Editing Siren (mythology) (section)

== Classical literature ==
=== Family tree ===
{{void|Parents           = [[Achelous]] and [[Calliope]], [[Melpomene]], or [[Terpsichore]] or [[Phorcys]] and [[Ceto]]
|Siblings          = [[Gorgons]], [[Scylla]], [[Echinda (mythology)|Echinda]], [[Graeae]], and [[Thoosa]]
}}
Although a [[Sophocles]] fragment makes [[Phorcys]] their father,<ref>[[Sophocles]], [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/sophocles-fragments_not_assignable_any_play/1996/pb_LCL483.377.xml fragment 861]; Fowler, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA31 p. 31]; Plutarch, ''Quaestiones Convivales – Symposiacs, Moralia'' 9.14.6</ref> when sirens are named, they are usually as daughters of the river god [[Achelous]],<ref>[[Ovid]] XIV, 88.</ref> either by the [[Muses|Muse]] [[Terpsichore]],<ref>[[Apollonius of Rhodes]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' 4.892; [[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' 13.309; [[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]], ''Chiliades,'' [http://www.theoi.com/Text/TzetzesChiliades1.html#14 1.14], line 338 & 348</ref> [[Melpomene]]<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [[Epitome]] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0548,002:e:7:18 7.18]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#0.2 Preface], [https://topostext.org/work/206#125 125] & [https://topostext.org/work/206#141 141]; Tzetzes, ''Chiliades,'' [http://www.theoi.com/Text/TzetzesChiliades1.html#14 1.14], line 339 & 348</ref> or [[Calliope]]<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], ''Commentary on [[Virgil|Virgil's]] [[Aeneid]]'' 5.864</ref> or lastly by [[Sterope]], daughter of King [[Porthaon]] of [[Calydon]].<ref name=":12">Apollodorus, 1.7.10</ref>

In [[Euripides]]'s play ''[[Helen (play)|Helen]]'' (167), Helen in her anguish calls upon "Winged maidens, daughters of the [[Gaia|Earth]] ([[Chthonic|Chthon]])." Although they lured mariners, the Greeks portrayed the sirens in their "meadow starred with flowers" and not as sea deities. [[Epimenides]] claimed that the sirens were children of [[Oceanus]] and [[Gaia|Ge]].<ref>[[Epimenides]], fr. 8, suppl = Fowler, p. 13 (2013)</ref>  Sirens are found in many Greek stories, notably in [[Homer]]'s ''[[Odyssey]]''.
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=== List of sirens ===
Their number is variously reported as from two to eight.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Page |first1=Michael |last2=Ingpen |first2=Robert |title=[[Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were]] |date=1987 |publisher=Viking Penguin Inc |location=New York |isbn=0-670-81607-8 |page=211 }}</ref> In the ''[[Odyssey]]'', Homer says nothing of their origin or names, but gives the number of the sirens as two.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' 12.52</ref> Later writers mention both their names and number: some state that there were three, [[Pisinoe (mythology)|Peisinoe]], [[Aglaope (mythology)|Aglaope]] and [[Thelxiepeia (mythology)|Thelxiepeia]]<ref name=":0">[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [[Epitome]] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0548,002:e:7:18 7.18]; [[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]] on [[Lycophron]], 7l2</ref> or [[Aglaonoe]], [[Aglaope (mythology)|Aglaopheme]] and Thelxiepeia;<ref>Tzetzes, ''Chiliades'' 6.40</ref> [[Parthenope (Siren)|Parthenope]], [[Ligeia (mythology)|Ligeia]], and [[Leucosia (mythology)|Leucosia]];<ref>[[Eustathius of Thessalonica|Eustathius]], l.c. cit.; [[Servius (grammarian)|Servius]] on [[Virgil]], ''[[Georgics]]'' 4.562; [[Strabo]], 5.246, 252; Lycophron, 720–726; Tzetzes, ''Chiliades'' 1.14, line 337 & 6.40</ref> [[Apollonius of Rhodes|Apollonius]] followed [[Hesiod]] gives their names as [[Thelxinoë|Thelxinoe]], [[Molpe]], and [[Aglaope (mythology)|Aglaophonos]];'''<ref>Scholia on Apollonius, 4.892 = [[Hesiod]], ''[[Catalogue of Women|Ehoiai]]'' fr. 47</ref>''' the ''[[Suda]]'' gives their names as Thelxiepeia, Peisinoe, and Ligeia;<ref>''Suda'', s.v. ''Seirenas''</ref> [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]] gives the number of the sirens as four: Teles, [[Raidne]], Molpe, and [[Thelxiope (mythology)|Thelxiope]];<ref>Apollodorus, [[Epitome]] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0548,002:e:7:18 7.18]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' Preface p. 30, ed. Bunte</ref> [[Eustathius of Thessalonica|Eustathius]] states that they were two, Aglaopheme and Thelxiepeia;<ref name=":2">Eustathius on [[Homer]] 1709</ref> an ancient [[vase painting]] attests the two names as [[Himerope]] and Thelxiepeia.

