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Siren: Difference between revisions
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==Encounters with the Sirens== | ==Encounters with the Sirens== | ||
[[Image:Odysseus Sirens BM E440 n2.jpg|thumb|left|Odysseus and the Sirens, eponymous vase of the | [[Image:Odysseus Sirens BM E440 n2.jpg|thumb|left|Odysseus and the Sirens, eponymous vase of the Siren Painter, ca. 480-470 BC, (British Museum)]] | ||
In '' | In ''Argonautica'' (4.891-919), 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. | ||
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>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> | 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> | ||