Editing Mermaid (section)

== Byzantine and Ottoman Greek folklore ==
The conception of the ''siren'' as both a mermaid-like creature and part bird-like persisted in [[Byzantine Greece]] for some time.{{sfnp|Wood|2018|pp=51–52}} The ''[[Physiologus]]'' began switching the illustration of the siren as that a mermaid, as in a version dated to the ninth century.<ref name=bain/> The tenth century Byzantine Greek dictionary ''[[Suda]]'' still favored the avian description.<ref>"{{URL|http://www.stoa.org/sol-entries/sigma/280|Seirênas}}", "Suda on Line", tr. Robert Dyer on 13 June 2002<!--@16:57:29-->.</ref>{{sfnp|Wood|2018|p=52}}

There is a modern Greek legend that [[Alexander the Great]]'s sister [[Thessalonice of Macedon|Thessalonike]] turned into a mermaid ({{langx|el|γοργόνα}}) after her death, living in the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]]. She would ask the sailors on any ship she encountered only one question: "Is King Alexander alive?",({{langx|el|"Ζει ο Βασιλεύς Αλέξανδρος;"}}) to which the correct answer was: "He lives and reigns and conquers the world" (Greek: "Ζει και βασιλεύει και τον κόσμον κυριεύει").<ref name=russell/> This answer would please her, and she would accordingly calm the waters and bid the ship farewell. Any other answer would enrage her, and she would stir up a terrible storm, dooming the ship and every sailor on board.<ref>{{Cite book|chapter=Alexander and the Mermaid |title=Folktales from Greece | last1 = Mitakidou | first1 = Christodoula | last2 = Manna | first2 = Anthony L. | last3 = Mitakidou | first3 = Soula | year = 2002 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fHt6Jqnmkv0C&pg=PA93 |page=96<!--93–96--> |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic | isbn = 1-56308-908-4}}.</ref> This legend derives from an Alexander romance entitled the ''Phylláda tou Megaléxandrou'' ([[:el:Φυλλάδα του Μεγαλέξανδρου|Φυλλάδα του Μεγαλέξανδρου]]) dating to the [[Ottoman Greece]] period,<ref name=russell/> first printed in 1680.<ref name=garstad/>