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Who is the siren. What were the sirens

By the number of "water women" in the first place, you can safely put Ancient Greece. Plato once joked that the Greeks are very much like frogs sitting around a pond, since the vast majority of their cities are located on the Mediterranean coast. It is not surprising that the mythology of this people is closely connected with water.

Sirens were considered the most harmful and unusual of the "water maidens". Sirens are mythical female creatures, bird women or mermaids, who lure sailors and destroy them with their singing and enchanting music. Sirens live on one of the uncomfortable lifeless islands of Anfemoesse near Sicily. They were the offspring of one of the sea gods - either Phorkis, or Achelous (which is more likely) - and one of the muses, who probably hid her motherhood due to the nature of her daughters.

In the beginning they were all beautiful women. According to one of the legends, the sirens were turned into birds by Aphrodite, enraged by their pride and arrogance. According to another myth, the Muses awarded them with a bird's body because, proud of their beautiful voices, the sirens challenged the Muses to a singing competition. According to another version, the sirens were originally nymphs surrounded by the young goddess Persephone. When their mistress was kidnapped as his wife by the ruler of the underworld Hades, her angry mother, the goddess of fertility Demeter, gave the beautiful maidens a birdlike appearance. Finally, in another version, they themselves wanted to turn into birds in order to find Persephone, and when people did not help them, they moved in despair to a deserted island and began to take revenge on the entire human race. With the sweet singing of sirens, sailors were lured to the coastal cliffs and killed on the shore. Their voice was so beautiful that not a single person could resist; all the rocks of the island were strewn with the bones of their victims.

In ancient times, sirens were perceived in the same way as the muses of another world. They were often carved on stone tombstones in the form of death angels singing funeral songs to the sound of a lyre. In the Middle Ages, sirens were very popular as symbols; they were widely used in the coats of arms of noble families. They were depicted not only with bird features, but also with a fish tail and even with the body of a four-legged animal.

Sirens came to us from ancient Greek mythology, mainly from the legends of Jason and Odysseus (Ulysses, in Latin). Jason and the Argonauts in Argonautica, written by Apollonius of Rhodes (3rd century BC), meet the sirens, the daughters of the Akeloia River and the muse Terpsichore, half birds, half mermaids in appearance. Their singing attracted the Argonauts, and they would have died if Orpheus himself had not enchanted the Sirens with his playing the lyre. Homeric Odysseus tied his companions to the mast and plugged their ears so that they could not hear the sirens. Homer does not attribute any superhuman properties to them; judging by his poem, there were two sirens.

Although Apollonius wrote later than Homer, the myth of Jason ancient history about the Odyssey. Sirens are traditionally depicted more as birds with female heads than female sorceresses, as some authors have tried to do, referring to Homer, who omitted their description in the Odyssey. Classical writers dealing with this topic have always depicted sirens in the form of birds.

In the "Library" of Apollodorus (I - II century AD), the sirens are presented in the form of birds from the waist down, their names are Pisinoe, Aglaope and Telxiepia, they are the daughters of Akelous and the muse Melpomene, one plays the harp, the other plays the flute , the third sings.

The English historian James George Fraser (1854-1941) summarized references to sirens in the works of classical writers. According to him, bird-like sirens are found in Elian ("De natura animalium"), Ovid ("Metamorphoses"), Higinus ("Fabula"), Eustathius ("On Homer's "Odyssey") and Pausanias ("Description of Hellas") . There are either two, or three, or four sirens in different versions. Their father is Akeloi or Forkes, the god of the sea, their mother is Melpomene, Terpsichore or Steropa. Siren names: Teles, Raidne, Molpe and Telksiope, Leukozia and Lygia or Telksione, Molpe and Aglaofonus or Aglaofem and Telksiepia. Apollodorus and Hyginus. it is believed that the sirens died after meeting with Odysseus, and thus the ancient oracle prediction was fulfilled that they would die when the ship passed them unscathed. Other authors claim that they drowned themselves out of vexation.

