American Philological Association
The Homeric Sirens Author(s): Gerald K. Gresseth Source: Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 101 (1970), pp. 203-218 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2936048 . Accessed: 02/02/2011 07:56 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at . http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=jhup. . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected].
American Philological Association and The Johns Hopkins University Press are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association.
http://www.jstor.org
THE HOMERIC
SIRENS
GERALD K. GRESSETH University of Utah
of the Sirensremaina questionto thisday. The formandsignificance The two mainpositionsthatscholarshaveproposedarethattheywere soul-birds(Weicker)or otherworldenchantresses (Buschor).I Buschor'sview wasexplicitlyformulatedasananswerto Weicker'ssomewhat one-sidedposition. More recentlyBuschorhas himselfcome undercriticismfor his attemptto makethe SirensMusesof a special sort.2 Briefly stated, Weicker thought the Sirenswere, both in of the soulsof the dead. literatureand art, essentiallyrepresentations form Thereis no questionthat the art goes back ultimatelyto the EgyptianBa-form (i.e., the human-headedbird type).3 Although Weickerrecognizedwhat we may call the MusendesJenseitsaspect of the Sirens (Seelenvogel,13-16) it is fair to point to his statement,
starkerotischgefirbteGrundzug "Unverkennbar istdervampyrartige, as desSirencharakters" (Seelenvogel, 37) typifyinghisview. However, it was quiteevidentfrom the pictorialandmonumentalevidencethat this view excludedother equallyimportantaspectsof the Siren.4 IGeorg Weicker, Der Seelenvogel (LeipzigI902), hereaftercited as Seelenvogel, and his articlein Roscher'sLexicon4 (I9Io-I5) 6o0-39, s.v. "Seirenen,"hereaftercited as Roscher. ErnstBuschor, Die MusendesJenseits(MunichI944), hereaftercited as Die Musen. The most recent attempt to deal criticallywith the Sirensis KarolyMar6t's Literatur:Vorfragen Die AnfdngederGriechischen (Budapest1960), hereaftercited as Die Anfinge. For a brief surveyof work on the SirensuntilrecentlyseeJohnPollard,Seers Shrines and Sirens (London 1965) 142-43. 2 See John Pollard, "Muses and Sirens,"CR 66 (1952) 6o-63. Buschor'schoice of title for his work was no doubt unfortunateand his attemptto identify the Sirenswith Musesis on some scholarlygroundsshaky,as Pollardpoints out; but he had an intuition at least of what the Sirenswere. 3 SeeWeicker,Seelenvogel 85-88. But theformcomesinto Greeceapparentlythrough a Near East mediary (see Emil Kunze, "Sirenen" [AthenischeMitteilungen57 (1932)] 128-29).
4 1 refer to their "musical" or joyous aspects,particularlyin associationwith heroes, Erotes,and the like (cf. Weicker, Roscher,figs. 4, 6, and 28).
204
GERALD
K. GRESSETH
[I970
Buschor'scharminglittle book called attentionto these neglected whatI may call the aspectsof the problem. Firstof all, he separated GreekSirenideafromtheOrientalartform(DieMusen,I3). Buschor alsoclaimedthatHomer'sSirenswereanthropomorphic andtherefore differentfromthe OrientalMischbild (DieMusen,I ). Buschor'schief contributionto the Siren question,however, was undoubtedlyhis seeingthatthe earliermeaningof the Siren(beforethe fifth century) was not that of Todesddmon but what he calls (47) Himmelssirenen. "das Wesen... und are, further, They Gegenteilvon verderblichen ... zwar im Jenseits,aberkeineswegsim Reich des Hadeshausen" (40). Weickerhadsaidthatthehomeof the Sirenswasthe graveand the Underworld(Seelenvogel, 8). It is fairto say thatthesetwo positions have been the main ones to date. Marothas criticizedboth Weicker and Buschor (Die Anfdnge,33, I34-35). Marot also calls
attentionto the fact thata trueinvestigationof the Sirensmustbegin with Homer(I34). But, perhapsmostimportantly,he statesthatthe literaryand pictorialtraditionshave not beenharmonized(I35). In turn,however,it seemsto me thatMarothimselfhascome up with a ratherimprobable view of how thenameandtaleof the Sirensarose.5 The presentstateof this inquirycan be summedup in the wordsof Pollard(SeersShrines andSirens[above,note2] 143):"Thewhole Siren problemseemspastsolutionin the absenceof literaryevidence... the monuments,in the main,fail to supporta consistenttheory." It is on the literaryevidence,especiallyHomer, that I intend to concentrate here. The literaryaspectof the problemhasnot, it seems to me, been assaultedin the right way. That is, most investigators seemto haveapproached the subjectby askingsimplywhata Sirenis. 5 Marot's argument (Die Anfdnge 142-49) in essence is that, since all attempts to derive the name Vetp v from Greek have failed we must look to the Orient. He takes Berard's suggestion that the name Siren derives from Phoenician sir "Zaubergesang." That is the first syllable does. The second syllable comes from another Semitic word meaning "tying" in a magical sense. Since the Greeks had this association of ideas in their own language-and indeed in the word which seemed to echo it-the Greeks were more inclined to accept this new word as their own. As to the story itself, again from Berard, Mar6t says that Greek sailors got from Phoenician sailors a tale about two singing Midchen-Sirenen on an island. These became Homer's Sirens, name and story. Later
the Mischwesen form of artwas borrowedfrom the Orient too. This art form had no name; but, Mar6t assumes, because they (real Sirens and art form) shared the features of Gesang and Wahrsagenthe bicorporal type took over the name Siren as its own. It seems to be an argument of improbabiliaper improbabiliora.
