The Sirens are also connected with the legends about the Argonauts and the rape of Persephone. Their place of abode is likewise different in the different traditions, for some place them on cape Pelorum others in the island of Anthemusa, and others again in the Sirenusian islands near Paestum, or in Capreae (Strab. They are called daughters of Phorcus (Plut. 712), or Parthenope, Ligeia, and Leucosia (Eustath. 1709) and others, that there were three, Peisinoë, Aglaope, and Thelxiepeia (Tzetz. Homer says nothing of their number, but later writers mention both their names and number some state that they were two, Aglaopheme and Thelxiepeia (Eustath. According to Homer, the island of the Sirens was situated between Aeaea and the rock of Scylla, near the south-western coast of Italy. When Odysseus, in his wanderings through the Mediterranean, came near the island on the lovely beach of which the Sirens were sitting, and endeavouring to allure him and his companions, he, on the advice of Circe, stuffed the ears of his companions with wax, and tied himself to the mast of his vessel, until he was so far off that he could no longer hear their song (Hom. SIRE′NES or SEIRE′NES (Seirênes), mythical beings who were believed to have the power of enchanting and charming, by their song, any one who heard them. PARTHENOPE, LIGEIA, LEUKOSIA (Lycophron 712) PARTHENOPE, LEUKOESIA (Strabo 5.4.7 & 6.1.1) THELXIEPEIA, PEISINOE, LIGEIA (Suidas 'Seirenas') THELXIEPEIA, PEISINOE, AGLAOPE (Apollodorus E7.18) THELXIOPE-THELXINOE, MOLPE, AGLAOPHONOS (Hesiod Catalogues Frag 47) AKHELOIOS (Pausanias 9.34.3, Ovid Metamorphoses 14.85) AKHELOIOS & TERPSIKHORE (Apollonius Rhodius 4.892, Nonnus Dionysiaca 13.313) AKHELOIOS & MELPOMENE (Apollodorus 1.18, 1.63, Lycophron 712, Hyginus Fabulae 141) In mosaic art they were depicted with just bird legs. The Seirenes were depicted as birds with either the heads or entire upper bodies of women. The Seirenes were so distressed to see a man hear their song and still escape that they threw themselves into the sea and drowned. Odysseus later sailed by, bound tightly to the mast, while his men blocked their ears with wax. The Seirenes were encountered by the Argonauts who passed by unharmed with the help of the poet Orpheus who drowned out their music with song. They eventually gave up and settled on the flowery island of Anthemoessa. They were formerly handmaidens of the goddess Persephone and when she was secretly abducted by Haides, Demeter gave them the bodies of birds to assist in the search. THE SEIRENES (Sirens) were three monstrous sea-nymphs who lured sailors to their death with a bewitching song. Entwiner, Binder ( seiraô) Siren suicide, Athenian red-figure stamnos C5th B.C., British Museum
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