Siren
In Greek mythology the Sirens or Seirenes (Greek Σειρήνες or Acheloides) were creatures who lived on a remote island surrounded by rocky cliffs, later identified as Sirenum scopuli. The sirens lured passing sailors by their singing, which would enchant any listening to the point that they lost all will-power, and crashed their ships upon the Sirens' rocky shore and cliffs, killing all the men aboard. While the Sirens were used frequently by the most famous of the classical authors, they appear rarely in contemporary fiction.
Origin
Sailing was a very important part of ancient Greek life, but the waters of the Mediterrean were very dangerous and the epic literature of the times reflected this awe and fear of the sea. It most probable that out of these mixed feelings for the waters came the idea for the Sirens, reflecting the communion that sailors feel with the ocean, one that is both beautiful and deadly. Originally, not much was known about the Sirens, because anyone drawn to their calls never came back alive. However, later Roman Empire authors expanded on the idea of the Sirens, giving us the general depiction we have today. Their number is variously reported by such authors as between two and five, and their individual names as Thelxiepia/Thelxiope/Thelxinoe, Molpe, Aglaophonos/Aglaope, Pisinoe/Peisinoë, Parthenope, Ligeia, Leucosia, Raidne, and Teles. As far as partanage, they have been linked to Phorcys, Achelous, Melpone, Sterope and Terpsichore. It was Ovid who came up with the origin tale; originally, the sirens were playmates of young Persephone and were changed into the monsters of lore by Demeter for failing to intervene when Persephone was abducted.[1]
It has been suggested that the siren is actually the precussor for the Northern European mermaids, half-women and half-fish creatures that lured individual sailors into the water, where they were drowned and eaten.
Appearance
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 adds to this confusion. In English however, "Siren" does not commonly denote "mermaid."
Encounters with the Sirens
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).
.jpg)
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 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.
ReferencesISBN 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
Credits
New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:
The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:
Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.