Vol. ioI]
THE HOMERIC
SIRENS
205
But it is evident that the Sirensin literatureexist within a folklore context. To look more closely at the total complex of motifs about the Sirensmay yield better results. Folkloreis not, as a rule, discretebits of unrelated tradition handed down in random fashion; but rather, especiallyin tales,it is a fairly complex associationof themes or motifs that have a tendency to attract and cling to each other. What this means in terms of our present examinationis that the closest cultural context to the Sirensis obviously the rest of the Apologue, the Odyssey and Homer generally, in that order-simply another way of stating Aristarchus'rule for explaining Homer. The next closest body of evidence would be the rest of Greek literaturein order of time from Homer. Furtherafield we might expect Indo-Europeanmythology to show us related types or motifs. It is possible (see note 5, above) that the tale is not a part of native traditionbut a borrowing in toto from the East; I hope to show, however, that this is not so. The primary literary source, both in time and importance, is of course Homer (Od. I2.39-54, 158-200). The episode is a short one, divided into Circe's foretelling of the event and the event itself. In summary, Odysseusand his crew arrivesuddenlyat the Sirens'island. A mysteriouscalm ensues. After the crew'searsareplugged with wax and Odysseusis tied to the mast the ship is rowed closer to the island. The SirensaddressOdysseusby name and tell him that they know all that goes on in the world. Odysseusthen wishes to be free. But by prearrangementhis crew only bind him tighter and they sail safely past the Sirens' isle. In spite of the brevity of the episode there are difficultiesand perhapscontradictionswithin it. But the leitmotif of the whole episode, which we may call Magic Song, standsout quite clearly. This theme dominates the episode from beginning to end.6 The individual names given to the Sirens(Thelxiepeia [or Thelxiope or Thelxinoe], Aglaope [or Aglaophone], Peisinoe [or Molpe], and 6 The episode opens with the mention of this theme: at pa TE 7TLraVTa / avOpw7rovS 0'AyovcaLv(39-40). It recurs through the whole passage (41, 44, 52, 158-59, 183, i85,
I87, 192, 198). But I would like to call attentionto the structureof this motif within the episode. It is mentionedfirstbeforeanythingelse, otherthanthe Sirensthemselves. Then, at the criticalmid-point (I84-94) where, if he had not been warned, Odysseus might have halted his ship (cf. I85), this theme occursthree times (I85, 187, I92). It (Magic Song) is clearlymarkedas the luring mechanism. Finally,they are only out of dangerwhen they are out of voice range(I97-98).
206
GERALD
K. GRESSETH
[I970
Himerope)7 would seem to supportthe contention that magic singing was the centralcharacteristicof the Sirens. The question why the singing of the Sirens is dangerous,as it apparently is, presentsa real difficulty. That is, other than the general sweetnessof their singing what is it exactly that so attractsOdysseus? One very old suggestion, going back to Cicero (Fin. 5.I8), is that it wasn't the sweetnessof their song "sed quiamultase scireprofitebantur, The hero ut hominesad earumsaxa discendicupiditateadhaerescerent."8 who saw the cities of men and knew their mind might reasonably,I suppose, be curious about the Sirenstoo. But I find this explanation unacceptable. To begin with, if it were merely a matter of information, Odysseus might well pick up a good deal of it as the ship goes by at a rowing pace. And even if Odysseus himself is that thirsty for knowledge it is hard to believe that the crew must have their ears stopped up to protect them from this desire. In addition, why is the magic power of song so emphasizedif it is simply the vehicle for conveying information? Then too, if we look at the actualtext, the only specificmention of this sort is the statement(I89-90) by the Sirensthat they know what happenedat Troy-hardly news to Odysseus. It is true that in the next line the Sirensmake a claim to knowing all that happensin the world, but it hardly seems likely that this very general statementin one line can be the source of the Sirens'charm. What we perhapswould have expected-which would be consistentwith the rest of the Apologue-is some offer on the part of the Sirens to tell Odysseusa short way home. But they do not offer this information and Odysseusdoes not ask this or any other questionof the omniscient Sirens, though he is well within voice range (I8i).9 But even if we 7 See Zwicker in RE 3.I (1929)
291-92,
s.v. "Sirenen" for full references.
