This paper deals with the post-Homeric tradition on the death of the Sirens after the passage of Odysseus’ ship, due to their failure in charming him. The representation of their suicide on a stamnos dating back to the 5th century (London 1943.11-3.31) shows that this legend was quite known in Antiquity and so it could help in the understanding of three much debated literary occurrences according to which the Sirens dwell in the Hades (Eur. Hel 168-78; Soph. fr. 861 Radt; Plat. Crat 403d). Rather than explaining these texts with the reference to the “funerary Siren”, a quite common decoration for tombs, it could be possible to compare them with a mythical tradition on this topic which was popular at that time.
Nova, I., La mort des Sirènes dans la littérature grecque de l'époque classique, Relazione, in Les Sirènes ou le savoir périlleux, (Clermont-Ferrand, 21-22 March 2013), Presses des Rennes, Nantes 2014: 75-89 [http://hdl.handle.net/10807/55515]
La mort des Sirènes dans la littérature grecque de l'époque classique
Nova, Isabella
2014
Abstract
This paper deals with the post-Homeric tradition on the death of the Sirens after the passage of Odysseus’ ship, due to their failure in charming him. The representation of their suicide on a stamnos dating back to the 5th century (London 1943.11-3.31) shows that this legend was quite known in Antiquity and so it could help in the understanding of three much debated literary occurrences according to which the Sirens dwell in the Hades (Eur. Hel 168-78; Soph. fr. 861 Radt; Plat. Crat 403d). Rather than explaining these texts with the reference to the “funerary Siren”, a quite common decoration for tombs, it could be possible to compare them with a mythical tradition on this topic which was popular at that time.
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