The Greek word mousa is a common noun as well as a type of goddess: it literally means 'art' or 'poetry'. According to Pindar, to "carry a mousa" is 'to excel in the arts'. The word derives from the Indo-European root * men-, which is also the source of Greek Mnemosyne and mania, English mind, mental and monitor, Sanskrit mantra and Avestan Mazda. [24] Melpomene, Erato, and Polyhymnia, by Eustache Le Sueur, c. 1652–1655 It’s possible that the Sirens sang to avenge the wrongs against them. Abused by life, they decided to become monsters and destroy the lives of others. Schafer, Edward H. (September 1930). "The Physiologus of Bern: A Survival of Alexandrian Style in a Ninth Century". The Art Bulletin. 12 (3). Fig. 22 and p. 249. JSTOR 3050780. The Sirens appear in Greek’s oldest works of literature. Homer, Virgil, Pliny the Elder, Ovid, Seneca, and Hesiod all describe these bewitching singers. By the end of the Greek period, Grecian scholars had concluded that the women were no more than fable—yet their legend lived on for centuries after the Greek civilization crumbled away. Sexy and smart . . . confident and captivating . . . breathtaking . . . propulsive and immersive . . . structurally ambitious and wonderfully crafted.” — Autostraddle

Mittman, Asa Simon; Dendle, Peter J (2016). The Ashgate research companion to monsters and the monstrous. London: Routledge. p.352. ISBN 9781351894326. OCLC 1021205658. Holford-Strevens, Leofranc (2006), "1. Sirens in Antiquity and the Middle Ages", in Austern, Linda Phyllis; Naroditskaya, Inna (eds.), Music of the Siren, Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp.16–50, ISBN 9780253112071 Caroline M. Galt, "A marble fragment at Mount Holyoke College from the Cretan city of Aptera", Art and Archaeology 6 (1920:150). a b c Harrison, Jane Ellen (1882). Myths of the Odyssey in Art and Literature. London: Rivingtons. pp.169–170, Plate 47a.FINALIST FOR THE MINNESOTA BOOK AWARD • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Glamour, PopSugar, Debutiful Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 9 s.v. Emathides; Nicander tells this tale in his fourth book of his Heteroeumena ("Metamorphoses"). CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.2 Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally. Although usually the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, as in Hesiod, Theogony 371–374, in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes (4), 99–100, Selene is instead made the daughter of Pallas the son of Megamedes.

Sirens continued to be used as a symbol for the dangerous temptation embodied by women regularly throughout Christian art of the medieval era. A brilliant study of art, politics, male dominance, female passion, and the commercialized art world in the early 2010s. . . A highly recommended novel of art and heart." — Library Journal (starred review) Sirens & Muses captivated me with its well-drawn, complex characters and vivid descriptions and settings . . . a gorgeously rich and thoughtful novel.” —Annie Hartnett, author of Rabbit Cake and Unlikely Animals Antoninus Liberalis, The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992). Online version at the Topos Text Project. muse". Oxford English Dictionary (Onlineed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.) Mainly 1b, 2

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Sexy and smart. . . confident and captivating . . . propulsive and immersive. . .structurally ambitious and wonderfully crafted.” — Autostraddle For poet and "law-giver" Solon, [26] the Muses were "the key to the good life"; since they brought both prosperity and friendship. Solon sought to perpetuate his political reforms by establishing recitations of his poetry—complete with invocations to his practical-minded Muses—by Athenian boys at festivals each year. He believed that the Muses would help inspire people to do their best. The sirens were called the Muses of the lower world. Classical scholar Walter Copland Perry (1814–1911) observed: "Their song, though irresistibly sweet, was no less sad than sweet, and lapped both body and soul in a fatal lethargy, the forerunner of death and corruption." [53] Their song is continually calling on Persephone. Bartholomew Anglicus, De proprietatibus rerum XCVII, c.1240, "And Physiologus saith it is a beast of the sea, wonderly shapen as a maid from the navel upward and a fish from the navel downward"; quoted in translation by Mustard (1908), p.22