Another version of the myth is known from a brief mention of the sirens in the "Description of Hellas" by Pausanias (2nd century AD): in Koronei there was a statue of Hera with sirens in her hand, "since the story says that Hera convinced the daughters of Akeloy to compete with the muses in singing. The Muses won, pulled the feathers from the sirens ... and made themselves crowns from them. " The English poet of the 16th century E. Spencer interpreted the meaning of this myth in the sense that mermaids symbolize temptation: "sorceress girls" were endowed with fish tails as punishment for their "arrogance" in competition with the muses.

Paintings and sculptures from the Preclassic and Classical eras also depict sirens with bird bodies, and are rather difficult to distinguish from harpies. Sirens were often depicted on ancient classical tombstones and could symbolize the souls of the dead or the spirits that accompany the soul to the god of the underworld, Hades (Hades). Dennis Page, in The Tradition of Homer's Odyssey, suggests that Homer may have come up with a description of his human-like sirens by summarizing the legends of escorting souls to the domain of Hades with legends of female demonic beings who, using their beauty, seduce and then kill men.

The American researcher John Pollard points out that works of art that have come down to us indicate that a number of associations and symbols that have survived in literature are associated with sirens, not counting the images of sirens on tombstones and those that met Odysseus and his companions. Sirens are depicted next to Theseus, Artemis, Hero, Athena, Dionysus; although most sirens are female, some, especially of earlier eras, have beards. They not only portend death or lead to death, but also deliver unearthly pleasure with their singing and symbolize animal strength.

It is not known exactly when and in connection with what the sirens became associated with mermaids, losing their wings and leaving their nests on rocky islands to plunge into the sea waves. Perhaps this happened in the Middle Ages in connection with the spread of bestiaries. In Romance and some other languages, the word "siren" and its related forms began to be called mermaids, although the use of this word also indicates the influence of the classical image of the siren.

In the Italian legend "The Siren's Wife", the sirens who save and take care of the drowning wife are sung by sailors (this feature is also inherent in some mermaids, and not only in classical sirens); contemporary Italian writer Italo Calvino, retelling this story, enhanced the effect by writing the words of their song, which, as it were, urged sailors to jump overboard into the sea; the fish-tailed siren in Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's Ligeia (English translation of The Professor and the Mermaid) has a classical name; the "little siren" Eleanor from Jean de Brunhoff's "Zephyr's Vacation" also has a fish tail, she is good-natured and by no means a seductress and she has no penchant for playing music.

In the sixth century, a siren was caught in North Wales and christened, and in some old calendars she is listed as a saint under the name of Mergen. Another siren in 1403 slipped through a gap in the dam and lived in Haarlem until her death. No one could understand her speeches, but she learned to weave and, as if instinctively, worshiped the cross. A chronicler of the sixteenth century claims that she was not a fish, because she knew how to weave, and was not a woman, because she could live in water.

AT English language different classic siren and mermaid with fish tail. The creation of the image of a mermaid may have been influenced by tritons, minor deities in the retinue of Poseidon.

In the tenth book of the "Republic" of Plato, eight sirens control the movement of eight concentric celestial spheres.

Do sirens really exist? It is unlikely that anyone will be able to give an exhaustive answer to this question. In the myths of the peoples of the world, sirens have a different appearance. Sometimes the siren was called the "soft water snake", the fairy Melusina or the lake siren.

Sirens in the Renaissance were also called coquettish naiads - nymphs of rivers, streams and lakes. The image of these sirens began to appear in ballet performances, and the artists preferred to “undress” them.

Apparently, they were really beautiful after all. And maybe there is?

There are still many mysteries left in ancient Greek mythology. Among them is the mystery of the appearance and existence of sirens. These marvelous creatures of divine or demonic origin leave a double impression. They are beautiful nymphs with a charming voice, but bloodthirsty and merciless.

creature mythology

Myths say that the siren is a woman, very similar to nymphs. They were on an island in the sea and lured passing sailors. Charming girls sang songs of extraordinary beauty, complementing the melody with playing the lyre and other delicate musical instruments. Their song became so attractive that the men could not resist the temptation to swim closer to the beautiful creatures. Their brains completely fogged up, they did not see anyone and nothing around them, they were drawn with great force to the island.

