Mermaids and sirens have often been linked
as the open sea’s “sultry female seductresses.”
But today I want to separate their histories
and “dive” into the unique and important
“voice” of the siren..
The first depictions of sirens weren’t actually
mermaids at all, they were sea-dwelling monsters
with half human half bird bodies.
That later changed when a medieval book of
monsters claimed the fantastic creatures actually
had a “scaly tail.”
But two aspects of the sirens have always
remained the same: they live out at sea and
their song is fatal.
That VOICE is what really makes the Siren
monster powerful.
Its sound means imminent danger and often,
impending death.
The stories began thousands of years ago during
a time when sea travel was particularly treacherous,
with accounts of shipwrecks and drowned sailors
appearing often with seemingly no explanation.
The siren was a metaphor for the dangers at
sea—where countless unseen threats lurked
under the surface of the water, and above
it.
And where being distracted could mean danger
and even death.
The first siren stories date back to around
the 8th century BCE with Homer’s The Odyssey.
In it, Odysseus and his men prepare to leave
the island of the witch-goddess Circe
after a year of post- Trojan War debauchery.
Ever the kind hostess, Circe warns
that they will encounter two Sirens - and
if the men hear their “beguiling” voices,
they will never return home.
Circe does, however, offer a suggestion—she
says that if the men put soft wax in their
ears, they will not be affected.
And if Odysseus wants to hear the “delight”
of the sirens’ voices, he must have the
men tie him to the ship’s mast so he cannot
escape.
The sirens sit in a flowery meadow on a rocky
island surrounded by “a great heap of bones
of moldering men.”
Odysseus heeds Circe’s advice
and puts wax in his men’s ears as they near
the island.
Before doing so, he tells the men that Circe
instructed him alone to listen
to the Sirens’ voices.
He keeps his own ears unplugged and has his
body bound safely to the mast.
The Sirens hear the ship as it approaches
and in “clear-toned song” sing directly
to Odysseus.
They sing of their knowledge, of knowing “all
things that come to pass upon the fruitful
earth.”
Odysseus can't help but be charmed by the
hypnotic voices and he begs to be removed
from the mast, but the men bind him even tighter.
They eventually sail past the island and Odysseus
is free from harm.
Notice something missing there?
There’s no physical description whatsoever
of the Sirens.
So how do we know what they look like?
Historical artifacts.
From terracotta figurines to vases, funerary
pots to perfume bottles and mirror decorations,
the siren seems to appear everywhere in Greek
art.
From the 6th century BCE on, early art of
the Sirens shows them as part bird and part
human, most often with a female head or torso
and clawed feet.
They commonly have wings and are always depicted
around water.
In addition to Greek art, written and oral
legends helped define the Siren.
In some versions they are referred to as the
Greek river god Achelous’ daughters.
In other tales, the sirens were the handmaidens
of Persephone who were turned into winged
bird-women after witnessing her abduction
by Hades.
They now spend their time luring
sailors to their deaths with their song.
But why half bird half humans?
Well, birds are known for their songs, melodic
or otherwise.
But associating birds with death and water?
That answer may lie thousands of years earlier
with the Egyptian Ba-bird.
Ancient Egyptians believed that a person was
made of both physical and non-physical parts.
One of these parts, the “Ba,” was a representation
of a non-physical part of the person, and
it was depicted as a human-bird hybrid after
death.
With a human head, bird body, and sometimes
human arms, the Ba-bird was able to fly from
the tomb or burial site of the physical corpse—but
it always had to return.
Some Egyptian beliefs also dictated that after
judgement, another part of the soul would
need to be rowed across the waters of a lake
to reach eternal life.
Since the Ba’s appearance reflected the
sex of the person, ba could be male or female,
which would explain why some examples of male
sirens exist [Northumberland bestiary sirens.],
but usually these sweet-tongued monsters are
female.
While scholars disagree about when exactly
Homer wrote The Odyssey, we do know that the
Ba-bird appeared in Egyptian funerary texts
literally hundreds of years before
- As in the 15th century BCE.
There was also ancient Egyptian art showing
the Ba as a human-bird hybrid.
[Ba from Papyrus of Hori ca. 1085-935].
