Ulysses and the Sirens
Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2022 5:01 pm
In 2000, the Tunisian Post issued a stamp: “Ulysses and the Sirens”, Roman mosaic, 3rd century AD. From Homer's Odyssey. It is in the collection of the Bardo Museum, Tunisia.
A passage from book 12 of The Odyssey, in Emily Wilson’s acclaimed translation of Homer’s epic, sees the hero Odysseus, known in Latin as Ulysses, warn his men of an impending challenge:
She [Circe] said we must avoid the voices of the otherworldy Sirens; steer past their flowering meadow. And she says that I alone should hear their singing. Bind me, to keep me upright at the mast, wound round with rope. If I beseech you and command to set me free, you must increase my bonds and chain even tighter.
The Sirens were creatures often depicted as half-woman, half-bird, who lured sailors to the rocky cliffs of their island home with beguiling voices which no man was able to resist. On his decade long journey home to Ithaca from the Trojan Wars, Odysseus steered past their island and, on the advice of Circe, a lesser god and enchantress, he ordered his men to plug their ears with beeswax and bind him tightly with rope to the ship’s mast before they rowed the vessel at furious speed. On hearing the Sirens’ ‘honeyed song’, he asked his men to loosen the rope – even Odysseus, ‘Glory of the Greeks’, could not resist their call – but two of his comrades, Eurylochus and Perimedes, tightened it still more.
“Ulysses and the Sirens” is an 1891 painting by the Pre-Raphaelite artist John William Waterhouse. It is currently held in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.
In the work of the artist Waterhouse depicts a scene from the ancient Greek epic the Odyssey, in which the Sirens attempt to use their enchanting song to lure the titular hero Odysseus and his crew towards deadly waters.
The most controversial aspect of Waterhouse's painting was his depiction of the Sirens, as it differed greatly from contemporary Victorian era conceptions. While many of the original audience had expected to see the Sirens as mermaid-like nymphs, they were surprised to find them as bird-like creatures with women's heads. However, at the time of initial exhibition, The Magazine of Art critic Marion H. Spielmann noted that the idea of half-bird, half-woman Sirens is supported by depictions of Sirens similar to Waterhouse's on classical Greek vases.
A 5th-century BC Greek vase in the British Museum with illustrations of Sirens similar to those in Ulysses and the Sirens.
Tunis 2000; 500dinar.
Sources: https://www.historytoday.com/archive/fo ... and-sirens.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_and_the_Sirens.
A passage from book 12 of The Odyssey, in Emily Wilson’s acclaimed translation of Homer’s epic, sees the hero Odysseus, known in Latin as Ulysses, warn his men of an impending challenge:
She [Circe] said we must avoid the voices of the otherworldy Sirens; steer past their flowering meadow. And she says that I alone should hear their singing. Bind me, to keep me upright at the mast, wound round with rope. If I beseech you and command to set me free, you must increase my bonds and chain even tighter.
The Sirens were creatures often depicted as half-woman, half-bird, who lured sailors to the rocky cliffs of their island home with beguiling voices which no man was able to resist. On his decade long journey home to Ithaca from the Trojan Wars, Odysseus steered past their island and, on the advice of Circe, a lesser god and enchantress, he ordered his men to plug their ears with beeswax and bind him tightly with rope to the ship’s mast before they rowed the vessel at furious speed. On hearing the Sirens’ ‘honeyed song’, he asked his men to loosen the rope – even Odysseus, ‘Glory of the Greeks’, could not resist their call – but two of his comrades, Eurylochus and Perimedes, tightened it still more.
“Ulysses and the Sirens” is an 1891 painting by the Pre-Raphaelite artist John William Waterhouse. It is currently held in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.
In the work of the artist Waterhouse depicts a scene from the ancient Greek epic the Odyssey, in which the Sirens attempt to use their enchanting song to lure the titular hero Odysseus and his crew towards deadly waters.
The most controversial aspect of Waterhouse's painting was his depiction of the Sirens, as it differed greatly from contemporary Victorian era conceptions. While many of the original audience had expected to see the Sirens as mermaid-like nymphs, they were surprised to find them as bird-like creatures with women's heads. However, at the time of initial exhibition, The Magazine of Art critic Marion H. Spielmann noted that the idea of half-bird, half-woman Sirens is supported by depictions of Sirens similar to Waterhouse's on classical Greek vases.
A 5th-century BC Greek vase in the British Museum with illustrations of Sirens similar to those in Ulysses and the Sirens.
Tunis 2000; 500dinar.
Sources: https://www.historytoday.com/archive/fo ... and-sirens.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_and_the_Sirens.