But here they were disappointed: on the way to the shore, the ship hit sharp, merciless rocks, underwater reefs and shattered to smithereens. The whole island, on which the sirens were located, was littered with the bones of former sailors and captains, the wreckage of their ships.

According to some reports, Zeus gave the wonderful sirens the island of Anfemoessu. It was located between the possessions of Circe and Sicily. It was a rather rocky sea area, which was of little interest to people. They preferred to swim past it (before the creatures settled on it).

They had an agreement with the gods - as soon as at least one mortal swims past their shore and does not die from their singing, then they themselves must die. Odysseus later turned out to be such a mortal.

The number of sirens that existed is not known. It varied from 2-3 to tens. People interpreted the image in different ways. They carved their images on tombs and headstones, considering them to be angels of death who sing sad funeral songs to the lyre.

This is a struggle for survival, rivalry and predatory power. Beautiful singing should alert the traveler, poisonous flowers are also very beautiful and smell good. No wonder in the modern world the signal that indicates a threat is called a siren.

There are always sirens at sea. This is due to the fact that the sea disarms the traveler, tiring him, which is why men succumb to their trick. For them, this is something new, unusual in a series of gray everyday life. They have long lost the habit of female affection, it is difficult for them to resist beautiful girls with wonderful singing.

Appearance

Exact descriptions of the appearance of mythical creatures differ slightly: some say that they are very beautiful girls with wings and bird-like paws with large claws. Others - that this is a creature whose upper body is human, and the bottom is similar to the tail of a fish. They have long hair, a beautiful figure, a gentle voice that they inherited from their mother.

In folklore, the image of a mysterious siren denotes the collective features of women who are too unpredictable.

The fact that these creatures possessed extraordinary beauty is not just that. You should never believe the shell, the vessel may be beautiful on the outside, but completely empty inside. Sirens are characterized by variability of character, tenderness and deceit, fragility and power. The following parts of the body symbolize the animal principle in them:

tail;
scales;
claws;
feathers;
wings.

Origin legends

In mythology, the image of a siren is quite common, so there are many legends, myths, tales about their origin and mode of existence:

One of the ancient hypotheses says that the sirens were created by the deity Phokias by natural fusion with Caliope, Melpomene or Terpsichore. This assumption justifies their unnatural attractiveness and alluring voice.
The second legend says that sirens are previously ordinary earthly girls who showed their proud disposition and inaccessibility, which terribly angered the goddess of beauty. As punishment, she turned them into birds. They were very angry with the men and tried to take revenge on them in the depths of the sea.
There is an idea that having a wonderful voice, the nymphs became arrogant and were not afraid to challenge the muses to a competition. They lost it and were punished by exile to an island in the middle of the sea in the form of sirens. It was Demeter who turned the young nymphs into birds.
Has the right to exist and the version in which the nymphs were created to serve the young goddess Persephone, but the evil Hades decided to kidnap Persephone so that she could live with him. The young nymphs could not forgive themselves for not saving their mistress. They searched for her on land in every place they could, but could not find out exactly where she had disappeared. Quite desperate, they came to Demeter, the mother of the missing goddess. She was in deep despair and endowed the young nymphs with wings and fish tails so that they could find her daughter. They did not have enough strength to search. They decided to ask people for help, but they refused. They remembered this ignoble act, settled on an abandoned island in the middle of the ocean and promised to take revenge on all men, dooming them to death.
There is even one version that looks like fantasy in mythology, which few people know about. The Universal Mind decided to create an experimental living being. He wanted to create a man, but he did not succeed the first time - a siren appeared, something between a woman and a bird. This did not stop the experimenter. From the second time he managed to create a person, and he no longer needed a siren. He destroyed all the sirens, but the exact number of nymphs created was not known, so there was a possibility that not all of them were destroyed. A few of them remained, they lived on an uninhabited island and sang sad songs, envying the man.

Who managed to escape from the sirens

Almost all Greek ships sailing near the sinister island sank, and the crew died. There were also exceptions. Only those who knew about the power of the sirens and how to deal with it could not fall under their power.

