Exactly what the title says it is.
This is adapted from Monsters and Villains of the Movies and Literature by Gerrie McCall, Dragons: Fearsome Monsters from Myth and Fiction by Gerrie McCall, and Mythical Monsters by Chris McNab.
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MOUTH: The Siren is the most accomplished singer in Greek mythology. Melodies that no mortal man can resist issue from her lips. HEAD: Though she is a miserable, treacherous beast, the Siren has the head of a beautiful women. WINGS: Bird's wings carry the Siren between islands and enable her to fly above the heads of defenseless sailors, singing her fatal tune. CLAWS: Using her bird claws, the Siren and her feathered sisters scavenge the carcasses that litter their islands. Clawed feet are necessary for perching on craggy rocks and ships' rigging.
Sailors passing by the three rocky islands off the coast of Italy sometimes hear tunes so haunting and sweet that they forget their homes, grow helpless, and crash their ships on the rocks. The musicians are the Sirens, three bird-women who lure sailors to their deaths with their songs. Their islands appear white from the heaps of sun-bleached bones of sailors long ago lured to their doom. Orpheus, the father of songs and inventor of the lyre in Greek mythology, survives the Siren song. Sailing past their islands, he plays his lyre so loudly that he drowns out their melody. One sailor hears the song and plunges overboard, but he is saved before he can be tempted toward his own death.
Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, grows curious about the Siren's song. He orders the crew aboard his ship to stuff their ears with beeswax so that they cannot be mesmerized to death. Odysseus himself is strapped to the mast of his ship, ensuring that he can hear the Sirens singing but will not be able to throw himself overboard. When he hears their bewitching song, he orders his men to untie him, but they cannot hear his order. The ship sails on out of range of their song and all aboard are safe.
DID YOU KNOW? Prophecy states that the Sirens are fated to die when a sailor who hears their song passes unharmed. When Odysseus survives hearing them sing, the Sirens fling themselves into the sea and drown.
The Sirens sing their beautiful song while swooping through the air or while standing on their islands among the rotting corpses of men they lured to destruction.
In classical art, Sirens are depicted as women with the wings and legs of birds. In some paintings, they are shown as mermaids playing the lyre or flute.
Li Galli, the island of the Sirens, were once known as Le Sirenuse in honor of the Sirens.
