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Siren

  ('rən) pronunciation
n.
  1. Greek Mythology. One of a group of sea nymphs who by their sweet singing lured mariners to destruction on the rocks surrounding their island.
  2. siren A woman regarded as seductive and beautiful.

[Middle English serein, from Old French sereine. See siren.]


 
 
Thesaurus: siren

noun

    A usually unscrupulous woman who seduces or exploits men: enchantress, femme fatale, seductress, temptress. Informal vamp, witch. See sex/asexual.

adjective

    Tending to seduce: alluring, bewitching, come-hither, enticing, inveigling, inviting, luring, seductive, tempting, witching. See like/dislike, persuasion/dissuasion, sex/asexual.

 

In Greek mythology, a creature, half bird and half woman, who lures sailors to their doom with her sweet singing. Homer placed Sirens near the rocks of Scylla; in the Odyssey, Odysseus has his men plug their ears with wax and has himself tied to his ship's mast so he can hear the Sirens' singing without endangering the ship. In one tale of Jason and the Argonauts, Orpheus sings so sweetly that the crew do not listen to the Sirens. According to later legend, the Sirens committed suicide after one or the other of those failures.

For more information on Siren, visit Britannica.com.

 

Sīrens (Seirēnēs), in Greek myth, female creatures who had the power of drawing men to destruction by their song. In Homer's Odyssey there are two of them who live on an island near Scylla and Charybdis (in the Straits of Messina). Odysseus, when his ship was about to pass their island, in order to escape them filled the ears of his men with wax but left his own unblocked and had himself lashed to the mast so that he could hear their singing and yet survive. According to later legend the Sirens drowned themselves from vexation at his escape. The body of one of them, Parthenopē, was washed ashore in the bay of Naples, which originally bore her name. The Argonauts, on their return voyage, passed near the Sirens; Orpheus, by playing on his lyre more beautifully than the Sirens sang, saved the other Argonauts from listening to their song (except for one man, who sprang overboard but was rescued by Aphrodite). In Homer the Sirens are not described, but in art they are represented as half women and half birds; in time they came increasingly to be shown as beautiful women, and also as creators of music; in the Myth of Er at the end of Plato's Republic they make the music of the spheres (see HARMONY OF THE SPHERES); thus in Hellenistic art and literature they came to symbolize music. ‘What song the Sirens sang’ is said by Suetonius to be one of the impossible questions with which the emperor Tiberius used to tease the scholars at his court.

 
('rən) , in Greek mythology, one of three sea nymphs, usually represented with the head of a woman and the body of a bird. Daughters of Phorcus or of Achelous, the Sirens inhabited an island surrounded by dangerous rocks. They sang so enchantingly that all who heard were drawn near and shipwrecked. Jason and the Argonauts were saved from them by the music of Orpheus, whose songs were lovelier. Odysseus escaped them by having himself tied securely to a mast and by stopping the ears of his men.


 

In classical mythology, evil creatures who lived on a rocky island, singing in beautiful voices in an effort to lure sailors to shipwreck and death. Odysseus ordered his crew to plug their ears to escape the Sirens' fatal song.

  • Figuratively, a “siren” is a beautiful or tempting woman; a “siren song” is any irresistible distraction.

  •  
    A cynical view of the world by Ambrose Bierce


    n.

    One of several musical prodigies famous for a vain attempt to dissuade Odysseus from a life on the ocean wave. Figuratively, any lady of splendid promise, dissembled purpose and disappointing performance.


     
    Wikipedia: siren
    The Siren, by John William Waterhouse (circa 1900).
    Enlarge
    The Siren, by John William Waterhouse (circa 1900).

    In Greek mythology the Sirens (Greek singular: Σειρήν Seirḗn; Greek plural: Σειρῆνες Seirênes) were sea deities who lived on an island called Sirenum scopuli. In some different traditions they are placed on Cape Pelorum, others in the island of Anthemusa, and still others in the Sirenusian islands near Paestum, or in Capreae (Strab. i. p. 22 ; Eustath. ad Horn. p. 1709 ; Serv. I.e.). All locations were described to be surrounded by cliffs and rocks. Seamen who sailed near were decoyed with the Sirens' enchanting music to shipwreck on the rocky coast.

    The Sirens were considered the daughters of Achelous (by Terpsichore, Melpomene, Sterope, Chthon (in Euripides' Helen)) or Phorcys (Virgil. V. 846; Ovid XIV, 88). Homer says nothing of their number, but later writers mention both their names and number ; some state that they were two, Aglaopheme and Thelxiepeia (Eustath. ad Horn. p. 1709) ; and others, that there were three, Peisinoe, Aglaope, and Thelxiepeia (Tzetz. ad LycopL7l2) or Parthenope, Ligeia, and Leucosia (Eustath. /. c.; Strab. v. pp. 246, 252 ; Serv. ad Virg. Georg. iv. 562). Their number is variously reported as between two and five, and their individual names as Thelxiepeia/Thelxiope/Thelxinoe, Molpe, Aglaophonos/Aglaope, Pisinoe/Peisinoë, Parthenope, Ligeia, Leucosia, Raidne, and Teles. According to some versions, they were playmates of young Persephone and were given wings by Demeter to search for Persephone when she was abducted (Ovid V, 551). Their song is continually calling on Persephone. The term "siren song" refers to an appeal that is hard to resist but that, if heeded, will lead to a bad result. Later writers have stated that the Sirens were anthropophagous, but this is not supported by classical writings, nor is there any evidence that the Sirens drowned themselves failing to seduce one of the many heroes that passed their way, though that has also become a fixture in retellings of the story.

