Siren
The two Sirens in Homer’s Odyssey
Singers on an island whose invitation threatens the voyage home, escaped through wax, binding ropes, and a crew that keeps rowing.
Quick answer
The Sirens are the dangerous singers whom Odysseus passes in Book XII of Homer’s Odyssey. In Samuel Butler’s translation there are two: they invite him to hear their song and become wiser. Circe warns that listeners never return home. Odysseus hears them while bound to the mast, and his crew rows beyond earshot with wax stopping their ears.[1][2]
Quick facts
| Record type | Collective creature record: the Sirens of one Greek epic episode |
|---|---|
| Source | Homer, Odyssey, Book XII; Samuel Butler’s prose translation |
| Source realm | Greek mythic world: the Sirens’ island and flowering field |
| Number in this translation | Two; no individual names supplied[2] |
| Defining action | Enchanting song with an invitation to gain knowledge[2] |
| Physical form | No anatomy described in the selected episode |
| Means of escape | Wax in the crew’s ears, ropes holding Odysseus, and continued rowing[2] |
What the source says
Circe’s warning
Circe tells Odysseus that anyone who approaches unwarily and hears the Sirens will never be welcomed home by wife and children. She places the singers in a green field surrounded by human bones with flesh still decaying upon them. She instructs him to stop his men’s ears with wax. He may listen himself if they bind him upright at the mast and tighten his bonds should he ask for release.[1]
The song and the passing ship
Odysseus relays the precautions to his companions. As they approach the island, the wind drops and the men take to their oars. He softens wax in his hands and stops their ears; they bind him hands and feet. The Sirens see the approaching ship and address him by name, praising his renown and inviting him to listen.[2]
They promise that the listener will leave delighted and wiser. In Butler’s wording they claim knowledge of the suffering imposed upon the Greeks and Trojans at Troy and of what will happen throughout the world. Odysseus wants to hear more and signals to be freed. The crew rows harder; Eurylochus and Perimedes add stronger bonds. Only when the ship is beyond hearing do the men remove the wax and release him.[2]
Description and the power of song
The source describes voices, a field, and the danger of listening. It does not describe wings, feathers, fish tails, facial beauty, or bodily dimensions. The record therefore does not classify these Sirens as mermaids or infer their anatomy from the painting. The song draws Odysseus’s attention and desire; his men’s precautions allow the ship to pass.[1][2]
This page retains Butler’s English name Sirens and uses Odysseus for the hero he calls Ulysses. Butler explicitly renders the pair as “two Sirens.” His future-facing description of their promised knowledge is reported as this translator’s wording, not used to establish a separate prophetic power. His geographical suggestions in note 102 remain editorial conjecture.[2]
Source realm: the Sirens’ island
Butler’s narrative places the encounter at an island after departure from Circe and before the passage by Scylla and Charybdis. Odysseus describes the singers’ place to his men as a field of flowers. These are features of the narrated voyage, without a modern location assigned here.[1][2]
The archive groups this record under Mythic cosmos and the Ancient Mediterranean cultural shelf.
Themes in this episode
Knowledge and the interrupted homecoming: the invitation to hear and learn competes with the need to continue the voyage. Preparation and trust: Odysseus survives because his companions follow the earlier instructions even when he signals otherwise. These are readings of this episode’s choices, rather than universal meanings assigned to every Siren tradition.[1][2]
Books and references
- 1Homer, The Odyssey, Book XII: Circe’s warning about the Sirens
English prose translation by Samuel Butler, first published 1900. Edition consulted: Project Gutenberg eBook 1727, updated 1 December 2023, with Henry Festing Jones’s second-edition preface dated 4 December 1921. See Circe’s first warning after Odysseus recounts his visit to Hades, beginning “So far so good,” through the instruction to tighten his bonds. Public-domain text and translation.
Read Book XII ↗ - 2Homer, Odyssey, Book XII: approach, song, and escape
Butler, same digital edition. See Odysseus’s instructions beginning “Then, being much troubled in mind,” through his release after the song, immediately before the great wave and roaring water. Note 102 offers Butler’s proposed geographical identification; it is not treated as a place named in the narrative.
Read the encounter and linked note ↗ - 3John William Waterhouse, Ulysses and the Sirens (1891)
Oil on canvas, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, accession p.396.3-1; purchased from the artist in 1891. Image reference only. The Wikimedia Commons reproduction is sourced to the Art History Archive and marked PD-Art / public domain. Waterhouse died in 1917; the painting was exhibited in 1891. The museum confirms the subject, date, and bird-bodied interpretation.
Image provenance and rights ↗ · Museum catalogue ↗
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