All these
early names come from epic (hexameter)sources. The name Himerope is not found in the literaturebut on a red-figuredvase of ca. 500 B.C. in the British Museum (see Weicker, Roscher,fig. I). 8 Stanford, The Odyssey of Homer I (London 1961) ad I2.I84-9I
expands Cicero a bit:
"in other words they appealto two of the most prominentfeelings of the Greeks:the So the temptlove of music and poetry, and love of informationand 'new things'... ation is somethinglike that of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge in Genesis3.5." 9 The fact that Odysseusasks nothing here is fatal to the view that he is eager for knowledge, though it may be that the Sirenspossessit. What we have here actually is a well-known type of folktale,the gist of which is that when a supernaturalcallsit is dangerousto answer. Weicker recognized this and called attention to other IndoEuropeanexamples(Weicker, Seelenvogel39 and 39 n. 3). The type is perhapsworld-
Vol. IoI]
THE HOMERIC
SIRENS
207
were to allow the Siren'sofferof informationandOdysseus'desireto hear it as a sufficientmotivation for our hero's compulsion to leap
overboard,presumably,and swim to shore(as Butes laterdid, Ap. Rhod., Argon.4, 913-I5), the questionstillremainswhat would then scholarsalsowondered havehappenedto Odysseus. TheAlexandrian aboutthis. In two scholia(adOd.12.43)they suggestthatthe Sirens' victimswasteawayover a long periodof time from lackof nourishment due to the enchantmentof the Siren'ssong (protsetekotes epi makron te ode). Laterspeculation (e.g., Myth.Vat.2. ioi) went so far as to make the Sirensconsumetheir victims(see Weicker,Roscher 614-I5, for furthertextsandreferences). It is typicalof Homerin theseshortscenesthathe doesnot detailthe dangerbut insteadleavesan ominousbut unspecifiedauraaboutthe scene. However,if folkloreis traditional materialhandeddownand usedin a patternedway, we shouldbe ableto sketchin whatHomer has not made specific. The Lotos-eaters scene (9.82-104),
though
differentin otherways, parallelsthe Sirensin severalparticulars and especiallyin thetypeof danger. Bothscenesareshort;bothcutdetails to a minimum. For instance,what do the Lotos-eaterslook like? What exactlywas the Lotos? However,in the matterof the danger to theherothepoetis quitespecific:in bothcaseshe who comesunder thespellof Lotos-eating or Siren-listening doesnot returnhome(9.94It is true that the Lotos-eater 97; I2.4I-43). passageis moreexplicit than the other, statingthat the Lotos-eatersdevisedno death for Odysseus'men but thatwhoeverate the Lotosforgothis return(97). ruledout and Since,in the Sirenpassage,physicalassaultis apparently theirvictim doesnot returnI would say muchthe samethingis implied. The centralmotif of the Sirenepisode(MagicSong)implies bewitchment,perhapssomekindof sleep,0Iin anycaserenderinghim helpless. Thismotifis patternedin thisway in Greekliterature. The
wide. The Tiv of Nigeria have an excellent example (seeJohn Greenway,Literature amongthePrimitives[Hatboro,Penn., 1964]45-46). There is as well anotherexample in the Odyssey. In the Circe episode Odysseus'men hear Circe singing (a kind of call) and they make the mistake,unlike wise Odysseus,of calling back to her (Od. 10.229). IO I have calledattentionto the use of thelgoin thispassage(40, 44). The word clearly has magical associationsand can by itself mean "put to sleep." Cf. Od. 5.47, ommata thelgei,sc. Hermeswith his wand; and 10.2I3 of Circe'sbewitchmentof humansinto animalform. Hesiod uses this verb of the Sirensstaying the winds (Merkelbachand Hesiodea[Oxford I967] fr. 28). West, Fragmenta
208
GERALD
K. GRESSETH
[1970
most famous case is doubtlessthe Binding Song sung by the Furiesin the Eumenides. Their song sung over the victim is maddening,derangphrenon),it withers the ing, will-destroying; it binds the mind (desmios victim. By thismeansthe Furiescompel him beneaththe earth(Aesch. Eum. 328-39). The Sphinxes, in many ways like the Sirens, are said to carryoff the personcapturedby theirsong (Eur.El. 47I-72, aoidimon agranpherousai). In a more general way the opening lines (1-15) of Pindar'sfirstPythianis a tributeto the power of song. This is enough to explainthe dangerOdysseusis in. He may be castinto a sleep,held in some Lotos-land-likeindolence, or even snatchedaway somewhere (cf. Od. I4.37I).
In any event, he would lose his return.