Their names are variously rendered in the later sources as Thelxiepeia/Thelxiope/Thelxinoe, Molpe, Himerope, Aglaophonos/Aglaope/Aglaopheme, Pisinoe/Peisinoë/[[Pisinoe|Peisithoe]], Parthenope, Ligeia, Leucosia, Raidne, and Teles.<ref>Linda Phyllis Austern, Inna Naroditskaya, [https://books.google.com/books?id=5IBSGG9YegwC&dq=three+sirens+mythology&pg=PT27 ''Music of the Sirens''], Indiana University Press, 2006, p.18</ref><ref>[[William Hansen (classicist)|William Hansen]], William F. Hansen, [https://books.google.com/books?id=a-NmaO-kM2UC&dq=three+sirens+mythology&pg=PA307 ''Classical Mythology: A Guide to the Mythical World of the Greeks and Romans''], Oxford University Press, 2005, p.307</ref><ref>[[Ken Dowden]], Niall Livingstone, [https://books.google.com/books?id=_XsN0O_BQ0cC&dq=three+sirens+mythology&pg=PA353 ''A Companion to Greek Mythology''], Wiley-Blackwell, 2011, p.353</ref><ref>Mike Dixon-Kennedy, [https://books.google.com/books?id=2U7okUE3PIcC&dq=three+sirens+mythology&pg=PA281 ''Encyclopedia of Greco-Roman Mythology''], ABC-Clio, 1998, p.281</ref>
*'''Molpe''' ({{lang|grc|Μολπή}})
*'''Thelxiepeia''' ({{lang|grc|Θελξιέπεια}}) or Thelxiope ({{lang|grc|Θελξιόπη}}) "eye pleasing")
{| class="wikitable"
|+<big>Comparative table of sirens' names, number and parentage</big>
|- 
! rowspan="3"  |Relation
! rowspan="3" |Names
! colspan="18" |Sources
|- style="text-align:center"
| rowspan="2" {{vert header|Homer}}
| rowspan="2" {{vert header|Epimenides}}
| rowspan="2" {{vert header|Hesiod}}
| rowspan="2" {{vert header|Sophocles}}
| rowspan="2" {{vert header|(Sch. on) Apollonius}}
| colspan="2" {{vert header|Lycophron}}
| rowspan="2" {{vert header|Strabo}}
| rowspan="2" {{vert header|Apollodorus}}
| colspan="2" {{vert header|Hyginus}}
| rowspan="2" {{vert header|Servius}}
| rowspan="2" {{vert header|Eustathius}}
| rowspan="2" {{vert header|''Suda''}}
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" {{vert header|Tzetzes}}
| rowspan="2" {{vert header|Vase painting}}
| rowspan="2" {{vert header|Euripides}}
|-
| {{vert header|''Alex.''}}
| {{vert header|Tzet.}}
| {{vert header|''Brunte''}}
| {{vert header|''Grant''}}
|-
| rowspan="7" |Parentage
|Oceanus and Gaea
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|Chthon
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|Achelous and Terpsichore
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|Achelous and Melpomene
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|Achelous and Sterope
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|Achelous and Calliope
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|Phorcys
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| rowspan="3" |Number
|2
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|3
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|4
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| rowspan="15" |Individual name
|Thelxinoe or Thelxiope
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|Thelxiepe 
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|Thelxiep(e)ia 
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|Aglaophonus 
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|Aglaope 
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|Aglaopheme
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|Aglaonoe
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|Molpe
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|Peisinoe or Pisinoe
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|Parthenope
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|Leucosia
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|Raidne
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|Teles
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|Ligeia
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|Himerope
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===Mythology===
==== Demeter ====
[[File:Sirena de Canosa s. IV adC (M.A.N. Madrid) 01.jpg|thumb|upright|The ''Siren of Canosa'', statuette exposing [[psychopomp]] characteristics, late fourth century BC]]
According to [[Ovid]] (43 BC–17 AD), the sirens were the companions of young [[Persephone]].<ref>Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'' V, 551.</ref> [[Demeter]] gave them wings to search for Persephone when she was abducted by [[Hades]]. However, the ''Fabulae'' of [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]] (64 BC–17 AD) has Demeter cursing the sirens for failing to intervene in the abduction of Persephone. According to [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], sirens were fated to live only until the mortals who heard their songs could pass by them.<ref>Pseudo-Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' 141 (trans. Grant).</ref>

