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Siren: Difference between revisions
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[[Odysseus]] was curious as to what the Sirens sounded like, so, on Circe's advice, he had all his sailors plug their ears with [[beeswax]] and tie him to the mast. He ordered his men to leave him tied to the mast, no matter how much he would 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> | [[Odysseus]] was curious as to what the Sirens sounded like, so, on Circe's advice, he had all his sailors plug their ears with [[beeswax]] and tie him to the mast. He ordered his men to leave him tied to the mast, no matter how much he would 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> | 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, ''Fabulae'' 141; Lycophron, ''Alexandra'' 712 ff.</ref> It is also said that Hera, queen of the gods, persuaded the Sirens to enter a singing contest with the Muses. The Muses won the competition and then plucked out all of the Sirens' feathers and made crowns out of them.<ref name=Lempriere>Lemprière 768.</ref> | ||
[[Image:John William Waterhouse - Ulysses and the Sirens (1891).jpg|thumb|right|''Odysseus and the Sirens''. An 1891 painting by | [[Image:John William Waterhouse - Ulysses and the Sirens (1891).jpg|thumb|right|''Odysseus and the Sirens''. An 1891 painting by John William Waterhouse.]] | ||
==Christian belief== | ==Christian belief== | ||
[[Image:Sirena de Canosa s. IV adC (M.A.N. Madrid) 01.jpg|thumb|upright|left|The "Siren" of Canosa]] | [[Image:Sirena de Canosa s. IV adC (M.A.N. Madrid) 01.jpg|thumb|upright|left|The "Siren" of Canosa]] | ||
By the fourth century, when | By the fourth century, when pagan beliefs gave way to Christianity, belief in literal sirens was discouraged. Although Jerome, who produced the Latin Vulgate version of the Scriptures, used the word "sirens" to translate Hebrew ''tenim'' (jackals) in Isaiah 13:22, and also to translate a word for "owls" in Jeremiah 50:39, this was explained by [[Ambrose]] to be a mere symbol or allegory for worldly temptations, and not an endorsement of the Greek myth.<ref>Ambrose, ''Exposition of the Christian Faith'', Bk 3, Chap. 1, 4</ref> | ||
Sirens continued to be used as a symbol for the dangerous temptation embodied by women regularly throughout Christian art of the medieval era; however, in the 17th century, some | Sirens continued to be used as a symbol for the dangerous temptation embodied by women regularly throughout Christian art of the medieval era; however, in the 17th century, some Jesuit writers began to assert their actual existence, including Cornelius a Lapide, who said of Woman, "her glance is that of the fabled basilisk, her voice a siren's voice—with her voice she enchants, with her beauty she deprives of reason—voice and sight alike deal destruction and death."<ref>Longworth, T. Clifton, and Paul Tice (2003). ''A Survey of Sex & Celibracy in Religion.'' San Diego: The Book Tree, 61. Originally published as ''The Devil a Monk Would Be: A Survey of Sex & Celibacy in Religion'' (1945).</ref> | ||
Antonio de Lorea also argued for their existence, and Athanasius Kircher argued that compartments must have been built for them aboard Noah's Ark.<ref>Carlson, Patricia Ann (ed.) (1986). ''Literature and Lore of the Sea.'' Amsterdam: Editions Rodopi, 270</ref> | |||
The Early Christian | The Early Christian euhemerist interpretation of mythologized human beings received a long-lasting boost from Isidore of Seville's ''Etymologiae''.<ref>Grant, Robert McQueen (1999). ''Early Christians and Animals.'' London: Routledge, 120. Translation of Isidore, ''Etymologiae'' (c. 600-636 A.D.) | ||
<blockquote>Book 11, On Man and Portents. Ch. 3: Portents. 30."</ref> "They [the Greeks] imagine that 'there were three Sirens, part virgins, part birds,' with wings and claws. 'One of them sang, another played the flute, the third the lyre. They drew sailors, decoyed by song, to shipwreck. 31. According to the truth, however, they were prostitutes who led travelers down to poverty and were said to impose shipwreck on them.' They had wings and claws because Love flies and wounds. They are said to have stayed in the waves because a wave created | <blockquote>Book 11, On Man and Portents. Ch. 3: Portents. 30."</ref> "They [the Greeks] imagine that 'there were three Sirens, part virgins, part birds,' with wings and claws. 'One of them sang, another played the flute, the third the lyre. They drew sailors, decoyed by song, to shipwreck. 31. According to the truth, however, they were prostitutes who led travelers down to poverty and were said to impose shipwreck on them.' They had wings and claws because Love flies and wounds. They are said to have stayed in the waves because a wave created Venus."</blockquote> | ||
Charles Burney expounded c. 1789, in ''A General History of Music'': "The name, according to Samuel Bochart, who derives it from the Phoenician, implies a ''songstress.'' Hence it is probable, that in ancient times there may have been excellent singers, but of corrupt morals, on the coast of Sicily, who by seducing voyagers, gave rise to this fable."<ref>Austern, Linda Phyllis, and Inna Naroditskaya (eds.) (2006). ''Music of the Sirens.'' Bloomington, IN: University of Indiana Press, 72</ref> John Lemprière in his ''Classical Dictionary'' (1827) wrote, "Some suppose that the Sirens were a number of lascivious women in Sicily, who prostituted themselves to strangers, and made them forget their pursuits while drowned in unlawful pleasures. [The etymology of Samuel Bochart, who deduces the name from a Phoenician term denoting a ''songstress,'' favours the explanation given of the fable by Christian Tobias Damm.<ref>Damm, perhaps ''Mythologie der Griechen und Römer'' (ed. Leveiow). Berlin, 1820.</ref> This distinguished critic makes the Sirens to have been excellent singers, and divesting the fables respecting them of all their terrific features, he supposes that by the charms of music and song they detained travellers, and made them altogether forgetful of their native land.]"<ref>Lemprière 768. Brackets in the original.</ref> | |||