Greeks became frequent travelers to Egypt
around the 6th century BCE as routes across
the Mediterranean Sea made trade relatively
easier, allowing physical goods and ideas
to move between the cultures.
Because of their near identical appearance
and association with death, some scholars
argue that the Egyptian Ba-bird formed the
foundation of the Greek siren.
But Sirens aren’t exclusive to Greek mythology.
In the 7th century, Spanish scholar and archbishop
Isidore of Seville wrote in his ambitious
encyclopedia of language that sirens “were said to have had wings
and talons because sexual desire both flies
and wounds.
They are said to have lived among the waves
because the waves gave birth to Venus.”
He also writes they were “harlots” who
seduced sailors and other travelers, driving
them to “destitution,” which is how he
explained the tales of sailors who died at
sea.
The original description of sirens as bird-women
may also be explained by actual carnivorous
sea birds that hunt at sea and whose nests
would presumably be surrounded by the bones
and remains of their kills.
As time went on, medieval bestiaries depicted
sirens frequently, but they are not always
described the same way.
One example from an earlier 132th-century
Latin bestiary [Sirens playing instruments]
demonstrates the confusion surrounding the
siren’s appearance.
The three sirens are all shown with bird wings
and feet, and two of them are playing musical
instruments.
One siren’s feet are different and appear
webbed.
Their lower torsos also appear bird-like to
me, but I do think the feathers could also
look like scales to some people.
Especially that one on the left—that could
be a fishtail.
But hey, even she looks confused.
The first siren as a fish-woman appears in
art as early as the 7th century CE.
Around the same time, in the late 7th to early
8th century, the publication of the Book of
Monsters describes
the siren with the upper torso of a woman
and a scaly tail.
A few hundred years later is when we really
start to see more sirens with the tail of
a fish.
In an early 13th century encyclopedic work,
the author describes (in Otia Imperialia)
Sirens living off the coast of Britain.
It reads, “They have a female head, long,
shining hair, a woman’s breasts, and all
the limbs of the female form down to the navel;
the rest of the body tails off as a fish…with
the immense sweetness of their singing these
creatures so penetrate the hearts of passing
sailors that they succumb utterly to the sensuous
enticement of their ears, they become forgetful
of their duty, and very often suffer shipwreck
through carelessness.”
So why the change in appearance?
Regardless of what they look like, sirens
have always been dangerous.
In the 14th century, sirens appear in an old
Irish variation of the myth [The Book of Ballymote]
that connects the tempting women with death
explicitly.
In this version, sailors encounter nine beautiful
women atop a submerged island at sea.
The sirens hold the ship for nine days before
giving the men a huge amount of gold—but
only after the sailors promise to return.
Seven years pass, and as the ships sail past
again, they try to avoid the sirens.
Just as they think they’ve made it safely
away, they find themselves being chased after
by the sea-women “singing a song of lamentation.”
One siren kills a child she conceived during
her initial encounter with the men—and throws
the corpse at the horror-stricken father.
Brutal.
Mermaids have a history all of their own,
and I think it’s important to recognize
that the legacy of the seductive siren and
her dangerously beautiful singing voice is
part of that tradition, but ultimately its
own entity.
Depending on who you ask, sirens weren’t
even all that bad.
Their songs did drive men to watery graves,
but that was only because they were so skilled
at making music and were even praised for
their musical talents.
To call someone a “Siren” used to be a
compliment—even for the Ancient Greeks.
A famous rhetorician in the 5th and 4th century
BCE, Isocrates, was even buried in a tomb
emblazoned with a Siren as a symbol of his
masterful use of language and exceptional
skills in speaking.
The original Siren myth shows Odysseus tempted
not by how the Sirens look, but by what knowledge
they offer him.
Nevertheless, the danger associated with the
enchanting song of the creature increasingly
emphasized in medieval texts led to its association
with anything that the allures or deceives.
The way we use the word siren today to refer
to something like a police-siren or emergency
alert, originates from an instrument made
in the late 18th century named after the monster
for its ability to produce a loud sound under
water.
Today we think of Sirens as sexy, beautiful
women out to trap and ensnare men.
Ultimately though sirens are meant to warn
us of the danger of temptation and distractions
of all kinds.
Not all beautiful things are safe—some can
even destroy you.