==== The Muses ====
In the sanctuary of [[Hera]] in [[Coroneia]] was a statue created by Pythodorus of Thebes, depicting Hera holding the sirens. According to the myth, Hera persuaded the sirens to challenge the Muses to a singing contest. After the Muses won, they are said to have plucked the sirens' feathers and used them to make crowns for themselves.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D9%3Achapter%3D34%3Asection%3D3 Pausanias, Description of Greece, 9.34.3]</ref><ref name="Lempriere">Lemprière 768.</ref> According to [[Stephanus of Byzantium]], the sirens, overwhelmed by their loss, cast off their feathers from their shoulders, turned white and then threw themselves into the sea. As a result, the nearby city was named [[Aptera, Greece|Aptera]] ("featherless") and the nearby islands were called the ''Leukai'' ("the white ones").<ref>Caroline M. Galt, "A marble fragment at Mount Holyoke College from the Cretan city of Aptera", ''Art and Archaeology'' '''6''' (1920:150).</ref> [[John Tzetzes]] recounts that after defeating the sirens, the Muses crowned themselves with the sirens' wings, except for [[Terpsichore]] who was their mother, adding that the city of Aptera named after this event.<ref>[https://topostext.org/work/860#653 Tzetzes, Ad Lycophronem, 653]</ref> Furthermore, in one of his letters, [[Julian the Emperor]] mentions the Muses' victory over the sirens.<ref>[https://topostext.org/work/803#74 Julian the Emperor, Letters, 74]</ref>

==== ''Argonautica'' ====
In the ''[[Argonautica]]'' (third century BC), [[Jason]] had been warned by [[Chiron]] that [[Orpheus]] would be necessary in his journey. When Orpheus heard their voices, he drew out 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]].<ref name="argonautica-4.891">Apollonius Rhodius, ''Argonautica'' IV, 891–919. [[Robert Cooper Seaton|Seaton, R. C.]] ed., tr. (2012), [https://books.google.com/books?id=ipANAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA354 p. 354ff].</ref>

