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From Manual of Mythology, by Alexander S. Murray; Revised Edition, Philadelphia: David McKay, Publisher, 1895; pp. 182-184.

[182]

INFERIOR DEITIES.

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THE SIRENS,


Black and white engraving of a siren, half woman, half bird, with wings and tail and playing a long double pipe.

Fig. 47 — Siren.






According to one version of the myth, were daughters of the river-god Acheloüs (hence their other name, Acheloïdēs and a Muse. According to another version, they were daughters of Phorcys. In either case they had been nymphs and playmates of Persephone [Proserpine], and for not protecting her when she was carried off by Pluto [Hades] were transformed by Demeter [Ceres} into beings half woman and half bird at first, and latterly with the lower part of the body in the shape of a fish, so that they had some resemblance to marine deities such as the Tritons.

Fig. 47 represents a Siren, half bird and half woman in form, playing on a double flute.

183

In the Homeric poems their number is not specified. In later times the names of three of them are commonly given: Parthĕnopē, Ligeia, and Leucosia. Is said that once, during the time when the greater part of their body was that of a bird, they challenged the Muses to a competition in singing, but failed, and were punished by having the principal feathers of their wings plucked by the Muses, who decked themselves with them.

The common belief was that the Sirens inhabited the cliffs of the islands lying between Sicily and Italy, and that the sweetness of their voices bewitched passing mariners, compelling them to land only to meet their death. Skeletons lay thickly strewn around their dwelling; for they had obtained the right to exercise this cruel power of theirs on men so long as no crew succeeded in defying their charms. This the 184 Argonauts, of whom more will be said hereafter, were the first to accomplish, by keeping their attention fixed on the unsurpassably sweet music of their companion, Orpheus. The next who passed safely was Odysseus (Ulysses). He had taken the precaution, on approaching, to stop the ears of his crew, so that they might be deaf to the bewitching music, and to have himself firmly bound to the mast, so that, while hearing the music, he would not be able to follow its allurements. In this way the power of the Sirens came to an end, and in despair they cast themselves into the sea, and were changed into cliffs.

The transformation helps to explain the signification of the myth of the Sirens, who were probably personifications of hidden banks and shallows, where the sea is smooth and inviting to the sailor, but proves in the end the destruction of his ship. The alluring music ascribed to them may either refer to the soft melodious murmur of waves, or be simply a figurative expression for allurement.



[See Peck’s entry on Sirens .—Elf.Ed.]






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