Editing Mermaid (section)

=== Other Greek mythical figures ===
The sea-monsters [[Scylla]] and [[Charybdis]], who lived near the sirens, were also female and had some fishlike attributes. Though Scylla's violence is contrasted with the sirens' seductive ways by certain classical writers,<ref>Xenophon, citing Socrates possibly spuriously, ''apud'' {{harvp|Holford-Strevens|2006|p=22}}</ref> Scylla and Charybdis lived near the sirens' domain.{{sfnp|Holford-Strevens|2006|p=29}}{{efn|In ''[[The Odyssey]]'', after [[Odysseus]]' encounter with the sirens, he headed for the place where Scylla and Charybdis dwelled.{{sfnp|Holford-Strevens|2006|pp=20}}}} In [[Etruscan art]] before the sixth century BC, Scylla was portrayed as a mermaid-like creature with two tails.{{sfnp|Holford-Strevens|2006|p=29}} This may be tied to images of two-tailed mermaids ranging from ancient times to modern depictions, and is sometimes attached to the later character of [[Melusine]].{{Refn|Bain (2017), citing Terry Pearson and Françoise Clier-Colombani.<ref name="bain"/>}}<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Allison |first=Sarah |date=2023 |title=Melusine and the Starbucks' Siren: Art, Mermaids, and the Tangled Origins of a Coffee Chain Logo |journal=Shima |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=280–288 |doi=10.21463/shima.190 |s2cid=258306641|doi-access=free }}</ref> A sporadic example of sirens as mermaids (tritonesses) in Early Greek art (third century BC), can be explained as the contamination of the siren myth with Scylla and Charybdis.<ref name="thompson" />

The female [[Oceanid]]s, [[Nereids]] and [[Naiad]]s are mythical water nymphs, although they were generally depicted without fish tails. "Nereid" and "nymph" have also been applied to actual mermaid-like marine creatures purported to exist, from Pliny (cf. [[#Roman Lusitania and Gaul|§Roman Lusitania and Gaul]]) and onwards. [[Jane Ellen Harrison]] (1882) has speculated that the mermaids or tritonesses of Greek and [[Roman mythology]] may have been brought from the [[Middle East]], possibly transmitted by [[Phoenicia]]n mariners.<ref name="harrison" />

The Greek god [[Triton (mythology)|Triton]] had two fish tails instead of legs, and later became pluralized as a group. The prophetic sea deity [[Glaucus]] was also depicted with a fish tail and sometimes with fins for arms.