Homer
may not have given any more detail than he has becausehis tradition has forgotten what exactly the Sirens did with their prey. As in the passagejust quoted from Euripides,we may askwhere are the Sphinxes taking these men. Euripides doesn't say and probably didn't know. Though the aspectof enchantressis no doubt the main motif of the Sirens, there are others that, though subordinate,contribute toward making of the whole episode a patternof interrelatedmotifs. One of theseis the location of the Sirens. By thisI do not mean a geographical location. There is no real geography here, only mythology. Firstof all, as is the case with most of the adventuresof the Apologue, the Sirensare on an island. This may be, of course,only the naturalconsequenceof real geography. But, as will be seen later, it is at least a curious coincidence that, in Indo-Europeanmyth (Irish), Odyssean type adventures with enchantressestake place on islands. More significantperhapsis the statementthat the Sirensare seatedin a meadow (45), further characterizedas a flowery meadow (I59). This featureof the episodehas been explainedalong purely naturalisticlines (see Pollard, [above, note i] 62). But there are at least two reasons why such an explanationlooks unlikely to me. To begin with, in an episodethathassuchlittle detailabout the mainpersonaeit seemsstrange that Homer chooses to mention a meadow twice that is not otherwise involved in the story. It looks like a detail of embedded tradition that went with the tale, though to Homer it probably meant very little. In Greek literaturewe find a great many similarmeadows and plains. Beginning with Homer, we find that Calypso lives on an island which has soft, flowery meadows (5.72). I might observe too
Vol. IoI]
THE HOMERIC SIRENS
209
that she sings(6i) and is anotherone who keepsOdysseusfrom his return. IntheUnderworldby the streamsof Oceanthereis an asphodel meadow where the dead live (II.539; 24.13).
According to the
dictionariesthe asphodelwas a liliaceousplant. One would suppose thereforethat asphodelin this context andflowery were synonymous.II There is also the Elysiumplain (Od.4.563) presumablyflowered as well and located near Ocean. To forestallan obvious objection,there may be a great differencein myth conceptionbetween the Underworld and Menelaus' paradise;but all I intend here for the moment is to call attention to the formal structureof these and similarexamples. The patternis strikinglysimilar:a distantlocation (e.g., peiratagaies,4.563) usually near Ocean (or the equivalent),a meadow or plain (in earlier Greek literatureoften flowered) and inhabited by the dead or other supernaturals. Another example comes from the Theogony(270 ff.). This section of the Theogonydeals with the offspringof Phorcys (also said to be the father of the Sirens in Soph. fr. 86i, Pearson). Here beyond Ocean we find along with the Graiaeand Gorgons the clearsinging Hesperidesin a soft, flowery meadow (279). Pan listensto the singing of the nymphs and Echo in a soft, flowery meadow (h. Horn. Pan 25). There is no Ocean here but there is a spring of dark water (20), better suited to Pan's mountain haunts. There are numerous other examples of the generalpattern,12but those cited show that the flowery meadow of the Sirensis not simply an accidentalfeatureof the episode. Another-though minor-motif in our episodeis that of the sudden, magical windcalm that meets Odysseuson his approachto the Sirens' isle. This Windstilleplus a rather erotic representationsupposedly depicting a Siren attacking a sleeping man,13has led to the theory that we have in the Sirens a case of the meridian demon, a type of "1So LSJ, s.v. auoSeAo'ds. They cite h. Hom. Merc. 221, 344 for comparison. further: II. 6.2o0-02, '2Compare I6.I5I; Theognis 1216; Pind. fr. iI4a, line 2 (Bowra); Soph. OC 1564, I577, I68x; Ar. Ran. i86, 326, 343, 351, 1300; P1. Phdr. 248B,
Resp. 62IA. This myth motif is not confined to Greektradition. We find it in Irish folklore(W. Y. EvansWentz, TheFairy-Faithin CelticCountries[I9II; rprt.New Hyde Park,N.Y. 1966]335). Two namesfor the IrishOtherworldareMag Mar, "the great plain" and Mag Mell, "the happy plain." 13See Weicker,Roscher,fig. 8. A theoreticallypossibleetymology that derivesSiren from the lexical word ZEtp, "sun," is used to supportthis theory; see Zwicker (above, note 7) 290.
210
GERALD
K. GRESSETH
[1970
succuba.14Whatevermay be saidfor ordinaryghostsandothernocturnalprowlers,Mar6t is clearlyrightin sayingthatthe noonday demon type is not found in classicalGreekart or literature(Die Anfdnge140). In our Homeric episode there is no emphasison noonday heat nor is thereany suggestionof amorousattackon the part of the Sirens. The windlesscalm, it is true, is suggestiveof the meridiandemon. I would like, however, to put forward a different explanation. Throughout folklore unusualweather often marks the epiphany of supernaturals. An example frequentlycited is the famousstillnessin the Bacchae(Io8485) just before the appearanceof Dionysus. A closer parallelto our passage,though, was suggested to me by two passagesin the Odyssey. On the morning of his third day in the water as Odysseus is nearing Phaeaciathe samewindlesscalm occursin very nearlythe samewordsandjust at thatmoment he seesland (5.39I-92). Even more interesting is the departureof Odysseus and his men from the land of the dead. They hurriedly embark; then the last two lines of the eleventh book say: "The streamof Ocean carriedthem along. At first they rowed; afterwardsthey had a good wind." It would seem then that a mysterious windcalm surroundssome of these extraterrestrial places.15 The calm about the Sirens'isle is apparentlyanother,and perhapsthe most dramatic,instanceof this motif. The questionof what the Sirenslooked like has polarizedabout two very differentpositions. Weicker, as alreadymentioned, held that in art and literaturethey were soul-birds. Since Buschor'sday scholarly opinion has taken the view that, whatever may be the case in art, Homer's Sirenswere anthropomorphicmaidens.I6 Unfortunatelythe 14For bibliography and discussionsee Weicker, Seelenvogel38 and n. 7; Charles Picard, "Nereides et Sirenes," Jtudes d'ArcheologieGreque,Annales de l'Ecole des Hautes ltudes de Gand 2 (1938) I44-45; Mar6t, Die Anfdnge I40 and nn. 70, 71, and 75; Standard Dictionaryof Folklore... (New York I950) s.v. "Lilith."
