The Mermaid, Origin of a Tempting Myth

The Sirens of Greek mythology are not creatures of the depths, but figures of height, perched on shores between sky and sea, between knowledge and loss, between beauty and death. Long before becoming fish-women, they were these half-women, half-bird figures with unforgettable songs. By returning to their original myth, we rediscover a more complex, more ambivalent, and much more powerful image than the one attributed to them today. And perhaps, if you listen closely, their voices can still be heard by those who know how to resist... or give in.

1. First mentions of sirens in ancient stories

The myth of the sirens takes root in ancient Greece, and its oldest known mention is found in Homer's Odyssey (8th century BC). In the twelfth song of this epic, the hero Ulysses is warned by the sorceress Circe of the deadly danger posed by these mysterious creatures. Arriving near the island of the Sirens, Ulysses follows her advice: he plugs his sailors' ears with wax and has himself tied firmly to the mast of his ship so he can hear their song without succumbing to temptation. Homer depicts the island of the Sirens as a deceptively idyllic place – a flowered meadow by the sea – but strewn with the dried bones of unfortunate sailors charmed by their voices. Indeed, no sailor could listen to the enchanting song of these beings with impunity: anyone who approached was shipwrecked on the reefs and perished, victim of the fatal seduction of the Sirens.

Homer gives few physical details about his sirens, focusing above all on their enchanting voice and the irresistible power of their music. He does not specify their exact number or appearance, merely describing them as "women with enchanting voices" stationed on the shore. However, the Homeric text uses a dual grammatical form to speak of the Sirens, suggesting there were only two in this original story. Later, an ancient scholium on this passage confirmed this interpretation, while other later traditions mention three or more sirens, giving them various symbolic names. In any case, it is this episode of the Odyssey – where Ulysses manages to outwit the Sirens' trap – that constitutes the first significant literary appearance of these creatures. It establishes from the start the major traits of the myth: a song of supernatural beauty, carrying a deceptive promise, and a deadly danger for those who give in to it.

2. A half-woman, half-bird appearance

Contrary to the later popular imagery that makes sirens fish-women swimming in the waves, the original sirens of Greek mythology had nothing of the form of a marine siren. Ancient sources describe them as hybrid creatures half-women, half-birds, moving on land or in the air rather than in water. According to the mythographer Apollodorus (1st - 2nd century AD), "from the waist down, they had the appearance of birds." In other words, the Greek sirens were imagined with a woman's bust (head and human chest) on a bird's body with clawed legs and wings. Ancient artists abundantly represented them in this form: thus, archaic and classical Greek pottery shows Ulysses tied to his mast facing winged women-birds perched on cliffs or flying around the ship.

Ulysses and the sirens. Source

It is significant that Homer himself does not specify the animal nature of the sirens in his text. It is later authors and iconography that firmly established their winged appearance. Ovid (1st century BC), in his Metamorphoses, explicitly mentions sirens with bird bodies: he recounts that they did not always have wings but obtained them by metamorphosis (see next section). So we are far from the fish-siren of marine legends – in reality, ancient sirens are more connected to the earth and sky than to the aquatic element. This half-woman, half-bird appearance, attested as early as the 8th century BC in the Greek world, persisted throughout Antiquity and even beyond: winged sirens are still found in early medieval art, until gradually the image of the fish-woman replaced it centuries later.

3. Temptation, knowledge, and death

Sirens fascinate so much because their myth crystallizes a powerful symbol of deadly temptation. In the Odyssey, Ulysses is drawn by the intoxicating song of the Sirens promising him mountains and wonders. The Homeric text thus suggests that these beings offer the promise of unlimited knowledge: they claim to know everything that happens on the nurturing earth, including the secrets of the Trojan War that the hero experienced. When Ulysses approaches, the Sirens call out to him boasting of their omniscience and assuring him that if he agrees to listen, he will leave "happy and richer in knowledge." However, this prodigious knowledge they highlight is a treacherous lure, for anyone who yields to their call is doomed to perish immediately. The Sirens thus embody the irresistible allure of forbidden knowledge or enchanting pleasure that leads to ruin.

Indeed, their enchanting song is described by Homer with evocative qualifiers: a voice "fresh and clear" and melodies "sweet as honey," capable of charming even the last listener. Beneath this sonic beauty hides death – the bleached bones on their shore bear witness. The Sirens are thus perceived in Greek tradition as fatal temptresses, symbols of the dangers of seduction and straying. Various ancient authors interpreted their song allegorically, seeing it for example as a metaphor for poetry or knowledge whose allure can divert man from his path. In all cases, the lesson of the myth is clear: yielding to the sirens' song is signing one's death warrant, so harmful is what hides behind the harmony of their voices. This expression has even entered common language to designate the act of being seduced by a dangerous temptation. The Greek sirens thus appear from the start as guardians of forbidden knowledge and fatal pleasure, challenging the reason and caution of heroes who cross their path.

