Editing Siren (mythology) (section)

==== 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>