Is Merry-Riddell, Homer'sOdysseyI (Oxford 1886) ad loc., say, "Here there was no wind, perhapsbecausethey were in an unearthlyplace beyond the ordinaryatmosacheon, i.e., swiftflowingAcheron. phere." Cf. Aesch.Ag. I 557-58, okyporonporthmeum' Cf. Pind. fr. II4c (Bowra)blechroi... potamoi;this seemsto be a contradiction. But the lack of wind here has dominatedthe sceneand made the riverssluggish. Cf. II. 8.4788I: Iapetosand Cronos sit at the ends of the earthwhere Tartarusis and where thereis neithersunlightnor wind. I wonder, too, if this could be the reasonCharonhas a punting pole. I6 It should be noted thatJane Harrisonindependentlyof Weicker reachedthe same to the Studyof conclusionabout the form of the Sirens(seeJane Harrison,Prolegomena
Vol. IOI]
THE HOMERIC
SIRENS
211
whole questionof the form of Homer'sSirenshasbeenfurthercomplicatedby theadditionalquestionwhetherthe Greeksof Homer'sday believedin soul-birdsor not. This questionproperlybelongsto the studyof Greekreligionratherthanfolklore,thoughthereis obviously someoverlapbetweenthe two areasof study. It is certainlyodd, andhasneverbeensatisfactorily explained,why, if Homer'sSirenswere wholly anthropomorphic, everypieceof the monumentalevidenceshows in one style or anotherthe bicorporal thatthetwo traditions form.I7 It is allwell andgood to sayarbitrarily havenothingto do with eachother;but, besideslookinglike an explanationthoughtup to get out of the difficulty,thissolutiondoesnot explainwhy the samenameis usedfor two suchdiverseforms. The mainpieceof evidenceusedto supportthecasefortheanthropomorphic Sirensis the factthatHomerdoesnot say thattheyhadbirdformsof anykind. ActuallyHomerdoesn'tsayanythingon thismattereither way. Thisfact mustcertainlybe seenin the perspectiveof Homer's style. Inthisepisode,forinstance,Homernot onlydoesn'ttelluswhat the Sirenslookedlike;he doesn'tgive usanygenealogical information, the locationof the island;or, aswe saw,the natureof the dangerthey threaten. Elsewherein the Apologue Homer doesn'ttell us that Phaeaciais an island;presumably,however,it is. He doesn'ttell us outrightthatthe Cyclopshasonly one eye; yet everyonebelieves,no doubtrightly,thatthisis the case. Euripides(Hel.167)is the firstone in literatureto makespecificmentionof the Sirens'birdform. But thisis not decisive;he maybe reportingliterarytradition orhemayhave beeninfluencedby the artformlong established his by day. Homergivesus no genealogyfor the Sirens;the firstnoticecomes fromtheAtticdramatists.Sophoclestellsus theirfatherwasPhorcys; Euripidessaysthat theirmotherwas Chthon.18 In mythology,as is well known,the genealogiesareaddedafterthe event. But they are Greek Religion [I903; rprt. New York 1955] 197 n. 3).
For the more recent view see
Buschor,Die Musen I-I3; for Mar6t see note 5, above. 17It is true that there is one late example of pure anthropomorphism(Mar6t, Die Anfdnge,P1. Io). But Weicker is correctin saying (Seelenvogel32) that this is merely the resultobservablestageby stagein the progressiveVermenschlichung of the art form. 18 Soph. fr. 86I (Pearson);Eur. Hel. I68. Texts and citationsof other genealogical informationapudWeicker, Roscher603. The two here given (i.e., Phorcysand Earth) seemto me to be the only onesof anyfolkloreimportance. Weickertracesthe Sophocles genealogy back to Hesiod.
