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admin sinfulldude · Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:39 pm Post subject: SIRENS

Description
The Sirens or Mermaids were odd looking creatures who had features of a bird from the waist down and a body of a woman from the waist up. The Sirens were thought to be three in number, but that is not certain. The most common names were Teles, Raidne, Molpe,Thelxiope, Aglaophonus, Parthenope, Ligeia, and Leukosia.

It is said that the Sirens induced by Hera competed with the Muses in a singing contest and lost. The Muses plucked the Sirens of their feathers and wore them as a trophy. With their feathers plucked the Sirens were no longer able to fly and turned half of their body into a fish tail.

Origin
Sirens lived then on an island, called Anthemoessa, in the sea between Sicily and Italy. Huge boulders surrounded their island where ships would be destroyed if they ventured too closely. There is a theory that mermaids were actually misidentified sea-cows, mamals or porpoises.

Role
The Sirens sang songs to sea travelers to lure them to their deaths. Their songs were enchanting and would make sailors forget their sense of direction. The sailors would steer straight toward the island and crash into the rocks that surrounded it. The island grew white with bleaching bones, from which the Sirens would make musical instruments. According to Appolodorus, the talented Sirens boasted not only a vocal trio, but a small instrumental ensemble, two accompanying the third on lyre and flute.

Powers
Also known as 'Sea Sirens', the personality and appearance is most commonly known to be that of a seductive temptress. Her beauty has been said to reflect the wondrous treasures and power of the sea itself. Half-woman and half-dolphin or fish depiction's today are more common than the early sixteenth century part woman, dolphin and lion. The fish tail was thought to be shed when needed to make the mermaid more attractive to men. Medieval engravings have shown the mermaid to carry a small hand-mirror, which is the attribute of the prostitute. The sound of the mermaid singing was once thought to be a reason for sailors meeting disaster, as the haunting lilting voice was said to be heard coming from the waves forecasting bad weather. Mixed omens surround the stories of their sudden appearance being feared but also known to have saved the lives of sailors who had fallen overboard. Women saw them as enemies, as they were often thought to seek out men as partners, getting married, turning their partners into 'mermen'. Rejecting the approach of a mermaid was thought to bring severe misfortune to the man, and if she was injured a period of misfortune would meet a crew or coastline. Yet despite all this, the mermaid is currently viewed as a gentle creature kind in nature

Stories
Jason and Odysseus have both meet the Sirens when travelling on the sea.

Odysseus and his crew, on the way from Troy, are thought to be the only sea travelers that could withstand the Sirens' luring songs. Odysseus knew of the lure of the Sirens. He had all his men stuff their ears with beeswax, so that they could not hear, then he instructed them to tie him to the mast of the ship so he would not jump off and drown. Odysseus needed to hear the songs so that he would know when it was safe to let his sailors hear again.

According to late Classical writers, the Sirens were fated to die when any sailor who heard their song passed by unharmed. After Odysseus had done so, they flung themselves into the sea and died.

The second other person who was able to get past the Sirens was Orpheus, who drowned out the Sirens' voices by playing his lyre louder than them.