A wise marine crew of mythical creatures that Orpheus rescued by drowning out the fatal voice of the sirens with his powerful, beautiful singing.
Successfully sailed past and comrades, whose commander was Odysseus. He was warned about an imminent meeting with the sirens, so he worried about the safety of the entire team. Ordering that the ears of all members of the ship be covered with wax, he firmly tied himself with ropes to the Greek ship so that he would not be overcome by the desire to rush to the nymphs. And he succeeded. All crew members remained alive and not tempted, the ship did not crash on the reefs. After such a humiliation, the sirens died - they themselves threw themselves off the cliff.

Nobody knows if sirens exist. Lonely sea wolves sometimes hear the wonderful sound of harps on a wild island, but no one will believe them, mistaking it for the plot of a fantasy novel. No need to be skeptical - the world still holds many secrets.

Tananova Ekaterina

Sirens

Summary of the myth

Siren figure. Bronze. 8.1 cm. Etruscans, 5th c. BC.

Sirens are mythical female creatures, bird women or mermaids. They were the product of one of the sea gods - either Phorkis, or Achelous - and one of the muses, most likely Terpsichore. Sirens lived on one of the lifeless islets of Anfemoesse near Sicily.

According to legend, the sirens were originally nymphs surrounded by the young goddess Persephone. One day, when Persephone was walking in a meadow near Enna by Lake Perg, the god of the underworld, Hades, kidnapped her to make him his wife. The poor nymphs could not forgive themselves for not following their beautiful goddess. No one could tell them where Persephone had disappeared, so they decided to go in search of her on their own. Not finding the young goddess on land, they went to Persephone's mother, Demeter, for help. The desperate mother turned the nymphs into half birds and half fish so that they could search for Persephone in the air and water kingdom. But that didn't help either. When the sirens turned to ordinary people for help, the mortals refused to help them. In despair, the Sirens moved to a deserted island and began to take revenge on the entire human race: the fish-maidens dragged the sailors into the abyss of the sea with their singing. The winged maidens sucked the blood of those who stopped to listen to them.

It was predicted to the Sirens that they would die when one of the travelers passed by their island without succumbing to temptation. When Odysseus sailed on his ship past the island of Anthemoess, he heeded the warning of Circe and ordered everyone on the ship to seal their ears with wax, and tie him to the mast. Only thanks to this trick, the ship of Odysseus remained intact, and the sirens rushed into the sea and turned into cliffs.

Images and symbols of myth

Waterhouse John William
Siren, 1900

The image of a siren in ancient Greek mythology is an alluring, but destructive beauty. Sirens are accompanied by numerous symbolism, which makes the image complete. I would like to highlight the main symbols in the myth of the sirens.

Bird and fish bodies symbolize that part of the nature of the sirens, which is animal and embittered.

The beauty of the sirens shows us how deceiving appearances can be. Often, behind a beautiful, pleasant face, bad thoughts and intentions are hidden.

Odysseus and the Sirens. Drawing from an antique vase

The singing of the sirens attracts men and makes them go to certain death. The singing of the sirens symbolizes danger and danger. It is not for nothing that in the modern world a siren is called a signal used to warn about something.

Sirens are almost always found at sea. Perhaps this is due to the fact that travelers become defenseless in the water spaces and more easily succumb to the charms of the sirens.

Communicative means of creating images and symbols

Herbert Draper. Odysseus and the Sirens. 1909

The first surviving mention of the sirens is in Homer's Odyssey. According to him, they live between the land of Circe and Scylla on the rocks of the island, littered with the bones and dried skin of their victims. They killed many people whose bones turn white in the meadow. With enchanting songs, sirens lure travelers passing by, who, forgetting everything in the world, swim up to the magical island and die along with the ships.

Siren sculpture
Gold. 3x4 cm
End of the 4th century BC

In the Middle Ages, sirens were also very popular as symbols; they were widely used in the coats of arms of noble families. They were depicted not only with bird features and a fish tail, but even with the body of a four-legged animal.

Fountain "Siren" F. F. Shchedrin
1805. Petrodvorets

American researcher John Pollard points out that works of art that have come down to us testify to the connection of sirens with a number of associations and symbols preserved in literature, not counting the images of sirens on tombstones and those that met Odysseus and his companions. Sirens are depicted next to Theseus, Artemis, Hero, Athena, Dionysus; although most sirens are female, some, especially of earlier eras, have beards. They not only portend death or lead to death, but also deliver unearthly pleasure with their singing and symbolize animal strength.

