The Sirens lived on an island, called Anthemoessa, in the sea between Sicily and Italy. Huge boulders surrounded their island where ships would be destroyed if they ventured too closely. The Sirens were thought to be three in number, but that is not certain. The most common names were Parthenope, Ligeia, and Leukosia. The Sirens were odd looking creatures who had features of a bird from the waist down and a body of a woman from the waist up.

     The Sirens sang songs to sea travelers to lure them to their deaths. Their songs were enchanting and would make sailors forget what they were doing and forget their sense of direction. The sailors would steer straight toward the island and crash into the rocks that surrounded it. The island grew white with bleaching bones, from which the Sirens would make musical instruments. According to Appolodorus, the talented Sirens boasted not only a vocal trio, but a small instrumental ensemble, two accompanying the third on lyre and flute.

     It is said that the Sirens induced by Hera competed with the Muses in a singing contest and lost. The Muses plucked the Sirens of their feathers and wore them as a trophy . With their feathers plucked the Sirens were no longer able to fly.

     Odysseus and his crew, on the way from Troy, are thought to be the only sea travelers that could withstand the Sirens' luring songs. Odysseus knew of the lure of the Sirens. He had all his men stuff their ears with beeswax, so that they could not hear, then he instructed them to lash him to the mast of the ship in torture so he would not jump off and drown. Odysseus needed to hear the songs so that he would know when it was safe to let his sailors hear again. When Odysseus and his crew escaped the songs, the Sirens became so displeased that they committed suicide by jumping off a cliff.

ACTIVITIES:
Sirens activity

KEY TEST WORDS:
Odysseus, Sirens, Muses, Parthenope, Ligeia, Leukosia

Creatures and Monsters

Fables

Footnotes:
According to late Classical writers, the Sirens were fated to die when any sailor who heard their song passed by unharmed. After Odysseus had done so, they flung themselves into the sea and died.

SOURCES:
Jane Smith
Edith Hamilton's Mythology
Bulfinch's Mythology
"Manual of Mythology" by Alexander S. Murray.