SirensFoster

SIRENS (Harpies) Ashley Foster

**What is a Siren? Siren’s were sea monsters who could sing so beautiful that sailors couldn’t help but to sail over to them. The sailors would shipwreck on their rocky island in the middle of the sea. Some of the smarter sailors, who knew what was coming, would protect their ears as to not hear the Siren’s tempting song. The sirens however did not like this too much. When sailors couldn’t hear them, the Sirens would jump into the ocean and drown. **



What did Sirens look like? **Sirens resemble mermaids. They are depicted as birds with either heads or bodies as women. They had voices of angels. **



Facts about Sirens
 * **Sirens were formerly the handmaiden of Persephone. (A handmaiden was almost like a maid) but when Persephone was captured by Haides, they were given the body of a bird so they could help Persephone’s parents search for her. The Sirens gave up on the search and ended up settling on the island of Anthemoessa. **
 * **Sirens are featured in The Odyssey. Odysseus made his men cover their ears with wax so they couldn’t hear the Sirens and so they could get home. **



Who are the believed parents of the Sirens? **It is said that Akheloios& Melpomene are the parents of the Sirens. However, in some stories, Roman poets say that they are the daughters of **[|**Achelous**]**, __and__ __Helen.__ **



How many Sirens are there? **It is said that there are anywhere from three to five Sirens. Different stories have different numbers, and the Sirens have different names. In the Odyssey, for example, there are only two, but in other cultures, there are as many as five. **



**How about we hear a story about Sirens?**
 * In the Epic novel written by Homer, Odysseus and his crew were sailing past an island, when all of a sudden they discovered an island of Sirens. The crew members knew that if they were to hear the Siren's nostalgic song, they would be forced to crash on the shore of their island and might never get home. But luckily, they put beeswax in their ears to block out the sound, and they tied Odysseus to the masthead so that he would not jump overboard. **


 * Unfortunately there are only two known stories that focus around Sirens. Another one would be when Jason was sailing home, he was almost tempted by the Sirens song, but there was a beautiful musician on the ship who played so well that it drowned out the Sirens. **



Modern Day References to Sirens!
If you look closely in today's society, you can find that social media adapts their own versions of Greek and Roman myths. When I was little, my favorite show was Arthur, which was about a boy and his little sister's imaginations. One episode, D.W., his little sister had a dream that followed the events of the Odyssey. She and her imaginary friends were sailing, when all of a sudden she heard her favorite song. She began to navigate away from the path and go towards the island. Her friend luckily stops her, and she gets home fine.



Works Cited I only used one source, which is Wikipedia. I got my images from Google images