sirènes

Sirènes are mythological beings found in European folklore, most prominently in ancient Greek narrative. They are traditionally associated with the sea and with songs that enchant sailors, drawing them toward dangerous rocks or ships’ destruction. Over time, the term has broadened in many cultures to include mermaid figures, and in modern usage it can refer to both seductive sea-nymphs and warning devices that emit a loud sound.

In classical sources, sirènes are often described as daughters of Phorcys and Ceto. Their appearance varies by tale: some depictions show them as bird-bodied and human-headed, while later images and medieval bestiaries increasingly imagine them as half-wemale, half-fish beings. The form and nature of the Sirènes shifted across periods, blending with other ocean-related spirits as cultures exchanged stories along trade routes.

The most famous myth involving the Sirènes appears in Homer’s Odyssey. Odysseus, eager to hear their song, orders his men to plug their ears with wax and has himself bound to the ship’s mast so he can listen without steering toward danger. This episode made the Sirènes a potent symbol of temptation and peril, a motif that recurs in literature and art as an archetype of alluring but deadly beauty.

Across later centuries the Sirènes often merge with mermaid traditions, leading to a continuum in which sirens are both dangerous enchantresses and benevolent sea beings in various retellings. In modern language, the term siren also denotes a warning alarm, a usage that echoes the ancient idea of a call that should not be followed.