4. The evolution of the myth

4.1. Mythological origins and metamorphoses of the sirens

The origin of the sirens in mythology is not told in a single way: several versions coexist from Antiquity, seeking to explain how these winged creatures were born. Most of these origin stories link the sirens to aquatic or inspiring deities, which makes sense for beings both marine (by their setting) and musical. According to the most widespread tradition, the sirens were daughters of the river god Achelous and a Muse – sources differ on the mother's identity, mentioning in turn the Muse Calliope (goddess of epic poetry), Melpomene (goddess of song), or Terpsichore. This lineage endows them immediately with an extraordinary voice and a half-earthly, half-aquatic heritage. Other authors give them different parents: for example, the philosopher Plutarch said the sirens were born of the sea god Phorcys and the nymph Ceto, while a legend reported by Libanius claims they sprang from the blood of the river Achelous when he was wounded by Heracles. In the Roman version reported by some commentators, the sirens were originally mortal young women, companions of the goddess Persephone (Core): unable to prevent Hades from abducting their friend, they were punished – by Demeter, Persephone's mother – by being transformed into half-woman, half-bird monsters.

A close variant, popularized by Ovid in his Metamorphoses, presents this metamorphosis not as a punishment but as a request: desperate at having lost Persephone, the young women asked the gods to give them wings so they could search for her on land and sea, a request the gods granted. To not deprive them of the beauty of their song, the deities also left them their human faces and voices. Whatever the version, the link established with Persephone gives the sirens an ambiguous dimension: because they are attached to the goddess of the Underworld, they belong to the chthonic world (underground, linked to death), but also keep something celestial due to their wings and their song from the Muses. This duality (half-divine, half-demonic, both celestial and infernal) nourishes the rich symbolism of the sirens in later tradition.

Among later stories enriching their myth is also the episode of the musical contest with the Muses. Proud of their incomparable vocal talent, the Sirens once challenged the nine Muses to a singing contest. The Muses won and, to punish the Sirens' pride, the victorious deities plucked the Sirens' feathers to make crowns for themselves. Humiliated and deprived of the ability to fly, the Sirens had to remain on their rocky island, watching for new victims. This anecdote, reported by some late sources, again highlights the motif of divine punishment for the Sirens' hubris (excess), while explaining why they are imagined stuck on a rock in the middle of the sea.

4.2. The sirens in Greco-Roman stories and arts

Over time, the myth of the sirens integrated into other legendary cycles and underwent notable variations. Homer had made the sirens an isolated episode in Ulysses' journey, with no continuation for these creatures once the hero was out of reach. Later authors sometimes imagined the fate of the sirens after their encounter with Ulysses. A tradition reported by texts of the Trojan cycle says that after failing to charm Ulysses, the sirens, desperate to see their song defeated, committed suicide by throwing themselves into the sea from their rock. This tragic end would fulfill a prophecy that the sirens would die as soon as a mortal managed to resist them. Other legends place the sirens' definitive defeat earlier: in late Greek mythology, it is said they confronted the heroes Jason and the Argonauts, well before Ulysses' return. When the Argonauts' ship passed near their island, the sirens sang their fatal song, but Orpheus, the crew's musician, played his lyre and sang with such beauty that he drowned out and surpassed the sirens' music. Enchanted by Orpheus' divine art, the terrible enchantresses were silenced and the ship passed safely. Only the sailor Boutes, still bewitched, jumped into the water to join them but was narrowly saved by the goddess Aphrodite. Again, the legend ends with the sirens' suicide, defeated and humiliated to see mortals escape their power.

In Roman literature, sirens appear more allusively, often under the pen of poets inspired by Homer. Hyginus, a Latin compiler (1st century AD), briefly mentions the sirens in his Fables, retelling their transformation story and giving them names. Ovid, as we have seen, offers an elegiac version of their metamorphosis linked to Persephone. Virgil and Propertius refer to them poetically to symbolize dangerous attraction. Generally, the Romans inherited the myth from the Greeks and adapted it to their taste for the marvelous and fantastic, without deeply altering the plot. They did, however, help spread the fame of the sirens throughout the Empire, so their image endured into late imperial times and beyond.

Moreover, the number and identity of the sirens varied according to ancient sources. Homer, as mentioned, gives no indication of names or number. Later, some authors speak of two sirens, others of three or even four. The most common tradition eventually settled on three Sirens. These receive meaningful names, almost always linked to their enchanting voice or seductive power: Parthenope ("maiden face"), Ligeia ("the shrill one"), and Leucosia ("the white one") form a trio mentioned by authors like Apollonius of Rhodes and Strabo. Other versions give different name lists (Aglaope, Thelxiepeia, Molpe), but the symbolism remains similar, emphasizing the deceptive beauty of the song. In some local legends of southern Italy, each siren is even associated with a place: for example, the Bay of Naples is said to have hosted Parthenope's remains, giving its name to the ancient city of Parthenope (precursor of Naples). These geographical links show the myth's rooting in Greco-Roman culture, where sirens were integrated into local Mediterranean coastal mythology.