==== ''Odyssey'' ====
[[File:Siren Painter ARV 289 1 Odysseus and the Sirens - three erotes (02).jpg|thumb|Odysseus and the Sirens, eponymous vase of the [[Siren Painter]], {{circa|475 BC}}]]
[[Odysseus]] was curious as to what the sirens sang to him, and so, on the advice of [[Circe]], he had all of his sailors plug their ears with [[beeswax]] and tie him to the mast. He ordered his men to leave him tied tightly to the mast, no matter how much he might beg. When he heard their beautiful song, he ordered the sailors to untie him but they bound him tighter. When they had passed out of earshot, Odysseus demonstrated with his frowns to be released.<ref>''Odyssey'' XII, 39.</ref> Some post-Homeric authors state that the sirens were fated to die if someone heard their singing and escaped them, and that after Odysseus passed by they therefore flung themselves into the water and perished.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' 141; [[Lycophron]], ''Alexandra'' 712 ff.</ref>

==== Pliny ====
The first-century Roman historian [[Pliny the Elder]] discounted sirens as a pure fable, "although Dinon, the father of Clearchus, a celebrated writer, asserts that they exist in [[India]], and that they charm men by their song, and, having first lulled them to sleep, tear them to pieces."<ref>Pliny the Elder, ''Natural History'' X, 70.</ref> 

=== Sirens and death===
[[File:Mosaïque d'Ulysse et les sirènes.jpg|thumb|Odysseus and the Sirens, Roman mosaic, second century AD ([[Bardo National Museum (Tunis)|Bardo National Museum]])]]
Statues of sirens in a funerary context are attested since the classical era, in mainland [[Greece]], as well as [[Asia Minor]] and [[Magna Graecia]]. The so-called "Siren of Canosa"—[[Canosa di Puglia]] is a site in [[Apulia]] that was part of [[Magna Graecia]]—was said to accompany the dead among [[grave goods]] in a burial. She appeared to have some [[psychopomp]] characteristics, guiding the dead on the afterlife journey. The cast [[terracotta]] figure bears traces of its original white pigment. The woman bears the feet, wings and tail of a bird. The sculpture is conserved in the [[National Archaeological Museum of Spain]], in Madrid.
The sirens were called the Muses of the lower world. Classical scholar [[Walter Copland Perry]] (1814–1911) observed: "Their song, though irresistibly sweet, was no less sad than sweet, and lapped both body and soul in a fatal lethargy, the forerunner of death and corruption."<ref>Perry, "The sirens in ancient literature and art", in ''The Nineteenth Century'', reprinted in ''Choice Literature: a monthly magazine'' (New York) '''2''' (September–December 1883:163).</ref> Their song is continually calling on Persephone.

The term "[[wikt:siren song|siren song]]" refers to an appeal that is hard to resist but that, if heeded, will lead to a bad conclusion. Later writers have implied that the sirens ate humans, based on [[Circe]]'s description of them "lolling there in their meadow, round them heaps of corpses rotting away, rags of skin shriveling on their bones."<ref>''Odyssey'' 12.45–6, Fagles' translation.</ref> As linguist [[Jane Ellen Harrison]] (1850–1928) notes of "[[Keres (mythology)|The Ker]] as siren": "It is strange and beautiful that Homer should make the sirens appeal to the spirit, not to the flesh."<ref>Harrison 198</ref> The siren song is a promise to Odysseus of mantic truths; with a false promise that he will live to tell them, they sing,{{blockquote|Once he hears to his heart's content, sails on, a wiser man.<br />We know all the pains that the Greeks and Trojans once endured<br />on the spreading plain of Troy when the gods willed it so—<br />all that comes to pass on the fertile earth, we know it all!<ref>''Odyssey'' 12.188–91, Fagles' translation.</ref>}}

"They are mantic creatures like the [[Sphinx]] with whom they have much in common, knowing both the past and the future", Harrison observed. "Their song takes effect at midday, in a windless calm. The end of that song is [[death]]."<ref>Harrison, 199.</ref> That the sailors' flesh is rotting away suggests it has not been eaten. It has been suggested that, with their feathers stolen, their divine nature kept them alive, but unable to provide food for their visitors, who starved to death by refusing to leave.<ref>Liner notes to ''[[Fresh Aire VI]]'' by Jim Shey, Classics Department, University of Wisconsin</ref>