Birds with
women's bodies which lived at sea and would trick sailors jump in the sea
with their wonderful, intoxicating song. Their father was the sea god Phorcys
and mother the Muse Calliope.
Odysseus managed to
save himself and his men from the Sirens by putting melted wax in his crew's
ears and tying himself to the mast making the crew swear they would not release
him however desperately he begged. So, he heard the song but made it past
the sirens.
The Argonauts also
met the Sirens but were saved because Orpheus
was with them, and his music outshun the Sirens song.
The Sirens were also beaten by the Muses in a singing competition, and their
feathers therefore symbolized the muses in art.