Sirens, what they represent in Greek mythology: meaning, origin and role in the Odyssey.The siren is a figure of classical mythology usually represented in the form of a young woman in the upper part of the body, sometimes with wings, and in the lower part as a bird or, starting from the twelfth century, a fish.
The anthropological figure , which depicts the siren as half woman and half bird, refers more precisely to the harpies , who attracted sailors, using their beauty and the very sweet song they were capable of to enchant them and cause them to shipwreck. The myths that refer to sirens are many, and concern above all their origins: some Greek myths hypothesized that the sirens were daughters of Achelous and Mnemosyne, or Calliope, or Terpsichore.
he sirens are able to enchant sailors with their song, leading them to shipwreck and then to death on the rocks, which today we can identify as those of the island of Li Galli, just south of the Sorrento peninsula; throughout the myths, we note that only two ships escape their song: that of the Argonauts and that of Ulysses , returning from the Trojan War .
Ulysses manages to resist the sirens thanks to the advice of Circe , who recommends that he be tied up by his companions and that wax be put in the ears of the last ones, so as to prevent them from following the sweet song of the sirens, which would lead them to shipwreck and certain death against the ruinous rocks of the island. The sirens are the symbols of the dangers that the sea can reserve for sailors, with all its attractions and its dangers .
