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National Geographic
a day ago
- Entertainment
- National Geographic
The original sirens in mythology weren't the seductresses we know today
Sirens torment Ulysses with their enchanting song in Herbert James Draper's 1909 painting titled 'Ulysses and the Sirens.' Draper portrays the Sirens as sexualized mermaids, consistent with other Edwardian era depictions of the creatures. © Ferens Art Gallery / Bridgeman Images For thousands of years sirens have lured sailors, haunted coastlines—and shapeshifted through myth and media. Here's how they evolved to the seductive mermaids of our modern imagination. The Greek hero Odysseus famously faces many travails as he attempts to return home following the Trojan War, from giant cannibals to enigmatic enchantresses. But one challenge stands out as perhaps the most evocative, dangerous, and enduring of them all: the sirens, with their hypnotic and mesmerizing song, who call to passing sailors. To stop is certain death. They're powerful and mysterious figures and even now, of all the creatures from Greek myths, audiences simply can't get enough of them. Sirens have been a fixture of the Western imagination since the time of Homer and the composition of The Odyssey in the 8th century B.C. They appear in the works of ancient Roman writers like Pliny the Elder and Ovid, and one even appears in Dante's Divine Comedy. They fascinated painters of the 19th century and now lend their name to television shows and the "siren-core" fashion aesthetic touted by social media creators. (Dante's 'Inferno' is a journey to hell and back.) But these mythological creatures have shifted forms dramatically over the centuries, transforming with the times to reflect society's complicated and ever-changing relationship with desire. In modern popular culture, sirens are alluring creatures of the sea, most commonly women, often sporting shimmering mermaid tails. But their ancient Greek roots weren't fishlike at all; instead, they were bird-bodied creatures associated with death. Here's how sirens have evolved over time, and why their song stays so loud in popular culture. A attic terracotta status from Greece 300 BCE shows Sirens in their original, bird-woman form. Photograph by Peter Horree, Alamy Stock Photo This artwork titled 'A Siren and a Centaur' shows how classical mythology and artistic imagination have blended together to reshape Sirens iconography. The piece portrays a bird-like siren (left) and centaur (right) in an imaginative and dynamic scene. Photograph by ART Collection, Alamy Stock Photo Homer's Odyssey is the sirens' earliest appearance. Thought to have been composed sometime in the 8th century B.C., the poem follows the winding path of the hero Odysseus as he returns home to Ithaca and his long-suffering wife from the Trojan War. Along the way, he faces Greek gods, marvels, and monsters, including the sirens. The sorceress Circe warns him about the creatures, telling him that they 'bewitch all passersby. If anyone goes near them in ignorance, and listens to their voices, that man will never travel to his home.' Odysseus plugs his men's ears with wax, so they won't be lured—but he leaves his own ears free and commands his men to bind him to the ship's mast, so he's able to hear their promises as they tempt him with the prospect of knowledge and tales of heroic deeds. (The Odyssey offers monsters and magic—and also a real look into the ancient world.) But the Odyssey is far from the only story featuring the sirens. They also appear in the Argonautica, a 3rd century B.C. epic poem following Jason and the Argonauts in their search for the Golden Fleece, where sirens are described as daughters of the river god Achelous and the muse Terpsichore. The musician Orpheus snatches up his lyre to drown out their song—but not before one member of the crew throws himself in the ocean. Tradition has it that the names of those sirens were Parthenop, Ligeia and Leucosia. Perhaps the siren's most important distinguishing feature—and the one that remains to this day—is their voice. 'It's a hypnotic voice, it lures people, makes them forget everything, in a lot of cases makes them fall asleep,' says Marie-Claire Beaulieu, associate professor of classical studies at Tufts University. 'Essentially, people become so hypnotized that they forget everything.' What do sirens symbolize in Greek culture? 'When the ancients say sirens, they mean a bird-bodied woman,' says Beaulieu. Closely associated with death, sirens' bird legs and wings show that they're liminal creatures who dwell betwixt and between. Their connection with the sea, which the ancient Greeks considered profoundly dangerous, and their wings, situate them somewhere between earth and air. Sirens were a fixture of ancient Greek funerary art, such as stele, a type of grave marker. For example, Boston's Museum of Fine Arts holds a funerary plaque from the 7th century B.C. depicting a mourning scene, in which two women flank a funeral couch that holds a corpse. Crouched underneath is a siren. Some sources, including Euripides' 5th century B.C. play Helen and Ovid's 8th century A.D. poem Metamorphoses, associate the sirens with Persephone, the goddess of spring carried off by Hades, god of the underworld, to become his queen. Some stories say they were given wings to seek Persephone. According to Beaulieu, som e sources, including the Argonautica , show sirens as the daughters of one of the Muses. 