Siren

Singers No Sailor Could Ignore

The Sirens were dangerous singers whose voices could lure sailors away from safety. Homer’s Odyssey gives us their most famous appearance, but he does not actually describe what they look like or clearly say how many there are. Instead, he concentrates on their song. The Sirens promise that they know what happened at Troy and everything that happens across the world. Sailors who stop to listen never return home. Their danger is therefore not simply beautiful music. They offer knowledge, which is exactly the sort of thing the endlessly curious Odysseus finds almost impossible to resist.

Luckily, the witch Circe warns Odysseus before his ship reaches them. He softens beeswax and blocks the ears of every member of his crew so they cannot hear the song. Odysseus, being Odysseus, still wants to listen. He orders the sailors to tie him tightly to the mast and tells them not to release him no matter how much he begs. As the ship passes, the Sirens sing and Odysseus desperately demands to be untied. His crew cannot hear him properly and simply pull the ropes tighter. The plan works because Odysseus knows in advance that his own willpower will not be enough.

Ancient Greek artists usually showed Sirens as creatures with women’s heads and birds’ bodies. They could hold lyres or pipes, and Siren figures also appeared on graves, where their music could represent mourning rather than an attack on sailors. The familiar idea that Sirens are beautiful fish-tailed mermaids developed much later when different sea creatures became mixed together. Another story says the musician Orpheus protected the Argonauts by playing so beautifully that his music drowned out the Sirens’ song. I think the Odyssey version is especially clever because Odysseus does not defeat them by being stronger or smarter in the moment. He wins by preparing before temptation arrives. Sometimes the best plan is admitting that Future You might make a terrible decision and tying him to a mast in advance.

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