The social significance of the myth

Edward Boutibonne. Sirens. 1883

In Greek mythology, sirens are female demons. Sirens represent a deceptive but charming sea surface, under which sharp cliffs or shoals are hidden. The siren is a symbol of deceit, seduction, the disastrous temptation of the material world, tempting the spirit on its way to the goal.

Frederic Leighton
The fisherman and the siren
1858

In general, the image of the sirens actualizes the motif of fatal female beauty, characteristic of Greek culture at a certain stage (during the transition from matriarchy to patriarchy). Sirens are associated with destruction and death.

Also, recalling the sirens, the ancient Greeks often talked about their double-mindedness and saw this as a great danger, because you never know how they will behave: like a beautiful girl or like an animal.

However, not only negative associations are associated with sirens. The image of the sirens can be endowed with positive connotations (in the context of interpreting music and singing as symbols of the universe). In Plato, for example, the sirens are located on the eight spheres of the cosmic spindle of the goddess Ananke, creating the harmony of the world with their sweet-sounding singing.

Ancient man "inhabited" the world not only with immortal gods who decided destinies, but also with fantastic creatures. Some of them treated people well, helped them, while others, on the contrary, were fraught with danger. Sirens were such creatures that could harm a person. Mythology endowed them with a beautiful voice, amazing appearance and cruel disposition. And the sailors passing by became their victims.

Historical information

Today, the siren is considered mythical, that is, a fictional character. Previously, people believed in their existence. The ancient Hellenes described them as female birds, but already in the fifth century, a certain author claimed that these creatures were women up to the waist, and birds below the navel. In the sixteenth century, sirens were considered half-human, half-fish. Albert the Great claimed that their faces were ugly, but their voice was amazing. It was the last image of the creatures that became the most popular, so a whole detachment of mammals living in the sea was named after them. But there was another image that took root in the world for a short time: the de-fish-bird.

Myths of the ancient Greeks

So, we figured out what the sirens look like. Mythology considered them to be creatures with the head of a woman and the body of a bird. They were the daughters of the river god Achelous and one of the muses (either Melpomene, or Terpsichore). Their father rewarded them with a cool temper, and their mother with an amazing voice.

But in the beginning all the sirens were human. Mythology tells that they were beautiful girls who angered the gods, for which they lost their beautiful appearance. According to one legend, they were punished by Aphrodite for arrogance and pride, according to another, the Muses did it because the sirens called them to a singing competition.

It is also likely that these marvelous creatures were previously nymphs in the retinue of Persephone. When she married the god of the underworld and followed him to Hades, Demeter (mother of Persephone) turned the girls into birds. Or maybe they themselves wanted to turn in order to find their mistress, because initially Hades stole the young goddess. People refused to help them, so in desperation they retired to the island and began to take revenge.

Revenge of the Sirens

Sirens subtly took revenge on people. Mythology claims that the creatures lured the sailors with their voices, and when they approached, their ships crashed on the reefs. No one could resist, so they went to certain death. The whole island was littered with human bones, and the sirens continued to sing, luring new victims.

Not a single ship could slip past the island and remain unscathed. who managed to escape the evil fate were the Argonauts. The sweet song of the sirens was drowned out by the singing of a man. This is the legendary Orpheus, playing his kithara, sang his song. Odysseus was the second to sail past the ill-fated island. The existence of these dangerous maidens was known to the king of Ithaca, since his father Laertes was on board the Argo when it was bound for Colchis.

Odysseus wanted to hear the Sirens' song, but he had no right to endanger his ship. Then he took advantage of a trick: he covered the ears of his friends with wax, and ordered himself to be tightly tied to the mast. The comrades did not succumb to the requests of Odysseus to untie him - they did not hear either the king or the singing. The sirens themselves, seeing that their spell no longer affects people, rushed into the sea and became rocks.

