An alluring singing voice is usually great to listen to-unless of course it is used for evil. The sirens of Greek mythology did just that-they sang songs that no man could resist. They lured sailors to their deaths, either on the rocky shores of the sirens' island home or even by killing the men themselves, then eating their bodies. Just two ships ever managed to sail past the sirens without meeting their doom.
Deadly Choice: When seamen, enchanted by song, sailed to the sirens, fierce waves crushed their ships against the rocky shore and sent the sailors to their doom. The sirens would pluck their bodies from the water and devour them.
Heavenly Voice: The sirens, which were half woman half bird, lived on a small island in the Mediterranean Sea. The creatures lured passing sailors to them by singing in beautiful voices that no one could hear without falling in love with the singing.
Not Listening[]
Odysseus and his crew outsmarted the sirens with the aid of earplugs.
In all of Greek mythology, only two ships survived sailing past the island of the sirens. The first was that of Jason and the Argonauts. They had Orpheus, a musician, on board with them, who sang loudly as they passed the sirens so that the crew would not hear the sirens' song. The other was Odysseus. He made his crewmembers stuff wax in their ears, then tied himself to the ship's mast without the earplugs. This way, Odysseus could hear the sirens' song, but his crew could not, and they also couldn't hear his orders to be untied or to turn the ship toward the sirens.
Take That! The sirens were the beautiful daughters of Achelous, the river god. In most stories, the women were turned into the sirens as punishment when their friend, the goddess Persephone, was kidnapped by Hades and they didn't help save her.
Still Sirening: Parts of the siren myth can be seen in today's worlds. "Sirens" on ambulances are loud and warn drivers to get out of the way. Also, the manatee's Latin name is Sirenia because it looks like a woman when seaweed gets caught on its head.
Birdy and Fishy[]
Sirens are well known in mythology, but their appearance varies from story to story. In some their entire body is that of a bird, with only the face of a woman, and in others they have entirely human bodies with the wings of a bird on their back. In some stories, they have the tails of fish, like mermaids.
Trading Card[]
Trivia[]
- The knowledge card says Sirens. The trading card says Siren.
- In addition to the manatee, the order Sirenia mentioned in "Still Sirening" also includes the Dugong.
- The siren is featured on several Monster Mania cards:
- It is first featured in Hero's Quest on Monster Mania 91.
- It is then featured in Common Ground on Monster Mania 98.
- It is again featured in Monster Mix-Up on Monster Mania 101.