Odysseus and the Sirens

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Sometimes a tempting offer is too good to refuse, even if it means risking one’s life

Odysseus also encounters the famous sirens during his wanderings. Typically, in Greek depictions, the sirens they are half-woman half-bird creatures that perch on the rocks by the sea and sing beautiful songs that lure men who, refusing to leave, die of starvation.

In the Odyssey, Circe warns Odysseus about the sirens and tells him to plug his and his crew’s ears with beeswax in order to block their sweet songs from entering their ears. Being curious about the songs the Sirens sing, Odysseus only plugs his crew’s ears with beeswax and then has his men tie him to the mast of the ship, instructing them not to untie him… no matter how much he begs for it. Odysseus hears the song and begs and pleads that his crew release him, but his faithful crew only tighten the ropes more, binding him to the mast.

Ulysses and the Sirens, Herbert James Draper

It is then revealed that the reason the songs allure and entice men is because they sing of past and future truths.

They sing to Odysseus about his past endeavors, such as the glory and suffering he endured on the battlefields of Troy, and his future actions and what he will achieve… and they falsely promise that their hearers will live to tell these truths to others. Odysseus, of course, achieves this and this is how we are able to get this account from him.

https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends-europe/enchanting-women-sirens-witches-0010301

https://study.com/academy/lesson/odysseus-the-sirens.html

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