3/31/2023 0 Comments The sirens and ulysses![]() When they had passed out of earshot, Odysseus demonstrated with his frowns to be released. When he heard their beautiful song, he ordered the sailors to untie him but they bound him tighter. He ordered his men to leave him tied tightly to the mast, no matter how much he might beg. Odysseus was curious as to what the sirens sang to him, and so, on the advice of Circe, he had all of his sailors plug their ears with beeswax and tie him to the mast. One of the crew, however, the sharp-eared hero Butes, heard the song and leapt into the sea, but he was caught up and carried safely away by the goddess Aphrodite. When Orpheus heard their voices, he drew out his lyre and played his music more beautifully than they, drowning out their voices. In the Argonautica (third century BC), Jason had been warned by Chiron that Orpheus would be necessary in his journey. Out of their anguish from losing the competition, writes Stephanus of Byzantium, the sirens turned white and fell into the sea at Aptera ("featherless"), where they formed the islands in the bay that were called Leukai ("the white ones", modern Souda). The Muses won the competition and then plucked out all of the sirens' feathers and made crowns out of them. One legend says that Hera, queen of the gods, persuaded the sirens to enter a singing contest with the Muses. According to Hyginus, Sirens were fated to live only until the mortals who heard their songs were able to pass by them. However, the Fabulae of Hyginus (64 BC–17 AD) has Demeter cursing the sirens for failing to intervene in the abduction of Persephone. Demeter gave them wings to search for Persephone when she was abducted by Hades. The Siren of Canosa, statuette exposing psychopomp characteristics, late fourth century BCĪccording to Ovid (43 BC–17 AD), the sirens were the companions of young Persephone.
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