'Except that in a way, they're the Muses of death, instead of the Muses of life, because they lure people to death with this singing,' says Beaulieu. This mural from the 14th century shows a Siren playing music. During this period, the enchantresses were depicted as both bird-women and mermaids. Photograph by Heritage Image Partnership Ltd, Alamy Stock Photo How the iconography of sirens has evolved Sirens retained their bird bodies into the time of the Roman Empire and well beyond; Pliny the Elder includes them in the 'Fabulous Birds' section of his Natural History, written around A.D. 77, claiming they lull men to sleep with their song and then tear them to pieces. (Though he's a skeptic that they exist.) But over the course of the Middle Ages, the siren transformed. More and more they began exhibiting fishtails, not bird bodies. The two types coexisted from the 12th through 14th centuries at least, Beaulieu explains, but eventually the mermaid-like creature emerged as dominant. That shift is probably thanks in part to the strong Greek and Roman tradition of unrelated sea gods like Triton, as well as the sirens' association with water. But it's also thanks in no small part to the influence of Celtic folklore traditions. 'The blending is a super interesting syncretism of cultures,' says Beaulieu, pointing to 14th century tradition about St. Brendan the Navigator, an early Irish Christian whose journeys parallel those of Odysseus. Naturally, he encounters a siren on his odyssey—only this one is wholly recognizable to modern audiences as a mermaid. How Christianity has shaped Greek mythology As the physical appearance of the sirens began to shift, so did their symbolic meaning. The sirens of ancient Greece were considered beautiful—but they tempted Odysseus with songs of glory, not simply sex. Ancient Greeks were more concerned with power dynamics, so a man having sex with a subordinate woman wasn't a problem. 'You get into trouble when you have a goddess having sex with a mortal, for instance,' explains Beaulieu. "That's part of what would have given the sirens their menace." But medieval Christianity saw sex and sirens differently. They became symbols of temptation itself, a way to talk about the lures of worldly pleasures and the deceptive, corrupting pull of sin. Hence the appearance of a siren in Dante's 14th century Divine Comedy. The very same creature who tempted Odysseus comes to Dante in a dream and identifies herself as 'the pleasing siren, who in midsea leads mariners astray.' In the end, his guide and companion through the underworld (the epic poet Virgil) grabs her, tears her clothing, and exposes the 'stench' of her belly showing the medieval siren is sexually alluring but repulsive. Those medieval temptresses are unmistakably the roots of modern sirens, with their dangerously attractive songs. The association between sirens, mermaids, and temptation only grew tighter in the 19th century, when painters returned again and again to creamy-skinned, bare-breasted sirens with lavish hair. There is no better example than John William Waterhouse's turn-of-the-century painting The Siren, where a lovely young woman gazes down at a stricken, shipwrecked young sailor who looks both terrified and enthralled. The sirens of modern-day popular culture Millennia later, the sirens continue to resonate. They're even inspiration for a fashion aesthetic: sirencore, a beachy and romantic look with just a little hint of menace. Modern creatives, meanwhile, are still turning to the sirens as a source of inspiration and a rich symbol for exploring power, gender, and knowledge. Netflix's new release Sirens, which adapts Molly Smith Metzler's 2011 play Elemeno Pea and stars Julianne Moore, explicitly grapples with the mythological figure. Director Nicole Kassell told The Hollywood Reporter, 'I love the idea of analyzing the idea of what a siren is, and who says what a siren is—the sailor. It's very fun to get to go back and consider it from a female lens.' Black sirens navigate the challenges of modern-day sexism and racism in Bethany C. Morrow's 2020 A Song Below Water; a Puerto Rican immigrant falls in love with a merman on turn-of-the-century Coney Island in Venessa Vida Kelley's 2025 When The Tides Held The Moon. For many writers, sirens are an opportunity to turn old tales and stereotypes on their head, using characters who've long been reviled and distrusted for their controversial power. The Sirens by Emilia Hart is one such modern-day retelling, which weaves between the modern day, and the 19th century transportation of Irish women convicts to Australia. 'I thought this mythological creature was the perfect way to give my female characters some power back into this historical narrative,' she explains. 'I wanted to make this general comment on how we think about women and how we have this idea of women as being temptresses, and we demonize them and we overly sexualize them, as a way of trying to explain or perhaps diminish their power,' she says. In the hands of modern-day writers, the sea can become a place of transformation, freedom, and potential. And sirens can be restored to a place of power and wisdom—and, yes, a bit of danger too.
