Who Is The Sirens (Seirenes)?

The Sirens are sea creatures who lure sailors with their beautiful singing and lead them to their deaths. In the Odyssey, they sing in a flowery meadow on an island, surrounded by heaps of dead men's bones.

In this story, following Circe's advice, Odysseus plugs his men's ears with beeswax. So that he alone can hear the song, he has himself tied to the mast as they sail past the island. The Sirens call to him: "Famous Odysseus, we know all that happened at Troy, and all that happens on the earth." The king signals to be untied, but his men only bind him tighter and row on past.

The original text suggests there are two of them and does not describe what they look like. Later art often shows them as women with the bodies of birds, and they gave English the word "siren" for a warning alarm.