Sirens are mythical creatures that are part woman and part bird. They are known for their beautiful singing voices that lured sailors to their death by shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. So do these legendary creatures actually have red hair?
The Origins of Sirens in Greek Mythology
The sirens first appeared in Greek mythology, in Homer’s Odyssey, which was written in the 8th century BCE. In the Odyssey, Homer describes the sirens as living on an island surrounded by rocky shoals and warns that no sailor has ever sailed past them without being drawn in by their enchanting singing and meeting a disastrous end on the rocks. Homer does not provide any physical description of the sirens other than referring to them as “daughters of Achelous.” There is no specific mention of them having red hair.
Later Greek writers provided more details on the sirens’ appearance. The 5th century BCE playwright Euripides described them as winged maidens. The 1st century CE Roman writer Ovid then expanded on this imagery, writing that sirens had the bodies of birds with the heads and voices of women. He described their feathers as being white, their wings gold, and their claws hooked. But Ovid also did not mention the sirens having any particular hair color.
Depictions in Art
In ancient Greek art, sirens were first depicted as birds with the heads of women from the 8th century BCE onwards. Later Greek pottery sometimes showed them as full women with wings. Roman and Byzantine art continued the tradition of portraying sirens as part bird-part woman.
It was not until the Middle Ages and Renaissance that sirens began to be shown at times with long flowing red hair in paintings, drawings, and other artworks. The influential Roman de Troie epic from the 12th century, for example, specifically describes sirens as having locks of red hair. Paintings and book illuminations from the 14th-16th centuries sometimes followed this description and pictured sirens as mermaid-like figures with red hair.
Theories on the Red Hair Depiction
Why did medieval and Renaissance artists start depicting sirens with red hair when the original Greek texts did not specify this physical attribute? There are a few theories:
- Red hair was rare in Mediterranean societies at the time, so it may have been seen as exotic and alluring, fitting for mythical seductive creatures.
- Some scholars believe the red hair depiction was influenced by Irish legends of mermaids that predated the Greek sirens. The Irish mermaids were renowned for their beautiful red hair.
- In Christian symbolism, red hair was sometimes associated with lust, sexuality, and carnal desire. So red-haired sirens may have represented the dangers of earthly temptation.
- Artists may have simply used creative license to visualize the sirens based on contemporary ideals of beauty that favored red hair.
Sirens in Literature
The seductive red-haired siren motif continued in European literature during the late medieval period and into the 19th century. Examples include:
- Edmund Spenser described sirens with “golden locks” in The Faerie Queene (1590).
- William Shakespeare twice referenced “yellow and red hair’d” sirens in Pericles, Prince of Tyre (1608).
- John Milton’s sirens in Paradise Lost (1667) have “golden tresses” but also eyes that allure men “to their destruction.”
- Charles Dickens described sirens as fanged creatures with long red hair and green eyes in his unfinished novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870).
So while not originally described as such in Greek mythology, sirens were often envisioned as and portrayed with flowing locks of red hair in art and literature from the Middle Ages well into the 19th century.
20th and 21st Century Depictions
In more modern times, the red-haired siren motif has continued but has also been mixed with other depictions of sirens:
- The 1924 silent film classic Die Nibelungen shows sirens as fanged hybrid creatures with scaly skin and darker red hair.
- In the 1948 fantasy film Adventures of Don Juan, sirens are portrayed as blonde.
- Some fantasy novels like T.A. Barron’s The Lost Years of Merlin (1996) have sirens with raven black hair.
- In the popular Harry Potter books and films, merpeople have grayish skin and wild dark green hair, not quite sirens but similar mythical aquatic creatures.
- The Starbucks coffee logo famously features a twin-tailed mermaid or siren with flowing, somewhat greenish-brown hair.
- Many modern works continue to portray sirens specifically as redheads, like in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
So while red hair was a prominent motif for sirens historically, contemporary culture has diverse depictions of what these mythical creatures look like.
Conclusion
In summary, while the original Greek sirens were not described as having any particular hair color, medieval and Renaissance art and literature established the image of sirens specifically with long, beautiful red hair. This was likely influenced by Irish mermaid legends, Christian symbolism, and contemporary beauty ideals. The red-haired siren motif persisted well into the 19th century. Today sirens are sometimes still depicted as redheads, but modern works also portray them with a larger variety of physical features and hair colors.
So while not universal, the archetype of the red-haired siren does have a longstanding place in the cultural imagination and mythological canon. The vibrant hue makes the sirens stand out from land-dwelling humans, while also symbolizing the exotic allure and danger associated with these mystical seductive creatures of the sea.