Mermaids - mythology

Mermaids are omniscient demonic beings, who stop the winds with a song, calm the sea and enchant sailors.

When Odysseus returned from the underworld to the island of Eyu, Kirka showed him all the dangers that awaited him on his way to his homeland. She told him that she would pass by an island on whose flower meadows sit two mermaids, surrounded by the bones of unfortunates who stopped boats to enjoy their song. In order to happily pass by the Mermaid Island, and still hear their enchanting song, Odysseus ordered his friends to tie him tightly to the catarrh, and covered their ears with wax. As the ship approached the island, the sea calmed down and Odysseus heard the sirens calling to him with a ringing song. The hero wanted to meet them, but his friends tied him tighter and rowed faster.

It was later said that three mermaids tried to stop Odysseus' ship - Pisinoi, Aglaop and Telexia (or Parthenope, Lygea and Leucosia), the daughters of the river god Aheloi and Muse Melpomene or Terpsichore. One played the lyre, the other the flute, and the third sang. These demonic beings were prophesied to die as soon as a ship passed them without stopping. When Odysseus and his friends passed by the mermaids, they died of despair or crashed into the sea and turned into rocks. Some say that the Argonauts passed by the Mermaid Island before the Odyssey and that, thanks to Orpheus' enchanting gig, they did not become their prey.

Several other legends are known about the origin, number and destiny of mermaids. The sea god Fork is mentioned as their father, and some say that they are the offspring of Aheloy and Portaon's daughter Steropa. It is said that mermaids were born during the fight between Heracles and Aheloy around the arm of Aeneas' beautiful daughter Dejanira, from drops of blood that fell to the ground at the moment when the hero Aheloy, who had turned into a bull, broke his horn. Some mention four mermaids: Teles, Rydna, Molpa and Telksiopa.

The mermaids were first of all beautiful girls, inseparable friends of Demeter's daughter Kore (Persephone). When Hades kidnapped Kora, the mermaids begged the gods to give them wings, so that they could look for a friend by sea and land. Their request was granted: they got bird feathers and legs, and kept the girl's face and voice. Others say that Demeter changed their character to punish them for not keeping their friend Kora more vigilant, or that Aphrodite took away their beauty because they despised the pleasures of love. According to that second, later version, after the birth of a beautiful girl, they became winged freaks, keeping a beautiful face and a beautiful voice, because they insulted the goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite. She turned them into winged monsters because they did not give in to the ecstasy of love. Their bird feathers later became the prey of the muses. When the mermaids, at Hera's urging, competed in singing with the muses, the beautiful voices of Zeus' daughters defeated them and made crowns out of their feathers.

The mermaids were very ashamed of their appearance, so they sought refuge far from people and found it on a rocky island not far from Scylla and Charybdis. Mermaid Island was located in the western Mediterranean, near Cape Poseidonion or Pelora. Some say they reside in the underworld, where they care for the dead and mourn them. Their melodious song also made them a personification of cosmic harmony: there is one siren in each of the celestial spheres, and their voices are set to create perfect harmony.

Mermaids are winged demons of death, akin to ceramas and harpies, closely associated with the deities of the underworld. Their character is taken from oriental art. The oldest mermaid paintings come from the eastern regions of the Greek world. On the monuments from the VIII and VII century AD, they are shown with outstretched wings and faces, and on later ones - with folded wings and in profile. Beginning in the 6th century AD, mermaids were sometimes depicted as bearded creatures. On Attic vases from the 5th and 4th centuries AD, their hands and female breasts were added. They were later understood as muses of the underworld and were often depicted on tombstones and sarcophagi.

Literature:

• Dragoslav Srejović - Aleksandrina Cermanović-Kuzmanović, Recnik grčke i rimske mitologije, drugo izdanje, Beograd: Srpska književna zadruga, 1987