212
GERALD
K. GRESSETH
[1970
not withoutimportancein folkloreresearch. Whereotherinformation is lacking,as in the caseof the Sirens,theirgenealogicalassignmentscanindicatehow theywerethoughtof, evenperhapswhatthey werethoughtto look like. Hesiodhasbeencalledthefatherof Greek mythgenealogies. If thesegenealogiesgo backto histimetheywould likelybe good literaryevidence,independentof the artform,for the appearanceof the Sirens. One would assumeat first surmisethat Phorcyswas chosenas fatherof the Sirensbecauseof his association with the sea;he is the son of Pontos(Th. 237). Phorcysis parexcellencethe fatherof monsters. The firstof hischildrento be mentioned in the Theogony are the Graiae(270),then the Gorgons(274). We find the Hesperidesheretoo (275),thoughthey arenot the daughters of Phorcys. Like the Sirens,the Graiaeand Gorgonsare sets of females;they are dangerous,locatedin a distantplace(herethe far west)nearOcean. We do not usuallythinkof theGorgonsasmusical, butit wasin imitationof theirdirgethatAthenainventedthe "tuneof many heads" (Pind. Pyth. 12.23). It is interestingthat in thisode the (13) is usedto describethe Graiae;Homerappliesit adjectivethespesios to the Sirens(12.158). Hesioddoesn'tdescribetheformof theGraiae and the Gorgons. Aeschyluscallsthe Graiaekyknomorphoi (PV 795) andthe Gorgonskatapteroi (PV798).'9 Euripidessays(Hel. 168)that Chthon(= Gaea)was the motherof the Sirens.20Earthis also a producerof monstersin Greekmyth genealogies,especiallythe Mischbildtypes (e.g., Typhon, Giants, Furies). In a variantgenealogy(Eur.Ion 989) she is motherof the Gorgonsandalso(Soph.OC I574)of Thanatosapparently.21Chthon 19It is curious that one of the Graiae is named Pamphredo (Th. 273), obviously a PN form of pemphredon,a kind of wasp. One of the etymologies given for Siren is seiren, a type of bee (Arist. HA 9.40.2). Weicker 20 We are left to conjecture who the father was, presumably Phorcys. (Roscher 603) also cites Acheloos, from the blood dripping on Earth from his broken horn. But the texts are late (Lucian and Libanius) and evidently patterned on the birth of the Furies. It does show, however, that the Sirens were thought of as similar to the Furies. 21 In art the winged Thanatos is pictured with the winged Hypnos carrying off the body of Sarpedon (see LarousseEncyclopediaof Mythology [New York I960] 189). So Sphinxes, Harpies/Sirens (on the so-called Harpy Tomb), winds, gods carry people off, some alive, some (temporarily?) dead. As to where they go, see Erwin Rohde, Psyche: the Cult of Souls (Engl. trans i925; rprt. New York 1966), I, Ch. ii, "Islands of the Blest."
Vol. ioI]
THE HOMERIC SIRENS
was also the mother of Dreams (Eur. Hec. 70-71; IT 1262).
2I3
In the
Odysseythe country of dreamsis locatedby Ocean and the Gatesof the Sun and the asphodelmeadow at the entranceto the Underworld (24. 11-14). Helen asks Persephoneto send the Sirens to her (Eur. Hel. 175), which must mean that the Sirenscan come from the same region as dreams. Dreams are winged (Eur. Hec. 70-71) and have the gift of prophecy(Eur.IT 1262-68) as the Sirensdo. Gaeais calledprotomantis (Aesch.Eum.2), the first sourceof prophecy. We can see why. It is almost a universalbelief that dreamsbring propheticor secretknowledge. The Greeks imagined the personified dream as a bird- or wraith-like being that came at night to warn or deliver a message. The interestingthing, however, is that they were regardedas coming from the earth.22 We can see from this perhaps why Earth was chosenasmother of the Sirens;both SirensandDreamshave prophectic gifts. They apparentlysharemuch the same location as well. In the Odyssey dreams are near the entrance to the Underworld. From Euripides'Helenwe saw that Persephonecan send the Sirens. A fragment of Sophocles(fr. 86I, Pearson)says that the two Sirenssing tous Haidounomous,literally, "Hades' tunes," whatever exactly is meant by that. Dreamsdo not sing; but they speakpropheticallyto a person in sleep. In so far as the intention of the Sirens'singing was hypnotic trancethe two statesare much alike. Echidnais the officialmother of the Sphinx (Hes. Th. 326). However, Echidna lives under the earth (ibid.304) and in a sensethe Sphinx is a productionfrom the earth(cf. Eur. Phoen. Io19-20, gas locheuma / nerterout' Echidnas). The Sphinx is a winged meixoparthenos (ibid.I023); she sings,hasarcaneor prophetic knowledge, carries off her victims (ibid. 809, 1026-27), and is sent by
Hades to do so (ibid.8Io-II). It is a well-known fact that in art the Sirenslook much like Keres, Sphinxes, Gorgons, Harpies,Erotes, Erinyes and the like. Yet, with the assumptionof a purely anthropomorphicform for Homer's Sirens 22 Gaea possessedthe oracularshrine at Delphia before Apollo. (For two differing accountsof how Apollo got it see Aesch.Eum.I-8 andEur.IT 1249-83.) Accordingto Pausanias(5.I4. Io) therewas a gaionor shrineof Gaeaat Olympiabuilt over a stomionapparentlyan entranceto and from the lower world, a gate for dreamsperhaps. The whole practiceof incubatioand the rites of Trophonios would seem to be connected with this idea; that is, if propheticdreamscome from the earth, it is best to get right on or in it.
