Sirens by Olivia Rubie

Sirens

The mythological aspect of Sirens has undergone numerous evolutions and enrichments over thousands of years. Today, we often perceive Sirens as seductive mermaids who tempted men with their naked bodies and lured sailors to their early demise. This perception stems from somewhat flawed translations of the Odyssey (written around 750 BCE) carried out during the 18th and 19th centuries, where translators somewhat sexualized the Sirens. This interpretation quickly gained traction among the creatives of that era, leading to depictions of Sirens as beautiful women who tempted men with sexuality.

However, there is no real mention of the Sirens’ beauty in Homer’s work, nor that their allure was related to sex. What is truly emphasized is “the honeyed sound of their voice” and their offerings of secret knowledge.

This narrative aligns more closely with the older image of the Sirens, where they appear as bird-women with taloned feet and wings symbolizing wisdom that transcends the realm of the living and serves as messengers between this life and the afterlife.

The view that Sirens were evil or that sailors met their demise after encountering them is also not well-supported in Homer’s work. It is simply stated that the men who heard the Sirens’ song followed them to a rocky island and were never seen again.

There is some cultural speculation that the mythology of Sirens originated from the beliefs of the Middle East and Lower Europe, where it was thought that a bird carried one’s soul to the afterlife around 7000 BCE. The first depictions of bird-women appeared in Turkey around 6500 BCE on the walls of a settlement. In Egypt, around 2000 BCE, they were known as Ba birds. Even the Vikings of Scandinavia believed that a bird carried one’s soul to the afterlife.

In my version of the Sirens, they are serene. It is said that they were forced underwater after a human could escape their song. So, I imagine them floating somewhere between worlds, in an almost meditative state, with the wisdom in their song, which they desperately tried to share with the world, perfectly suspended in the silence of deep water.

It’s intriguing that what the Sirens truly offered Odysseus (in the text that had such an enduring impact in creating the image of seductive mermaids) was not sex at all. It was the truth about what had happened during the war in Troy. Odysseus had tied himself to the mast of his ship to escape the Sirens’ song. However, upon hearing what they were offering, he begged his crew to release him. Unfortunately, they had plugged their ears with wax to protect themselves from the Sirens and thus could not release him. So he sailed away, never learning the truth, and the Sirens were forced underwater.

Text by Olivia Rubie September 2023