Who is siren in mythology

Homer Ancient Greek poet, author of The Odyssey locates the home of the sirens, as an island in the Western sea, between Aeaea ;the Island, in Greek mythology home to the witch Circe and Scylla, A monster in Greek mythology, which lived at one side of a narrow channel of water, opposite her counterpart Charybdis. All locations, thought to be home to the sirens, were surrounded by cliffs and rocks, perfect for luring sailors to their death. When the question arises, asking how many sirens actually existed and what their names were, there seems to be quite a bit of confusion.

The most popular answer is that there were three sirens in Greek mythology. Homer mentions only two, with no other detail, apart from where they may have lived. Later writers mention three, their names being Peisinoe, Aglaope, and Thelxiepeia , or, Parthenope, Ligeia, and Leucosia.

Eustathius Greek Archbishop of Thessaloniki, and scholar , states, as did Homer, that there two, and gives them the names Aglaopheme and Thelxiepeia. All later mention of the sirens of ancient Greek mythology, use the following, individual names:.

C, Jason is warned by Chiron A centaur , that Orpheus Musician, poet and prophet , would be needed on his journey, to play his lyre, in order to drown out the song of the sirens, which is exactly what Orpheus did. One member of the crew, Butes, heard the song though and jumped into the sea but luckily for him, was caught and brought to safety by Aphrodite, Goddess of love, pleasure and procreation.

When he heard the siren song, Odysseus begged his crew to untie him, but they only tied him tighter, enabling their ship to pass by the island of the sirens. Some post-Homeric authors believe the Sirens were sure to die if someone heard their singing and escaped and that after Odysseus passed by, the sirens flung themselves into the sea and drowned.

According to GaiusGaius Julius Hyginus, Latin author , sirens were fated to live only until the mortals who heard their songs were able to pass by them. Another story is that Hera, queen of the gods, persuaded the Sirens to enter a singing competition with the Muses. Nisi and Leon in Suda Bay, Crete. The first-century Roman historian Pliny the Elder, discounted Sirens as sheer fantasy but went on to say;. And though admittedly such a thing never happened, it is still conceivable that someone might possibly have escaped from their singing; but from their silence certainly never.

This terracotta figure, from around to B. C, has the feet, wings and tail of a bird and bears traces of its original white pigment. Roman writers linked the Sirens more closely to the sea, as daughters of Phorcys. Roman poets placed them on some small islands called Sirenum scopuli. In some later, rationalized traditions, the literal geography of the "flowery" island of Anthemoessa, or Anthemusa, is fixed: sometimes on Cape Pelorum and at others in the islands known as the Sirenuse, near Paestum, or in Capreae.

All such locations were surrounded by cliffs and rocks. The first were under the government of Zeus , the second under that of Poseidon , and the third of Hades.

When the soul is in heaven the sirens seek, by harmonic motion, to unite it to the divine life of the celestial host; and when in Hades, to conform the soul to eternal infernal regimen; but when on earth their only job to "produce generation, of which the sea is emblematic".

When the Sirens were given a name of their own, they were considered the daughters of the river god Achelous , fathered upon Terpsichore , Melpomene , Sterope , or Gaia the Earth; in Euripides' Helen , Helen in her anguish calls upon "Winged maidens, daughters of the Earth". They may have become a part of Greek mythology through the influence of Asian traditions in artworks of Ancient Greece. Depending on the author, the parentage of the Sirens changes, but most sources agree that they were the daughters of the river god Achelous with one of the Muses.

Early depictions of the Sirens showed them as half-woman half-bird creatures, similar to harpies , who lived by the sea. However, later on, Sirens were said to have female heads and torsos, with fish tail from their navel downwards. Around the Middle Ages, the Sirens morphed into the figure that we now call mermaids. Other authors refer to at least three.

According to some sources, the Sirens were maidens who were the companions or the servants of Persephone. After this point, the myths vary on how they turned into the dangerous creatures they wound up being. Some stories propose that Demeter punished the Sirens for not being able to protect Persephone when Hades raped her.

Other sources, however, say that they were tirelessly looking for Persephone and asked Demeter to give them wings so that they could fly over the seas in their search.

The Sirens stayed on an island near the strait of Scylla and Charybdis after the search for Persephone ended. From there, they would prey on the ships passing nearby, enticing the sailors with their charming singing. Their singing was so beautiful that they could make the wind stop to listen to them.

According to some myths, the corpses of their victims could be found all along the shores of their island. So outstanding was their gift for singing that the Sirens engaged in a contest with the Muses, the goddesses of arts and inspiration. In the myths, Hera convinced the Sirens to compete against the Muses with their singing.

The Muses won the contest and plucked out the feathers of the Sirens to make themselves crowns. The enchantress Circe explained to the hero how the singing of the Sirens worked and how they used it to kill the sailors who passed by.

Odysseus instructed his man to block their ears with wax so that they would not listen to the singing. However, Odysseus was curious to hear what the singing sounded like. So, he decided to tie himself to the mast of the ship so that he could listen to the singing of the sirens without danger.

That way, Odysseus and his men could sail by their island and continue their journey. The sirens also play a minor role in the myths of the great Greek hero Jason and the Argonauts. The sailing crew had to pass near the island of the Sirens, and they needed a way to do it without being harmed by them. Unlike Odysseus, they did not use wax, but they had the great hero Orpheus sing and play the lyre while sailing by the island.