique are bird-like from the waist down and have wings (though Monique's are decidedly more plant-like than bird-like). Elle (the only playable siren) suffered grief when she realised that her singing had caused the ship to crash and vowed to never sing again, until her friends convinced her that she should not be ashamed of the fact she is a siren. Monique is known for singing to unseen fairies to have them magically light the lamps she crafts.

• In God of War, the protagonist Kratos has to find and defeat three sirens and their minotaur minions in the desert. Sirens continue to plague him in the sequel.

• In the Playstation 2 game Rygar, the final Diskarmor the player obtains can be used to summon Siren to aid in battle. She attacks using water and ice-based attacks.

• Sirens also feature (although only rarely) in the video game Castlevania. On the occasions that they do appear, their physical appearance is never the same. As a character, the Siren is merely a stronger version of a harpy, a "spellcastress," and takes its original mythological form.

• "Siren" is a class in the video game Tactics Ogre: Knights of Lodis. Instead of being an enchantress (a position taken by the "witch"), the Siren is a magical powerhouse, capable of using the strongest of offensive spells with devastating results.

• In the video game Sudki there a boss monster that is a siren.

• The Naga Siren is a controllable unit in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne

• In the PC game Black and White 2, Siren is an epic miracle where a beautiful woman appears over the landscape causing enemy units to be drawn to her and, if weak enough, convert to your side.

• There is a stealth-based survival horror game called Siren. The siren in question is the call of a being known as Datatsushi, telling the people of Hanuda, a rural mountain Japanese village, to immerse themselves in red water to become creatures known as shibito, and prepare a nest for when he arrives.

• In the online multi-user dungeon, Achaea, Siren is a playable race. All members are female and, upon reaching a certain level, gain the ability to seduce members of the opposite sex

• In the Van Helsing video game, sirens are common enemies. They appear as beutiful women, but with an unnatural pale-blue color. In their first cutscene, they reveal a gaping hole through their torso.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

Anonymous (1989) Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Oxford.

External links

• Theoi Project, Seirenes the Sirens in classical literature and art
• A definition of Siren from the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities edited by William Smith (1870)
• The Suda (Byzantine Encyclopedia) on the Sirens

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