Finally, the iconography and symbolism of the sirens evolved during late Antiquity. While in the classical period they are mostly found in scenes related to the Odyssey (Ulysses tied to the mast facing the Sirens), in the Hellenistic and Roman periods they also begin to be represented in funerary contexts. Figures of sirens are seen sculpted on steles and sarcophagi, especially in Greece and Etruria, where they adorn monuments of the dead. Their presence near the deceased is explained by the psychopomp dimension (soul guide) attributed to them then: creatures halfway between life and death, linked to Persephone and the Underworld, sirens are assimilated to comforting spirits guiding the soul of the deceased or mourning their loss. Euripides, in his play Helen, explicitly mentions this funerary role by calling the Sirens "winged maidens, daughters of the Earth" invited to join their songs to the laments for the dead. Sirens thus become, in Greco-Roman popular religion, a symbol of the passage to the afterlife: their sad or melancholic song on tombs softens the ordeal of death and echoes human funeral chants. This aspect completes the multifaceted portrait of ancient sirens, both formidable musicians and guardians of the world of the dead.

5. The legacy of the Greek sirens

The Greek myth of the sirens has exerted a lasting influence on later cultures, far beyond the ancient period. The Romans had already transmitted it, but it is especially in the Middle Ages that the figure of the siren undergoes a notable transformation, blending with other legendary creatures. Indeed, the Greek sirens – terrestrial bird-women – gradually became assimilated to the fish-women of Nordic and medieval legends. Medieval bestiaries, which compile fabulous creatures and Christian morals, perform a curious syncretism: they take up the term and idea of the singing, seductive siren of Homer but depict her with a fish tail, without wings. It is somewhat a cross between the classical winged siren and the "sea woman" of northern traditions. This process of iconographic metamorphosis spans many centuries. According to scholars, the type of the bird-woman siren, appearing in the Greek world in the 8th century BC, persisted almost until the end of the Middle Ages, only truly giving way to the fish-siren around the year 1000 AD. The first known text explicitly mentioning a fish-tailed siren dates from the 6th century AD (a Latin treatise titled De monstris), and art historians note that no visual representation of a half-woman, half-fish siren appears before the 11th–12th centuries. This shows how slow and gradual the transition was.

Ulysses seduced by the sirens. Source

Why this shift toward the aquatic siren? The attraction to sea stories and the integration of local elements contributed. Over copies and adaptations, the image of the siren adapted to regional imaginations: in medieval Christian Europe, she continued to be seen as the treacherous temptress (theologians saw her as an allegory of lust or the devil's voice luring the fisherman's soul), but she was now imagined swimming in the ocean, comb and mirror in hand, like the sea nymphs and ondines of northern tales. The very term "siren" came, in Romance languages, to designate the fish-tailed creature that English calls mermaid (literally "daughter of the sea"). This semantic evolution cements the confusion between the Homeric siren and the legendary fish-woman. However, the lineage remains clear: it is indeed the Greek myth that provided the narrative and symbolic foundation. The medieval sirens-melusines and the sirens of modern tales (from Hans Christian Andersen to Walt Disney) all inherit, through the filters of time, the story of the Seirênes of the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Thus, the siren of Greek mythology – half-woman, half-bird with an intoxicating song – is the primary source of a universal imagination of the supernatural femme fatale. From Antiquity to today, her legacy is read in the many avatars this figure has taken: cruel muse defying Greek heroes, tempting demon of Christian mythographers, then sea fairy. Far from being a simple sailor's fable, the sirens' song resonates as a timeless echo of the dangers of temptation and the allure of forbidden knowledge. And if today our sirens are aquatic creatures with scaly tails, we must not forget that at the origins of the myth, it was the Greeks who first sang the haunting melody of the winged Sirens.

Sources:

• Homer, Odyssey, song XII (translations and commentaries)

• Apollodorus, Library (Epitome VII, 18)

• Ovid, Metamorphoses, book V

• Hyginus, Fables, CX25, CX41

• Euripides, Helen

• Jacqueline Leclercq-Marx, The Siren in Ancient Thought and Art, Brussels, Royal Academy of Belgium, 1997

• Anne-Laure Fontenel, "The sirens, women-birds with enchanting voices," Odysseum (Museum of the History of Marseille), 2023

• Odette Touchefeu-Meynier, "When did the fish-siren appear?", Belgian Review of Philology and History, 1962

• Response Eurêkoi/BPI – Public Information Library: "How did we go from bird-sirens to fish-sirens?" (available online)