Homer did not give the sirens any specific physical description, probably because his audience was already familiar with the concept. It’s inspired some great parodies, though, including a Saturday Night Live sketch,, and a Simpsons’ “Island of Sirens” song, sung to the tune of Barry Manilow’s “Copacabana.” The two sirens, named Patty and Selma (shown), sing “On the island, island of sirens, our hot sex will leave you perspirin’.”Īs it turns out, though, that sexy siren/mermaid image isn’t just goofy. Paintings like this one by Herbert James Draper (1909) follow the standard pattern.īut seeing Ulysses tied to the mast so he can avoid the lure of the girls in this painting seems sort of ridiculous to me. Most people I asked thought of sirens as beautiful young women (sometimes mermaids) tempting the sailors, seductive creatures who wait for their next victim, combing back their long hair and singing an irresistible song. This scene, with the sirens enticing sailors to their doom with their beautiful song, has inspired artists for centuries, with wildly different results, reflecting the beliefs of their times. And he does beg when he hears the sirens’ beautiful song promising him “ripe wisdom and a quickening of the spirit,” but the men ignore his pleas, tightening the bonds holding him to the mast instead. Heeding Circe’s warning, Ulysses orders his men to plug their ears with wax so they won’t hear the wondrous song, but he wants to hear it, so he has himself tied to the mast and orders his men not to release him no matter how hard he begs. There is a great heap of dead men’s bones lying all around, with the flesh still rotting off them. “If any one unwarily draws in too close and hears the singing of the Sirens,” Circe warns, “his wife and children will never welcome him home again, for the sirens sit in a green field and warble him to death with the sweetness of their song. Their song is so enchanting that sailors forget everything else when they hear it, so their ships crash on the rocks. The sorceress Circe tells Ulysses that the sirens will pose a deadly threat. One famous scene concerns Ulysses (Odysseus to the Greeks) and the Sirens. No wonder it’s been popular for over two thousand years. It involves monsters, gods, terrible storms, trickery, sex, murder, drugs, drinking, and feasting. It describes Ulysses’ long, difficult voyage home after the Trojan War ended. New York: Penguin Classics, 2009.The Odyssey, written by the Greek poet Homer in the 8 th century BC, is one of the world’s best- known epic tales. The Odyssey by Homer, translated by E.Although Odysseus-hit by the full force of the singing-pleaded and gestured as best as he could to be untied from the mast, his ear-plugged crew only tightened his bonds and kept rowing, eventually leaving the Sirens behind them. As is shown in Waterhouse’s painting, Odysseus and his crew rowed past the Sirens without hindrance. They put this plan to action, and it worked out flawlessly. And if I beg and command you to release me, you must tighten and add to my bonds” (Homer, The Odyssey, book 12, approximately line 160). Odysseus explained this plan to his crew, saying, “You must bind me very tight, standing me up against the step of the mast and lashed to the mast itself so that I cannot stir from the spot. Their plan was for the crewmen to plug their ears with wax, whereas Odysseus-without any deafening plugs-would have himself tied to the mast, so as to hear the Sirens’ voices without being able to be lured off the ship to his death. Together, the goddess and the Greek hero formulated a plan that would keep the human crew safe, but would also allow Odysseus, himself, the rare chance to hear the legendary singing of the sirens. In the prelude to the scene above, Odysseus had been warned of the Sirens by the goddess, Circe. Whereas other artists of Waterhouse’s age painted Sirens as mermaids or seductive seaside nymphs, John William Waterhouse instead decided to opt for the traditional bird-woman style of Sirens that can be found on ancient Greek pottery. In the artwork above, Odysseus and his crew face off against the Sirens. 1849–1917), depicts one of the famous obstacles faced by Odysseus (a name Latinized to Ulysses) during his famous journey home after the Trojan War. This painting, by the British artist John William Waterhouse (c.
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