Editing Siren (mythology) (section)

=== Classical iconography ===
[[File:Funerary siren Louvre Myr148.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Moaning siren statuette from [[Myrina (Aeolis)|Myrina]], first century BC]]

The sirens of Greek mythology first appeared in [[Homer]]'s ''[[Odyssey]]'', where Homer did not provide any physical descriptions, and their visual appearance was left to the readers' imagination. It was [[Apollonius of Rhodes]] in ''[[Argonautica]]'' (3rd century BC) who described the sirens in writing as part woman and part bird.{{efn|Argonautica 4.891ff. Seaton tr. (1912): "and at that time they were fashioned in part like birds and in part like maidens to behold"}}<ref name="argonautica-4.891"/><ref name="knight"/> By the 7th century BC, sirens were regularly depicted in art as human-headed birds.{{sfnp|Holford-Strevens|2006|pp=17–18}} They may have been influenced by the [[Ba (Egyptian soul)|ba-bird]] of Egyptian religion. In early Greek art, the sirens were generally represented as large birds with women's heads, bird feathers and scaly feet. Later depictions shifted to show sirens with human upper bodies and bird legs, with or without wings. They were often shown playing a variety of musical instruments, especially the [[lyre]], [[Cithara|kithara]], and [[aulos]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tsiafakis |first=Despoina |date=2003 |title=Pelora: Fabulous Creatures and/or Demons of Death? |journal=The Centaur's Smile: The Human Animal in Early Greek Art |pages=73–104}}</ref>

The tenth-century Byzantine dictionary ''[[Suda]]'' stated that sirens ({{langx|grc|Σειρῆνας}}){{efn|The headword is accusative plural (Commentary to the Sudas entry).}} had the form of [[Old World sparrow|sparrows]] from their chests up, and below they were women or that they were little birds with women's faces.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Suda on-line |url=http://www.stoa.org/sol-bin//search.pl?search_method=QUERY&login=&enlogin=&searchstr=sigma,280&field=adlerhw_gr&db=REAL |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924112336/http://www.stoa.org/sol-bin//search.pl?search_method=QUERY&login=&enlogin=&searchstr=sigma,280&field=adlerhw_gr&db=REAL |archive-date=2015-09-24 |access-date=2010-01-30}}</ref>

Originally, sirens were shown as male or female, but the male siren disappeared from art around the fifth century BC.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.colorado.edu/classics/exhibits/GreekVases/essays/200637tsirens.htm|title=CU Classics – Greek Vase Exhibit – Essays – Sirens|website=www.colorado.edu|access-date=2017-10-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160625173807/http://www.colorado.edu/Classics/exhibits/GreekVases/essays/200637tsirens.htm|archive-date=2016-06-25|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==== Early siren-mermaids ====
[[File:Siren enchants sailors - Bestiary (1230-1240), f.47v - BL Harley MS 4751.jpg|thumb|upright|Miniature illustration of a siren enticing sailors who try to resist her, from an English ''[[Bestiary]]'', {{circa|1235}}]]
Some surviving Classical period examples had already depicted the siren as mermaid-like.<ref name="harrison"/> The sirens are described as mermaids or "tritonesses" in examples dating to the 3rd century BC, including an earthenware bowl found in Athens{{Refn|A mould made [[Megara|Megarian]] bowl excavated in the [[Ancient Agora of Athens]], catalogued P 18,640. {{harvp|Rotroff|1982|p=67}}<ref name="rotroff"/> ''apud'' {{harvp|Holford-Strevens|2006|p=29}}; Thompson (1948), pp. 161–162 and Fig. 5<ref name="thompson"/>}}{{Refn|A [[terracotta]] piece of a "mourning siren", 250&nbsp;BC, according to Waugh.<ref name="waugh" />}} and  a terracotta oil lamp possibly from the Roman period.<ref name="harrison"/>

The first known literary attestation of siren as a "mermaid" appeared in the Anglo-Latin catalogue ''[[Liber Monstrorum]]'' (early 8th century AD), where it says that sirens were "sea-girls... with the body of a maiden, but have scaly fishes' tails".<ref>{{harvp|Holford-Strevens|2006|p=29}}, quoting Orchard (1995)'s translation.</ref><ref name="Orchard 2005">{{cite web |last=Orchard |first=Andy |title=Etext: Liber monstrorum (fr the Beowulf Manuscript) |website=members.shaw.ca |url=http://members.shaw.ca/sylviavolk/Beowulf3.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050118082548/http://members.shaw.ca/sylviavolk/Beowulf3.htm |archive-date=2005-01-18 |url-status=dead}}</ref>