Every culture has its mythology. Many share cultural icons. Editor Elizabeth Shay grew up reading the Percy Jackson books, and ever since she’s been intrigued with mythology in our lives. For this week’s theme, blogger Evan Spry looked to Greek mythology. Read on to learn about a common misconception he uncovered about a famous creature.

By Evan Spry

Looking back at the most memorable stories derived from Greek mythology, I am immediately reminded of the biologically intriguing and physiologically concerning creatures that were Sirens. Sirens have always interested me because of their powers and how much of a danger they were to Greek sailors, even though there were only a few Sirens in total recorded mythology. However, something that interests me even more are the constant misconceptions of the Sirens. I know personally that when I was reading the Greek myths for the first time I imagined the Sirens as beautiful mermaids, whose beauty and sexuality lured men to their death. However, upon further inspection, Sirens are actually said to be half-bird, half-human creatures that lure men with their beautiful voices and songs. As the “real” story goes, sirens are just big birds with women’s faces and heads on them. 

Homer

According to Emily Wilson, a University of Pennsylvania classicist, “Homer doesn’t describe the Sirens’ physical appearance in his epic poem” (audubon.org). The fact that Homer never even mentioned the physical appearances of the Sirens proves how far popular culture has morphed the look of these creatures. For example, the first things that pop up from a Google search of the word “siren” are pictures and links to a television show with the same name. That siren is a slightly sexy, slightly creepy fish woman. Hulu describes the show Siren as literally about a “mermaid.” This confusion of the two creatures–bird? fish?–adds to the continuity of misconceptions about sirens.  I fell victim to this misconception, as did the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou and Wikipedia.

Bird-Women

Also, according to Wilson, “…in ceramic paintings and tomb sculptures from the time of writing, and centuries after, sirens were usually depicted with taloned feet, feathered wings, and a beautiful human face.” This is far from the visualizations that appeared in my mind when imagining sirens, which is very unfortunate because this is what they are meant to be. Wilson explains the significance of their appearance as birds because in the eyes of these old, traditional European people, “…birds were often graced with an otherworldliness associated with gods, spirits, and omens.” This highlights the importance of sirens. They weren’t just an abundant group of hot mermaids that took pleasure in killing random sailors. In ancient Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern cultures, birds played a significant role in the transport of souls to the afterlife.  This shows the influence that birds had on these local cultures and communities. Sirens represented more important things than maritime seductresses.

Mythology Editor: Elizabeth Shay