Impact on culture

The reader already knows what the siren looked like and what it did. also spoke about the death of these wondrous creatures. In the future, people began to consider the sirens as muses, angels of death, singing mournful songs. It was fashionable to depict them on the coats of arms of the nobility, endowing them with new features. And today it is a beautiful image, which is often used by the authors of the fantasy genre.

A siren is a bird with a female head. In myths, she is known as the seductress of sailors. Sirens' attributes are lyres and flutes - musical instruments representing sensual temptation.

Siren symbolizes temptation, seduction by a woman, deceit, deviation of a man from his true goal; seduction by the attractiveness of the transient, leading to spiritual death; a soul caught in sensual temptations. It is also a symbol of a funeral.

In Egypt, siren birds were considered souls separated from bodies. In Greek mythology, these are evil souls thirsting for blood.

Sirens are considered much more dangerous than their mythological mermaid counterparts: they tempt people with beautiful singing in order to destroy them.

In Slavic mythology, the analogue of the sirens, but much more positive, are the prophetic bird-humans - Sirins (Sirin, Alkonost, Gamayun), who can predict the future and cause rain.

Sirens (Σειρήνες), in Greek myth-making, demonic creatures, sea muses, personifying a deceptive but charming sea surface, under which sharp cliffs or shallows are hidden. The Sirens were born by the river god Achelous and the Muses: Terpsichore, Calliope (Apollonius of Rhodes, IV 892-898), Melpomene or the daughter of Sterope (Apollodorus, I 3, 4; I 7, 10).

The sea god Phorkis was also considered the father of the sirens, and Gaia was the mother. According to Homer, there were two sirens; later three sirens were named, whose names were Peisinoe, Aglaoth and Telxiepeia or Parthenope, Ligeia and Leukosia. In Greek tradition, it is believed that Demeter turned the sirens into demons because they did not come to the aid of Persephone when Hades abducted her. Some Greek authors claim that Aphrodite did this because they neglected love. Once the sirens were called to a competition in the singing of muses. The victorious Muses plucked their feathers and wore them as decoration, so the sirens could not fly. They lived on an island littered with the bones and withered skin of the victims of their sweet singing.

Sirens are first mentioned in Homer's Odyssey. They lived in the west, on the island between the land of Circe and Scylla, and here, sitting on a flowering coastal meadow, with enchanting songs they lured travelers sailing by, who, forgetting everything in the world, swam to the magical island and perished along with the ships. Only thanks to the warning of Circe, Odysseus escaped the insidious sirens. He ordered to be tied to the mast of the ship and ordered to fill the ears of his comrades with wax (Homer, Odyssey, XII, 39; XII 166-200).

In post-Homeric legends (for example, in Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes, IV, 893), sirens were portrayed as virgins of wonderful beauty, with a charming voice; with the sounds of their songs, they lulled the travelers, and then tore them apart and devoured them. When the Argonauts sailed past the island of the Sirens, Orpheus drowned out their voices with his singing and playing the lyre; one of the Argonauts Booth rushed to their call into the sea, but was saved by Aphrodite, who settled him in Lilibea (Apollonius of Rhodes, IV 900-919). In post-Homeric myths, sirens were represented as winged maidens, or women with a fish tail, or maidens with a bird's body and chicken legs. This last attribute they received at their own request, so that it would be easier for them to search through the seas and islands for their missing friend Persephone, after they had searched for her in vain on earth.

It was predicted to the Sirens that they would die when any of the travelers passed by their island without succumbing to temptation; therefore, when the ship of Odysseus sailed past them, they threw themselves into the sea and turned into cliffs. Late ancient authors located the island of the Sirens near Sicily and called as such either the Sicilian Cape Pelor, or Capreia, or the Sirenusian Islands, or the island of Anthemusu. Sirens were brought together with harpies and ceres; they were even perceived as muses of another world, they were depicted on tombstones. In classical antiquity, wild chthonic sirens turned into sweet-voiced wise sirens, each of which was located on one of the eight celestial spheres of the world spindle of the goddess Ananke, creating with its singing the majestic harmony of the cosmos (Plato, Timaeus, X 617). In the ancient Italian city of Surrent there was a temple of the sirens; near Naples they showed the tomb of the siren Parthenope.

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