Siren (mythology)

This article is about the mythological creatures. For other uses, see Siren.
"Siren song" redirects here. For other uses, see Siren's Song.
siren in classical Greek funerary statue
Attic funerary statue of a siren, playing on a tortoiseshell lyre, c. 370 BC

In Greek mythology, sirens (Ancient Greek: singular: Σειρήν, Seirḗn; plural: Σειρῆνες, Seirênes) are female humanlike beings with alluring voices; they appear in a scene in the Odyssey in which Odysseus saves his crew's lives.[1] Roman poets place them on some small islands called Sirenum scopuli. In some later, rationalized traditions, the literal geography of the "flowery" island of Anthemoessa, or Anthemusa,[2] is fixed: sometimes on Cape Pelorum and at others in the islands known as the Sirenuse, near Paestum, or in Capreae.[3] All such locations were surrounded by cliffs and rocks.

Sirens continued to be used as a symbol for the dangerous temptation embodied by women regularly throughout Christian art of the medieval era. "Siren" can also be used as a slang term for a woman considered both very attractive and dangerous.[4]

  1. ^ Scholiast on Homer, Odyssey 12.168 with Hesiod as the authority, translated by Evelyn-White
  2. ^ "We must steer clear of the sirens, their enchanting song, their meadow starred with flowers" is Robert Fagles's rendering of Odyssey 12.158–9.
  3. ^ Strabo i. 22; Eustathius of Thessalonica's Homeric commentaries §1709; Servius I.e.
  4. ^ "Siren". dictionary.cambridge.org. Cambridge Dicxtionary. Retrieved 27 February 2024.