Bureaucrats, checkuser, oversight, Administrators
61,948
edits
On November 27th, 2022, the 8,000th article was added to the SuccuWiki!
Siren: Difference between revisions
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
m
no edit summary
mNo edit summary |
mNo edit summary |
||
| Line 17: | Line 17: | ||
When the Sirens were given a name of their own, they were considered the daughters of the river god Achelous, fathered upon Terpsichore, Melpomene, Sterope, or Chthon (the Earth). In Euripides' play, ''Helen'' (167), Helen in her anguish calls upon "Winged maidens, daughters of the Earth"). Although they lured mariners, the Greeks portrayed the Sirens in their "meadow starred with flowers" and not as sea deities. Roman writers linked the Sirens more closely to the sea, as daughters of Phorcys.<ref>Virgil. V. 846; Ovid XIV, 88.</ref> Sirens are found in many Greek stories, particularly in Homer's ''Odyssey''. | When the Sirens were given a name of their own, they were considered the daughters of the river god Achelous, fathered upon Terpsichore, Melpomene, Sterope, or Chthon (the Earth). In Euripides' play, ''Helen'' (167), Helen in her anguish calls upon "Winged maidens, daughters of the Earth"). Although they lured mariners, the Greeks portrayed the Sirens in their "meadow starred with flowers" and not as sea deities. Roman writers linked the Sirens more closely to the sea, as daughters of Phorcys.<ref>Virgil. V. 846; Ovid XIV, 88.</ref> Sirens are found in many Greek stories, particularly in Homer's ''Odyssey''. | ||
Their number is variously reported as between two and five. In the ''Odyssey'', Homer says nothing of their origin or names, but gives the number of the Sirens as two.<ref>''Odyssey'' 12.52</ref> Later writers mention both their names and number: some state that there were three, Peisinoe, Aglaope, and Thelxiepeia (Tzetzes, ''ad Lycophron'' 7l2) or Parthenope, Ligeia, and Leucosia (Eustathius, loc. cit.; Strabo v. §246, 252; Servius' commentary on Virgil's ''Georgics'' iv. 562); Apollonius followed Hesiod gives their names as Thelxinoe, Molpe, and Aglaophonos (Scholiast on Homer's Odyssey 12. 168, trans. Evelyn-White); Suidas gives their names as Thelxiepeia, Peisinoe, and Ligeia (Suidas s.v. Seirenas); Hyginus gives the number of the Sirens as four: Teles, Raidne, Molpe, and Thelxiope (Fabulae, praefat. p. 30, ed. Bunte); Eustathius (Commentaries §1709) states that they were two, Aglaopheme and Thelxiepeia. Their individual names are variously rendered in the later sources as Thelxiepeia/Thelxiope/Thelxinoe, Molpe, Himerope, Aglaophonos/Aglaope/Aglaopheme, Pisinoe/Peisinoë/Peisithoe, Parthenope, Ligeia, Leucosia, Raidne, and Teles.<ref>Linda Phyllis Austern, Inna Naroditskaya, [http://books.google.de/books?id=5IBSGG9YegwC&pg=PT27&dq=three+sirens+mythology&hl=en&sa=X&ei=I2X-ToWyJ_DN4QSlkNGNCA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=three%20sirens%20mythology&f=false ''Music of the Sirens''], Indiana University Press, 2006, p.18</ref><ref>William Hansen, William F. Hansen, [http://books.google.de/books?id=a-NmaO-kM2UC&pg=PA307&dq=three+sirens+mythology&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KWv-ToOrBs_Zsgamuv3dDg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=three%20sirens%20mythology&f=false ''Classical Mythology: A Guide to the Mythical World of the Greeks and Romans''], Oxford University Press, 2005, p.307</ref><ref> | Their number is variously reported as between two and five. In the ''Odyssey'', Homer says nothing of their origin or names, but gives the number of the Sirens as two.<ref>''Odyssey'' 12.52</ref> Later writers mention both their names and number: some state that there were three, Peisinoe, Aglaope, and Thelxiepeia (Tzetzes, ''ad Lycophron'' 7l2) or Parthenope, Ligeia, and Leucosia (Eustathius, loc. cit.; Strabo v. §246, 252; Servius' commentary on Virgil's ''Georgics'' iv. 562); Apollonius followed Hesiod gives their names as Thelxinoe, Molpe, and Aglaophonos (Scholiast on Homer's Odyssey 12. 