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Young artists urged to submit work for exhibition
An art gallery in Hull is inviting young people to submit work for an exhibition later this year. The Young Artist Open exhibition, previously known as the Junior Open, displays between 300 and 700 artworks at the Ferens Art Gallery each year. Councillor Rob Pritchard said the event was a "wonderful initiative for nurturing the artists of the future''. Artists aged 15 and under can submit their work until Sunday 13 July, and the exhibition will run from 10 October to 11 January 2026. All artworks entered have a chance to win a prize in their age category: six and under, seven to 11 and 12 to 15. Hull City Council, which manages the gallery, said it would be displaying a variety of work, including paintings, drawings, pastels, collages and prints. Madeline Brace, exhibitions assistant at the Ferens Art Gallery, said: "Every year we are so impressed by the creativity and passion of Hull's young people." Entry forms are available from the gallery and its website. Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here. Monet masterpiece on tour of English galleries 'Afroworld' exhibition to celebrate black hair Artist wins award for exhibition exploring disability Hull City Council Hull Museums & Galleries
BBC News
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Ferens Art Gallery in Hull invites young artists to submit work for exhibition
An art gallery in Hull is inviting young people to submit work for an exhibition later this Young Artist Open exhibition, previously known as the Junior Open, displays between 300 and 700 artworks at the Ferens Art Gallery each Rob Pritchard said the event was a "wonderful initiative for nurturing the artists of the future''.Artists aged 15 and under can submit their work until Sunday 13 July, and the exhibition will run from 10 October to 11 January 2026. All artworks entered have a chance to win a prize in their age category: six and under, seven to 11 and 12 to City Council, which manages the gallery, said it would be displaying a variety of work, including paintings, drawings, pastels, collages and Brace, exhibitions assistant at the Ferens Art Gallery, said: "Every year we are so impressed by the creativity and passion of Hull's young people."Entry forms are available from the gallery and its to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Artist among those honoured in King's Honours list
A Lincolnshire artist has been awarded a MBE in the King's Birthday Honours list. Jason Wilsher-Mills, from Sleaford, described it as a "wonderful honour". His recent exhibition Are We There Yet? attracted more than 50,000 visitors to the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull. The Wakefield-born artist has used a wheelchair since he was 11 after suffering damage to his central nervous system from contracting chickenpox. He said it was "one of the highest accolades that I could receive". "As it acknowledges my work as an artist, and the work I do to raise awareness about disability related issues," he said. Others on the list include Paul Boucher, director of the Lincolnshire Traveller Initiative, who is awarded an OBE for services to the traveller community in the county. Eleanor Hutton, manager of Grimsby pre-school centre Explorosity Education, receives a MBE Also honoured was Helen Keneally, who received a British Empire Medal (BEM). Ms Keneally, from Scunthorpe, works as a children centre manager and involves families in activities such as community picnics and summer barbeques. Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here. King's Birthday Honours: How does the UK honours system work? Artist wins award for exhibition exploring disability Amazon love god sculptor thanks city residents
BBC News
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Black hair exhibition at Hull gallery will be 'validating', says artist
A woman says she wants to wants to "start a conversation" about afro hair, including the challenge of finding a salon that caters for black and mixed heritage Mohammed, from Hull, has opened a photographic exhibition at the city's Ferens Art Gallery, which she hopes will challenge stereotypes. Ms Mohammed said for many people even finding a salon that caters for black hair can be problematic, leaving some with no option but to call on family and free exhibition, Hair: Identity in the AfroWorld, runs until 17 August. Ms Mohammed, 34, said she now regularly travels to salons in Bradford, in West Yorkshire, and Kettering in to Hull, she said: "There's still a very small amount of people (salons) that attend to the nuances of black hair."That's why the home salon is such a big thing for a lot of black people. I do your hair, you do my hair."The Nigerian-born artist said she loves her afro hair."It's versatile, it's strong," she said."I love the fact that it defies gravity. It teaches us patience. It forces you to sometimes be self-sufficient."Visitors to the exhibition can learn about braiding styles and hair care techniques passed down through generations. Ms Mohammed said she hopes people, including children, will find the exhibition "validating". Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
