Abstract:
This study aims to establish the traits of the Sirens as they are represented in the archaic period by observing the figures in the earliest evidence available. In order to do this both the literary evidence and the visual representations will be examined, providing an analysis of the both sets of evidence and highlighting the similarities and differences between then. This study also aims compare the Sirens with other female mythological figures of the archaic period and to offer a structural interpretation of the Sirens to better explore their liminal traits. This combination of evidence will show that while in literature the Sirens’ hybrid appearance is not always made obvious, the concept of the voice is always at the centre of their construction. When it comes to the visual representations it is initially difficult to connect the Sirens’ physical appearance with their myth, but their narrative context is soon portrayed in art with the same ideas as in they are in literature. Their musical nature can thus be considered their central defining trait – but these vocal qualities can equally be dangerously enchanting or called upon in a funerary context, where this persuasiveness is a sought after quality. Overall this study proves that the Sirens were portrayed with a general ambivalence in the archaic period – they were not entirely hostile figures, but neither were they benevolent – while their musical context is entirely consistent. Furthermore, the structural analysis will demonstrate that the Sirens denote an area of contradicting opposites that myth seeks to resolve; like other encounters in the Odyssey, they represent the conflicting ideas between nature and culture, human and beast, and between life and death. Their similarities with the Sphinx, Harpies, Gorgons and Muses also show that these ideas are not entirely unique to the Sirens, and that there is a pattern of constructing similar figures in Greek mythology.