ohmygoodness this is brilliant! I love how you make the past so exquisitely present. And the depictions of sirens before they became anthropomorphised - wow. Loads to ponder here & maybe a bit of rage, or… a lot? So much to think about when it comes to depictions of female/ feminine power and how that translates in a wider way
Every piece of yours has insightful and new learnings, I can’t look at pigeons the same way, and now every time I’m out for breakfast and there’s a pigeon around I’m going to quote this.
In my child world sexually forward women were sometimes called sirens. I had no idea why. Strangely, Mae West as a chicken devouring cowboys now presents. Ulysses, I’m sure, would have been surprised. Perhaps Helen not so much.
From stiff Victorian brides to bare-breasted bird women, this is a beguiling mix Cosi! Thanks for including my Cambridge brides story (& inviting me to be a speaker at that brilliant event you organized). I do like that quote: 'stories that tend to represent what is “human” as male and most of the “pleasures” and “dangers”—or what a male imagination fantasizes as such—as female.” Absolutely!
It seems by the 19th century, men had gotten into a habit of painting all mythical, allegorical and a lot of contemporary women naked. Victory leading the people is a semi naked women leading a bunch of French Soldiers!
I was so pleased to find your Odyssey, and I eagerly anticipate its arrival every week. With Mary Beard and Bettany Hughes, you form a triafeminate (coined word?) of Classical expertise. I was going to say “distaff”, but that puts me in mind of Penelope, another fascinating character. Can’t weave without a distaff spindle!
I recently came across your writings and WOW, thank you! I didn't realize the Sirens offed themselves after failing to lure O and his men. I didn't see that in the Emily Wilson translation, is it elsewhere?
you're so welcome and great catch 😏 that detail is suggested in Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica and is picked up by Servius, a 4th century commentator on Virgil and later Byzantine scholia.
How did we go from pigeons to mermaids? And the extremely white non-feathered, non-scaled or tailed, well, we live on the panhandle of Florida, and those aren’t Sirens, they are midwesterners here for Spring Break. The gathering or “event” looked like one helluva party. As the father of a college student and high school junior, who knew ancient history could be so much fun?
I can hardly blame you for being a little cynicle. Still, sweet voice or not, how alluring could a bird be, and how could a painter depict a sweet voice? )Hint at, maybe).
I’m with you on the birdwomen. I sometimes wonder what they were singing (but not enough to take the wax out of my ears). Since we don’t know we men assume it was sexual. But perhaps it was a song of existential despair that did in the sailors.
The Metropolitin Museum of Art did a nice exhibit on monsters in classical art, most of which are feminine. The catalog was published in their Bulletin a few years ago. The Greek men were even more conflicted about women than us moderns.
Wow. The continuing evolution of demeaning women as the evil of mankind. From Pandora and Eve to the evils of Aphrodite—evolved from Inanna?—the Sirens evolve into the evil of the seductive power of women.
If I didn't have the awesome fortune of family that gave me insight into Waterhouse, of the Pre-Raphaelites, with 🦚 Boreas, I would have been solely entranced by Herbert James Draper's depiction and expressions! Which, in this post, brought me to look up the meme, and figure out, wait, is this an Australian pronunciation jab? If so, 😂 !!
the theme park LMAO I simply must visit
It’s a MUST !!!!!!!!!! 💀
ohmygoodness this is brilliant! I love how you make the past so exquisitely present. And the depictions of sirens before they became anthropomorphised - wow. Loads to ponder here & maybe a bit of rage, or… a lot? So much to think about when it comes to depictions of female/ feminine power and how that translates in a wider way
feminine rage now and always!!! feminine monstrosity is SUCH a rich topic (I'm cooking up something about Medusa for next week 🐍).
!! speaking to my heart <33
Every piece of yours has insightful and new learnings, I can’t look at pigeons the same way, and now every time I’m out for breakfast and there’s a pigeon around I’m going to quote this.
