Greek Sculpture of a Siren, Athens

Winged women appear in the funerary art of many cultures. Paintings or sculptures of the winged goddesses Isis and Nephthys guard the mummies of many Egyptian pharaohs, including King Tut. The Etruscan death-goddess Vanth is a kindly or sometimes terrifying figure in Etruscan tomb frescoes. Angels are common in western cemeteries to this day.

The sirens of Greek funerary art are more ambivalent figures, although to our eyes they convey the same tone of sadness, maternal comfort and otherworldly benevolence. In Greek mythology, sirens are deadly monsters with the heads of beautiful women but the bodies of birds, said to lure sailors to their deaths with their beauty and enchanting voices.

In Homer's Odyssey Book XII, Odysseus hears the Sirens singing of how they know all the sufferings of the Trojans and Greeks. They are well-acquainted with death, yet that is no guarantee of pity. Had he not been warned by Circe to plug his men's ears with wax and had himself bound to the mast (above right; click for larger view), he would've ordered his ship too close and been torn to pieces.

Sirens are often confused with harpies, another form of bird-women in Greek mythology. In older representations, however, harpies are ugly, unkempt, demon-like monsters who snatch at food, whereas sirens are dangerous for their enchanting beauty and sweet voices. Also, harpies are related to spirits of wind and storm, whereas sirens are sea-coast dwellers, more like mermaids in habits if not appearance.

So why put sirens in a cemetery?

In many cultures, things which are frightening, lethal or dangerous are also paradoxically associated with healing and resurrection. Beings with the power to kill are thought to have powers over life and death. Moreover, sirens soothe with their sweet music, so that their hapless victims never feel death's talons. I think that is the reason for sirens appearing in ancient Greek grave art, despite being terrifying monsters in mythology.

This Siren was one of a pair flanking the monument of Dexileos, a young warrior who died in Athens' wars with Corinth in the 4th century BCE. Just outside the city walls, Dexileos' tomb is set back from a street leading out of the Kerameikos, the potters' district of Athens.

At right is the centrepiece of the monument, a gravestone portrait of Dexileos as a courageous knight on horseback. Beneath is an epitaph in Greek verse, translated:

Dexileos, son of Thorikos,
He was born in the archonship of Teisandros [414/3 B.C.E.]:
He died in that of Euboulides [394/3 B.C.E.],
at Corinth, one of the five horsemen.
-- trans. by J. Hurwit, AJA (111) 2007

His father, brother and sister were buried around him. They were evidently a well-to-do aristocratic family, as the lavish sculptures and ownership of a horse attest.

There are a number of other fine funerary sculptures of this style in the Athens National Museum and the Kerameikos Museum. This tradition came to an end in 317, when sumptuary laws were passed banning extravagant grave monuments.

Photo Credit for Stele of Dexileos: Templar52, Wikimedia Commons