2I4
GERALD
K. GRESSETH
[I970
it wasinexplicable that,with onelateexception,allartevidenceshould showthebicorporal form. Onemighthaveexpectedsomeadherence, especiallyin paintingsof the Homericscene,to the supposedHomeric form. OnlyBuschorandMar6t,so farasI am aware,haveaddressed themselvesto this problem-both attemptsunconvincingto me. Buschor'sargument(Die MusenII-I2) in essenceis that"Das Mischund bilddesVogeldamons hatdanndie GemiiterderfriihenBetrachter BildneraufsTiefsteerregt. Sie deutetenes verschieden... vor allem aberauf... die Sirenen,diejetzt erstzu Singvogelngewordensind." Theargumentisarbitrary, andvague. Whatso moved non-evidential, theseBetrachter and Bildnerto do so? Mar6t'sargumentation (Die note is Marot assumes more 5, above) Anfinge142-49) (see complex. thatHomer'sSirenstory,nameand all, camefrom Phoenicianmariners;theseSirenswere of purelyhumanform. Laterthe Mischbild, havingnothingto do with the Sirentale,wasalsoborrowedfromthe Orient. This art form had no name. But becauseof the similarity of propheticsinging(Gesangund Wahrsagen) it took over the name Sirenfromthattime on. Besidesthe problematical etymology(from Semitic)of the nameSirenand the unlikelihoodof the Sirenepisode beinga sailor'staleinsertedin the Odyssey,the one factorof prophetic singing, even if true, seems an insufficientreasonto have caused and unrelated the sharingof a nameby two suchotherwisedissimilar forms. WhatI havetriedto do is to put the Sirensinto thecontextof other folkloretypesthatGreektraditionevidentlythoughttheywererelated to, in genealogies,function,and location. Such evidencecovering severalinstances(Graiae,Gorgons,Dreams,etc.) is not likely to be andfoundin severalsources(Homer,Hesiod,thedramatists), arbitrary, is likelyto takeus backto earlyGreekfolkloretradition,andtherefore to thechargeof beinginfluencedby theartform. Benot susceptible sides,it is one thingto saythatwhenEuripidescallsthe Sirenswinged he doesso becauseof the paintingsandmonumentshe hasseen;but it is quitea differentmatterto assumethatan Orientalartformcouldso Sirensof Homerthatwe find structurethe supposedanthropomorphic them in a complex, patternedrelationwith the Graiae,Gorgons, Sphinxes,Dreamsetc. If we find the Sirenscloselyassociatedwith theseandsimilartypes-to answernow the questionof theirform-it
Vol. IOI]
THE HOMERIC
SIRENS
215
seemshighly likely thatthey too in Greektraditionwere bicorporal aswell. If thisis admittedit removesat onestrokeonemajordifficulty in thewhole Sirenquestion;namely,why everySirenin arthaswings. Theartformwas,of course,borrowed;it wasgiventhenameSirenbecauseGreekfolkloretradition(notnecessarily Homer)knewthatSirens had wings. Becausethere were no art forms of these"Homeric" Sirensno one cansaywhethertheywerethoughtof as the Ba-typesor what-probablysimple"winged." On the otherside,the borrowed formhadno folkloreandthey went togetherwell. Thisconclusionis quiteconsistentwith the epiphanies andapophanies of Homericdeitiesin bird form (see Weicker, Seelenvogel 33). Odysseushimselfappearsonceas a bird(Od. I9.548-49). What role, if any, the soul-birdplaysin the Sirenproblemis a far-reaching question. Partof the difficultyis semantic,I believe. If the questionasks whetherHomerbelievedthatthe humansoulbecamea birdat death the answeris evidentlyno. The eleventhbook of the Odysseyis enoughto show this. But if we ask insteadwhethertherewere in Homer'straditionremnantsof sucha formerbeliefthe answermight well be different. Arguinglargelyfrom monumentalevidence,Picard23concluded that "Le premierparadisgrec a ete un Paradispour navigateurs, un Paradisinsulaire,celuidesIlesBienheureuses."Thisis essentiallythe view of Rohde thatElysium,Phaeacia,andthe Islesof the Blest-all the sameconcept-were pre-Homericin representing fundamentally origin.24 The Sirenepisodeis set in a wider contextthat is largely concernedwith suchplaces. It wouldbe too long a searchto examine thislargercontexthere;but a few wordsareperhapsnot out of place concerningthiswiderframeof reference. If theseOtherworldplaces to suppose go backto an earlystageof Greektradition,it is reasonable that the provenienceof this type is ultimatelyIndo-European.The betweensomeIrishhero-adventures andtheOdyssey generalsimilarities arequiteremarkable.Theseadventures oftenbeginwith a heroand his crew in a boat sailingwest from islandto island. Theseislands have variousnames,all indicativeof the Elysiumtype: Tir-na-nog (TheLandof Youth),Tir Tairngire(TheLandof Promise),Tir Naill 23 Picard (above, note 14) I38. 24 Rohde (above, note 2I) 63, 75-76.