168, trans. Evelyn-White); Suidas gives their names as Thelxiepeia, Peisinoe, and Ligeia (Suidas s.v. Seirenas); Hyginus gives the number of the Sirens as four: Teles, Raidne, Molpe, and Thelxiope (Fabulae, praefat. p. 30, ed. Bunte); Eustathius (Commentaries §1709) states that they were two, Aglaopheme and Thelxiepeia. Their individual names are variously rendered in the later sources as Thelxiepeia/Thelxiope/Thelxinoe, Molpe, Himerope, Aglaophonos/Aglaope/Aglaopheme, Pisinoe/Peisinoë/Peisithoe, Parthenope, Ligeia, Leucosia, Raidne, and Teles.<ref>Linda Phyllis Austern, Inna Naroditskaya, [http://books.google.de/books?id=5IBSGG9YegwC&pg=PT27&dq=three+sirens+mythology&hl=en&sa=X&ei=I2X-ToWyJ_DN4QSlkNGNCA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=three%20sirens%20mythology&f=false ''Music of the Sirens''], Indiana University Press, 2006, p.18</ref><ref>William Hansen, William F. Hansen, [http://books.google.de/books?id=a-NmaO-kM2UC&pg=PA307&dq=three+sirens+mythology&hl=en&sa=X&ei=KWv-ToOrBs_Zsgamuv3dDg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=three%20sirens%20mythology&f=false ''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, [http://books.google.de/books?id=_XsN0O_BQ0cC&pg=PA353&dq=three+sirens+mythology&hl=en&sa=X&ei=I2X-ToWyJ_DN4QSlkNGNCA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=three%20sirens%20mythology&f=false ''A Companion to Greek Mythology''], Wiley-Blackwell, 2011, p.353</ref><ref>Mike Dixon-Kennedy, [http://books.google.de/books?id=2U7okUE3PIcC&pg=PA281&dq=three+sirens+mythology&hl=en&sa=X&ei=I2X-ToWyJ_DN4QSlkNGNCA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=three%20sirens%20mythology&f=false ''Encyclopedia of Greco-Roman Mythology''], ABC-Clio, 1998, p.281</ref><ref>[http://www.theoi.com/Pontios/Seirenes.html Sirens], on Theoi Greek Myhthology</ref> | ||
==Sirens and Death== | ==Sirens and Death== | ||
| Line 36: | Line 36: | ||
==Appearance== | ==Appearance== | ||
Sirens were believed to combine women and birds in various ways. In early Greek art, Sirens were represented as birds with large women's heads, bird feathers and scaly feet. Later, they were represented as female figures with the legs of birds, with or without wings, playing a variety of musical instruments, especially harps. The 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia '' | Sirens were believed to combine women and birds in various ways. In early Greek art, Sirens were represented as birds with large women's heads, bird feathers and scaly feet. Later, they were represented as female figures with the legs of birds, with or without wings, playing a variety of musical instruments, especially harps. The 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia ''Suda''<ref>[http://www.stoa.org/sol-bin//search.pl?search_method=QUERY&login=&enlogin=&searchstr=sigma,280&field=adlerhw_gr&db=REAL Suda on-line]</ref> says that from their chests up Sirens had the form of sparrows, below they were women, or, alternatively, that they were little birds with women's faces. Birds were chosen because of their beautiful voices. Later Sirens were sometimes depicted as beautiful women, whose bodies, not only their voices, are seductive. | ||
The first century Roman historian Pliny the Elder discounted Sirens as 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's ''Natural History'' 10:70</ref> In his notebooks Leonardo da Vinci wrote of the Siren, "The siren sings so sweetly that she lulls the mariners to sleep; then she climbs upon the ships and kills the sleeping mariners." | The first century Roman historian Pliny the Elder discounted Sirens as 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's ''Natural History'' 10:70</ref> In his notebooks Leonardo da Vinci wrote of the Siren, "The siren sings so sweetly that she lulls the mariners to sleep; then she climbs upon the ships and kills the sleeping mariners." | ||