    Appearance

     Statue of a siren in Warsaw.
    Enlarge
    Statue of a siren in Warsaw.

    In early Greek art Sirens were represented as birds with large heads, bird feathers and scaly feet and sometimes manes of lions. Later, they were represented as female figures with the legs of birds, with or without wings playing a variety of musical instruments, especially harps. The 10th century encyclopedia Suda [1] says that from their chests up Sirens had the form of sparrows, below they were women, or, alternatively, that they were little birds with women's faces. Birds were chosen because of their characteristic, beautiful voices. However, later in history Sirens were sometimes also depicted as beautiful women (whose bodies, not only their voices, are seductive), or even as mermaids (half woman, half fish). The fact that in some languages, such as Spanish, French, Italian, Polish or Portuguese, the word for mermaid are respectively Sirena, Sirène, Sirena, Syrena and Sereia adds to this confusion. In English however, "Siren" does not commonly denote "mermaid".

    In his Notebooks Leonardo da Vinci wrote the following on the siren: The siren sings so sweetly that she lulls the mariners to sleep; then she climbs upon the ships and kills the sleeping mariners.

    In 1917, Franz Kafka wrote in The Silence of the Sirens:

    Now the Sirens have a still more fatal weapon than their song, namely their silence. 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.

    Encounters with the Sirens

    Odysseus and the Sirens, eponymous vase of the Siren Painter, ca. 480-470 BC, British Museum.
    Enlarge
    Odysseus and the Sirens, eponymous vase of the Siren Painter, ca. 480-470 BC, British Museum.

    Jason had been warn by Chiron that Orpheus would be necessary in his journey. When Orpheus heard their voices, he drew his lyre and played his music more beautifully than they, drowning out their voices. One of the crew, however, the sharp-eared hero Butes, heard the song and leapt into the sea, but he was caught up and carried safely away by the goddess Aphrodite.

    Odysseus was curious as to what the Sirens sounded like, so he had all his sailors plug their ears with beeswax and tie him to the mast. He ordered his men to leave him tied to the mast, no matter how much he would beg. When he heard their beautiful song, he ordered the sailors to untie him but they stuck to their orders (or they couldn't hear him). When they had passed out of earshot, Odysseus demonstrated with his eyebrows to be released(Odyssey XII, 39).

    Odysseus and the Sirens. An 1891 painting by John William Waterhouse.
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    Odysseus and the Sirens. An 1891 painting by John William Waterhouse.

    It is said that, incensed at having been outplayed, the Sirens flung themselves down into the water and perished. Varying traditions associate this event with their encounters with Jason or Odysseus, though the incident appears in neither Homer's Odyssey nor Apollonius Rhodius's Argonautica, nor does this occur when Aeneas encounters them in Book V of the Aeneid. In all versions, they simply continue to sing. Many scholars, however, believe the above vase depicts a drowning attempt on the part of one of the Sirens.

    It is also said that Hera, queen of the gods, persuaded the Sirens to enter a singing contest with the Muses. The Muses won the competition and then plucked out all of the Sirens' feathers and made crowns out of them.

    According to one story, the Sirens were religious celibates, though Parthenope had a brief unconsummated romance with a man named Metiochus. Supposedly she met with an accident after deciding to end her relationship with him, cutting her hair and dedicating herself to worship of Dionysus, and the place where she fell is known as the Tomb of Parthenope, which was supposedly located in what is now Naples.

    In popular culture

    As with many mythological creatures, sirens are directly featured in many artistic works and mentioned in many more.

    Selected examples

    In modern literature, mythological sirens have influenced everything from plant names (for example, a carnivorous plant by the same name in Terry Brooks' Shannara series to comic book characters (Marvel Comics' superhero Siryn). In television, sirens have appeared in shows ranging from sci-fi (the BBC comedy Red Dwarf episode Psirens) and fantasy (an episode of Charmed titled "Siren Song") to action (the Batman TV series episode 97, featuring The Siren played by Joan Collins) genres. The popularity of siren characters extends to films as well with sirens being the main focus of John Duigan's Sirens (1994) and appearing in the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou? (the latter drawing particularly on the myth of Odysseus and the sirens).

    The idea of the lure of the siren also features in the lyrics and composition of many musical pieces such as Erasure's Siren Song, Savatage's song and album Sirens, and New Order's album Waiting for the Sirens Call. Due to the bewitching powers suggested by the traditional mythology, sirens also tend to be used as characters in computer and video games such as the Final Fantasy series, the video game series Star Control's species "Syreens" and many others.

    See also

    References

    Anonymous (1989) Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Oxford.

    External links

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    Copyrights:

    Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Classical Literature Companion. The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. Copyright © 1993, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
    Mythology Dictionary. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.  Read more
    Devil's Dictionary. Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce, 1911  Read more
    Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Siren" Read more

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