2I6
GERALD
K. GRESSETH
[I970
(The Otherworld), Mag Mar (The GreatPlain) and others.25 Sometimes (as in the case of Bran) these heroes do not return but continue on who knows where. But Cormac, for instance,not only returns home but wakens there magically one morning and with wondrous gifts-very like Odysseus. There are other similarities too: the dominance throughout these scenes of the god Manannan(the Irish Poseidon), the long delayed return of the hero, the sudden nostalgia to return, the hero's return often as a very old man. But what is of particularinterest here is the role of singing goddessesin these tales. Under the influence of a mysterious woman singing sleep-inducing music Bran and his companions sail west from Ireland to the Isle of Joy and the Isle of Women. They see Manannanriding on his chariot over the waves (which he calls a "flowery plain"). At the Isle ofJoy one of Bran'scompanionsrefusesto leave (similarto the Lotos-eaters episode). At the Isle of Women, as in the Circe episode (cf. Od. I0.472), Bran's men have to urge the hero to be on his way. Of furtherinterestis the fact thattheseIrishenchantresses appearsometimes in the form of birds; thesebirdsalsohave the power of trance-inducing song.26 This whole correspondenceof motifs between Irishand Greek myth demands much more consideration than can be given here. The sole featureI would like to emphasizeis that these singersin Irish myth arevery often women, usuallywith eroticimplications. Calypso (Od. 5.6i) and Circe (Od. 10.221) are both beautiful,seductivesingers. If there was in Homer's tradition a close motif connection between female gender and seductive singing this could explain the fact that in Greekliteratureall Sirensare female while in art some early Sirensare bearded. Mar6t speaks of the "hartnackige Dualitat" of the Sirens. The 25 See Wentz (above, note 12) 335 (island names), 338-56 (adventures); and J. A. Mucculoch, Celtic Mythology, Mythology of All Races 3, Ch. ix, "The Divine Land," Mucculoch remarks (123), "The parallel between Celtic and early Greek 1I4-23. conceptions of Elysium is wonderfully close." 26 See Mucculoch (above, note 25) 12I: "Goddesses sometimes took the form of birds... and they sang exquisite, sleep-compelling melodies. Sweet, unending birdmusic... was a constant note of Elysium..." Listening to this music could cause a loss of the sense of time. These myth themes were apparently brought from the mainland to Ireland by the Celts. Anne Ross (Pagan Celtic Britain [London/New York I967] 241) says that these Irish tales remain faithful to concepts of the Unfield and Hallstatt phases of European pre-history.
Vol. ioI]
THE HOMERIC SIRENS
217
of the Sirensshow them singly,in pairs,in pictorialrepresentations threes, or indefiite in number (Weicker, Roscher603; Marot, Die Anfinge II5-I9).
There is no question that Homer's Sirens were two
in number, at least in the Sirenepisodeitself(cf. Od. 23.326, hadinaSn). It seems to me a reasonableapproachto ask what is there about the Siren episode that would demand only two Sirens. In the episode as now constituted evidently nothing. But the obvious importance given to the Phaeaciasection of the Apologue, the moving from island to island,the dominanceof Poseidon (ratherthan Zeus) in this section of the Odyssey,the supernaturaltransportationof Odysseus back to Ithaca, his bemused waking there-all these point to an overall type of Otherworldjourney as the generaltheme of the Apologue. It was the opinion of KarlMeuli that partsof the Odysseyand the Argonautic saga (he mentions in particularthe Siren episode and the Planctae)27 which would be pre-Homericand of belonged to the same Sagenkreis, considerableantiquity. The Planctaewith Scylla and Charybdisimmediately follow the Siren episode (Od. 12.55-126, 20I-59), again divided into Circe'sforetelling the event and the event itself. Whatever Homer himself may have understoodthe Planctaeto be, it is clear that their folktale significanceis that almost universalmotif, the Symplegadesmotif. As Frazerhasindicated,the hero often seeksthe water of immortality or ambrosiabeyond such portals.28 Just a few lines following the Sirens we find the Planctae (the "strikers" rather than the "wanderers," I think) and also the doves that bring Zeus his ambrosia (6I-65). Every time the doves go through, the Planctaedestroy one of them (no doubt the last one through). I would like to suggest that, if in the original pattern the Sirenswere located at the entranceto these two cliffs,then it is obvious why there are two. In summary, let me repeat that the Sirens are a part of Homer's inheritance of folklore and must be examined accordingly. They representprimarily Magic Song. They are patterned closely to the Sphinxes, Harpies, Gorgons, Graiae, and Dreams. I conclude from this that Homer's Sirens must have been winged. To admit this removes the intolerable dichotomy recent scholarship has placed 27 Karl Meuli, Odyssee und Argonautica(Berlin/Sachingen I92I) 25. 28James Frazer, Apollodorus2 (Loeb), App. v, "The Clashing Rocks."
218
GERALD
K. GRESSETH
[I970
between Homer's Sirensand those of art. The Sirensformed only a small part of the total myth patternof the Apologue, which resembles a type of Otherworld journey we find in Irish myth. This overall patternfurthersuggestswhy Homer's Sirenswere female and two in number.
