The Sirens were dangerous and beautiful creatures of Greek mythology whose enchanted songs lured sailors to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. They were originally companions of Persephone and were transformed into bird-women after her abduction, in some traditions. The Sirens appear in both Homer’s Odyssey and the Argonautica of Apollonius, and they have become a powerful symbol of dangerous temptation. The phrase “siren song” has been used in English since the Middle Ages to describe any alluring but dangerous promise.
The Sirens are the dangerous bird-women of Greek myth whose enchanted songs lured sailors to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. The standard source is the Odyssey (Book XII, lines 39–54, 158–200, the Sirens’ song to Odysseus, with the famous opening line ‘Come here, renowned Odysseus’); the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes (Book IV, lines 891–921) gives the variant in which Orpheus out-sings the Sirens. The Sirens’ parentage varies in the sources: in Homer they are unnamed daughters of Gaia; in later authors they are daughters of the Muse Melpomene and the river-god Achelous. The phrase siren song has been in English since the Middle Ages as a description of any alluring but dangerous promise.
The Origins of the Sirens
The origins of the Sirens vary in different sources. In some traditions, they were the daughters of the river god Achelous and the Muse Melpomene. In others, they were the daughters of Achelous and Sterope, or of Achelous and Chthon, or of the sea-god Phorcys. In still others, they were the companions of Persephone who were transformed into bird-women after her abduction by Hades.
In the earliest Greek sources, including Homer, the Sirens were not the dangerous seductresses of later myth. They were powerful enchantresses whose songs contained all the knowledge of the world, and they offered to share this knowledge with any sailor who would listen. Sailors who heard their songs would be filled with the desire to know, and they would steer their ships toward the Sirens’ island, only to be shipwrecked on the rocks.
In later Greek sources, particularly the Alexandrian and Roman poets, the Sirens became more like the dangerous seductresses of the later tradition. They were said to lure sailors to their deaths with their irresistible beauty and their enchanting voices. In some traditions, they were also said to be the mothers of famous children, including Achilleus, the son of Peleus and Thetis, who was raised by Chiron on Mount Pelion.
The Appearance of the Sirens
In the earliest Greek art, the Sirens were depicted as bird-women, with the head and upper body of a woman and the body of a bird. They were often shown sitting on rocks, playing musical instruments, and singing. In later art, particularly from the Hellenistic period onward, they were depicted as fully human women, often nude or partially nude, with their seductive beauty emphasized.
The Sirens were usually shown in groups, most often as a trio. Their names, in the most familiar tradition, were Parthenope, Ligeia, and Leucosia, or, in other versions, Aglaopheme, Thelxiepeia, and Peisinoe. The Sirens were associated with the island of Anthemoessa, which was located somewhere in the western Mediterranean, near the strait of Messina or in the bay of Naples.
The Sirens in the Odyssey
The most famous myth of the Sirens is their encounter with Odysseus in Book XII of the Odyssey. Odysseus, returning from Troy, was warned by the sorceress Circe of the danger of the Sirens. Circe told him that whoever heard their song would never return home, but that if he could pass by them without being enchanted, he would be able to make it home safely.
Odysseus, curious, wanted to hear the Sirens’ song, but he knew it was dangerous. He ordered his crew to plug their ears with beeswax, and he had himself tied to the mast of the ship, instructing them not to release him no matter how he begged.
As they passed the island of the Sirens, the creatures began to sing. They promised Odysseus knowledge of all things, including the wars of Troy and the secrets of the gods. The song was so beautiful that Odysseus begged his crew to release him, but they ignored his pleas and rowed on. The Sirens, defeated, threw themselves into the sea and died.
The Sirens’ song, as recorded in the Odyssey, is a beautiful example of Greek rhetoric: “Come here, renowned Odysseus, great glory of the Achaeans, and stay your ship, so that you may hear our voice. No one has ever sailed past us in his black ship without stopping to hear the honey-sweet sound that issues from our lips. No, he goes on his way, delighted and wiser, for we know all the things that the Argives and Trojans suffered in wide Troy, and we know all things that come to pass on the fertile earth.”
The Sirens in the Argonautica
The Sirens also appear in the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes, in the story of Jason and the Argonauts. The Argonauts, sailing in search of the Golden Fleece, encountered the Sirens on their return journey. Orpheus, the legendary musician who was sailing with the Argonauts, recognized the danger and began to play his lyre, singing a song that drowned out the Sirens’ voices.
The Sirens, defeated by Orpheus’s music, threw themselves into the sea and died. The Argonauts sailed on, and the Sirens’ island was left silent. The myth is a beautiful example of the contest between two forms of art: the seductive, dangerous song of the Sirens, and the noble, divinely inspired music of Orpheus.
The Sirens in Other Myths
The Sirens appear in several other myths. In one tradition, they were said to be the companions of Persephone who were transformed into bird-women after her abduction by Hades. In another, they were the mothers of the great heroes Achilleus and Aeneas, or the lovers of the god Poseidon. In still another, they were the judges of the dead in the underworld, sitting on a meadow and judging the souls that came before them.
The Sirens were also associated with the cult of Apollo and the Muses, and they were sometimes said to be the rivals of the Muses. According to one myth, the Sirens challenged the Muses to a musical contest, and the Muses won, after which they stripped the Sirens of their feathers and made crowns from them.
The Sirens as Symbols
The Sirens have been a powerful symbol in Western culture, representing the danger of temptation, the seduction of forbidden knowledge, and the power of music and rhetoric. The phrase “siren song” has come to mean any alluring but dangerous promise, and the “sirens” of modern life, in the form of advertising, propaganda, and political rhetoric, continue to threaten the unwary listener.
The Sirens are also associated with the concept of the femme fatale, the seductive woman who leads men to destruction. The Sirens, the Furies, the Muses, the Fates, and many other female figures in Greek myth have been interpreted by some critics as representing the Greek male fear of female power.
The Sirens in Art and Literature
The Sirens have been a popular subject in Western art and literature since antiquity. The encounter of Odysseus and the Sirens is one of the most frequently depicted scenes in Greek vase painting, with dozens of surviving examples. The most famous surviving depiction is a Roman mosaic from the Bardo National Museum in Tunis, which shows the three Sirens sitting on a rock, playing their instruments, while Odysseus struggles against his bonds on the deck of his ship.
The Sirens also appear in countless works of modern literature, art, and music. The 19th-century German painter Hans Thoma painted a famous picture of the Sirens, and the 20th-century French artist Matisse painted a series of works inspired by them. The composer Ulysses Kay wrote an opera based on the Odysseus myth, and the poet W.H. Auden wrote a poem called “The Sirens” that is modernist treatments of the myth.
The Legacy of the Sirens
The Sirens appear in the Percy Jackson series, the God of War franchise, the Hades video game, and many other modern retellings, including the W.H. Auden poem ‘The Sirens’ (one of the central poems of The Sea and the Mirror, 1944). The phrase siren song has entered English as a description of any alluring but dangerous promise. For the broader modern reception, see our guide to Greek mythology in modern culture.
A Note on Reading This Profile
A note on reading this profile. The Sirens are unusual in that the Greek sources give them a mortal fate. In the Odyssey, they are simply passed by; in the Argonautica of Apollonius, they throw themselves into the sea. The later tradition (in Ovid’s Metamorphoses) adds the detail that they are the daughters of the Muse Melpomene and the river-god Achelous, and that they were given their power by Demeter. The standard scholarly reading is that the Odyssey version is the older one, and the later versions are additions to the original myth. The reader who wants the older version should consult the Odyssey directly.