The Myth of the Sirens | The Song-Luring Beings, How Odysseus Survived, and the Meaning of Their Name

As they reached the sea before a small island, the ears of the sailors on board were already stopped with beeswax. Odysseus had known before setting out that a song would be heard from that island.

It was information Circe had given him in advance. The warning was that any sailor who heard the song would stop the ship, sit down right there, and never leave again. Yet the option given to Odysseus was not to avoid the song entirely, but to hear it while having himself tied up so that he could not move.

The Warning Circe Gave in Advance

When Odysseus asked about the next route, Circe told him that they would have to pass the place where the Sirens were. She explained that they sit in a green meadow singing, and that the song is so sweet that anyone who draws near meets death.

Circe added that around that meadow, piles of human bones lay heaped up, the flesh on them not yet fully decayed. It meant they were the traces left by those who, lured by the song, had stopped their ships and lost their lives right there.

Then Circe offered a method. Stop the sailors' ears with beeswax so they can hear nothing, and if Odysseus himself wishes to hear the song, have his body stand and be bound to the middle of the mast.

One more condition was attached. If he begged to be untied or signaled with gestures, the sailors were instead to tighten the ropes even more firmly. It was a warning built on the premise that there was no way, from the start, to hear the song without being swayed by it.

Conquering with Beeswax, Bound to the Mast

As the island came into view, Odysseus acted exactly as Circe had instructed. First he cut chunks of beeswax, kneaded them with his hands, and warmed them in the sun to soften them, then stuffed them into the sailors' ears one by one.

After blocking the sailors' ears, it was Odysseus's turn. He ordered the sailors to stand him in the middle of the mast and bind both his hands and feet, and the sailors, following his words, tied him firmly and then took hold of the oars again.

In this way, there was only one person on the ship who could hear the song: Odysseus. The rest of the sailors, unable to hear anything, could focus solely on rowing. Instead of avoiding the danger, they had chosen to hear it and block it with their bodies.

The Song Begins, and the Moment Odysseus Struggles

As the ship drew near the island, the song of the Sirens began to be heard. They called Odysseus the renowned one, singing that no one had ever passed by them without stopping.

The song did not stop there. They said they knew all the sufferings the Greeks and Trojans endured at Troy, and that they could tell of everything yet to happen in the world. It was a promise that precisely offered the very things Odysseus would most want to know.

Hearing that song, Odysseus, wanting to hear more, frowned and gestured to the sailors to untie him. But the sailors only quickened their rowing, and Eurylochus and Perimedes bound him again with even tighter ropes.

It was the very scene Circe had warned about in advance. Odysseus himself could not control himself before the song, but the rule set in advance and the sailors' hands held him in place on his behalf.

After the Song Fades, On to the Next Danger

Once the ship had completely left the island behind and the song could no longer be heard, the sailors finally removed the beeswax from their ears and untied the ropes that had bound Odysseus. It was a moment of survival not because he alone withstood the song, but because he had been tied up so that there was no need to withstand it in the first place.

But the dangers of this voyage did not end there. As soon as they passed the Sirens' song, Odysseus and his crew immediately entered another narrow strait, the stretch where Scylla and Charybdis face each other. The dangers Circe had warned about all in one conversation followed one after another in order.

The Meaning Held in the Name Sirens

The Sirens are written as Seirenes in Greek and as Sirens in Latin. The name is said to carry a meaning close to 'the entwining ones' or 'the binding ones'.

Considering that they are beings who lure people with song and hold them in place, the meaning of the name and their actions in the story naturally fit together.

Characters Leading into the Next Story

The next danger encountered right after the Sirens continues in the myth of Scylla and the myth of Charybdis. The story of the figure who first gave all these warnings can be found in the Circe myth summary.

Where this scene falls within Odysseus's entire homeward journey can be seen in the Odysseus journey map, and the plot and ending of the whole work can be explored together in the Odyssey plot and ending summary.