This makes me so happy I cannot tell you 🐦🐦🐦 and thank you !! 🥹
In my child world sexually forward women were sometimes called sirens. I had no idea why. Strangely, Mae West as a chicken devouring cowboys now presents. Ulysses, I’m sure, would have been surprised. Perhaps Helen not so much.
From stiff Victorian brides to bare-breasted bird women, this is a beguiling mix Cosi! Thanks for including my Cambridge brides story (& inviting me to be a speaker at that brilliant event you organized). I do like that quote: 'stories that tend to represent what is “human” as male and most of the “pleasures” and “dangers”—or what a male imagination fantasizes as such—as female.” Absolutely!
You're so welcome and I am so grateful to you! And very pleased you also like that quote💛
It seems by the 19th century, men had gotten into a habit of painting all mythical, allegorical and a lot of contemporary women naked. Victory leading the people is a semi naked women leading a bunch of French Soldiers!
Aint got no time for women wearing clothes.
I love the pigeon-sirens! Def the OG and still the best
yay!!!!!
Cue up Cream’s 1967 “Disraeli Gears” to hear “Tales of Brave Ulysses”
How his naked ears were tortured
By the Sirens sweetly singing..
Aphrodite gets a look-in, too, à la Sandro Botticelli.
Penelopiad?
Margaret Atwood actually wrote up the Penelopiad (but it didn’t come close to the handmaids tale in my opinion).
Your lyrical comments are quickly becoming a highlight of putting out my weekly newsletter 🐚
I was so pleased to find your Odyssey, and I eagerly anticipate its arrival every week. With Mary Beard and Bettany Hughes, you form a triafeminate (coined word?) of Classical expertise. I was going to say “distaff”, but that puts me in mind of Penelope, another fascinating character. Can’t weave without a distaff spindle!
I recently came across your writings and WOW, thank you! I didn't realize the Sirens offed themselves after failing to lure O and his men. I didn't see that in the Emily Wilson translation, is it elsewhere?
you're so welcome and great catch 😏 that detail is suggested in Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica and is picked up by Servius, a 4th century commentator on Virgil and later Byzantine scholia.
Thank you for following up <3
My pleasure, thank you for your question! <3
Waterhouse is a favorite!!
Always !!
Cleo naur!!!!!!!!!!!
what about the condensation!!!!!!!!!
How did we go from pigeons to mermaids? And the extremely white non-feathered, non-scaled or tailed, well, we live on the panhandle of Florida, and those aren’t Sirens, they are midwesterners here for Spring Break. The gathering or “event” looked like one helluva party. As the father of a college student and high school junior, who knew ancient history could be so much fun?
Bird-Sirens are maybe too much like Harpies. Did the story of the Argonauts gain currency in those intervening years?
I can hardly blame you for being a little cynicle. Still, sweet voice or not, how alluring could a bird be, and how could a painter depict a sweet voice? )Hint at, maybe).
I’m with you on the birdwomen. I sometimes wonder what they were singing (but not enough to take the wax out of my ears). Since we don’t know we men assume it was sexual. But perhaps it was a song of existential despair that did in the sailors.
The Metropolitin Museum of Art did a nice exhibit on monsters in classical art, most of which are feminine. The catalog was published in their Bulletin a few years ago. The Greek men were even more conflicted about women than us moderns.
Wow. The continuing evolution of demeaning women as the evil of mankind. From Pandora and Eve to the evils of Aphrodite—evolved from Inanna?—the Sirens evolve into the evil of the seductive power of women.
The weakness of MANkind
Lies beneath
His loincloth
If I didn't have the awesome fortune of family that gave me insight into Waterhouse, of the Pre-Raphaelites, with 🦚 Boreas, I would have been solely entranced by Herbert James Draper's depiction and expressions! Which, in this post, brought me to look up the meme, and figure out, wait, is this an Australian pronunciation jab? If so, 😂 !!