In the first visual, the man tied to the mast is the captain of the ship and he has explicitly instructed his men to tie him up. He did so in order to be among the very few mortals to have encountered the ladies' (shown circling the ship) craft and live to tell the tale. The man in the second visual (the one in the red robes) went one step further and beat the ladies in their own craft. Identify all and the incidents referred to. Also, this has given rise to a phrase in the English language. Identify that as well.Answer: The first painting shows Odysseus listening to the songs of the sirens. The sirens were women in Greek mythology who lured sailors to their deaths with their irresistible melodies. Odysseus plugged his men's ears with beeswax and tied himself to the mast to be able to hear their song without endangering his life. When Jason and the Argonauts had to cross paths with the sirens, Orpheus (second visual), the greatest singer in all Greek mythology, sang his own tune to drown out the sirens thus saving the Argonauts. The English phrase that refers to this myth is siren song which means an appeal that is hard to resist but if heeded leads to bad things. Mekie, Raghu, QoD, Hirak, Rahul Trivedi, Manix, Rajesh and an anon got it. Well done.
8 comments:
The bird-like women are the Sirens who seduce sailors with their enchanting voices and make them wreck their ships on nearby cliffs.
The first visual shows Odysseus who wanted to hear the sirens' song.
The man in the second visual must be Orpheus (invited by Jason) whose lyre-playing won over the sirens' music.
Phrase: Siren song (ps: a siren appears on the Starbucks logo. An appeal hard to resist, but ends up emptying one's pocket - intentionally put??)
The birds are the sirens/harpies.They sang so beautifully that those who heard them would ultimately die.
Orpheus in the second pic played his lyre/sang louder than them drowning out their voices.
First Picture Odysseus, he got tied to the mast so he would not be tempted to jump into the ocean once he heard their voices. (He had ordered his men to plug their ears with wax and so they could not hear the Harpies/Sirens)
Phrase - Siren Song
Ulysses started the Ulysses Pact by tying himself up to listen to the Sirens.
Orpheus out-sang the Sirens on Jason's Argo.
Starbucks uses a similar technique (and logo) as the Sirens to overcharge customers.
While the identification is a sitter for someone who's done a class in Greek Mythology (like me), I am not sure about the phrase so i'm going to guess on that (in caps). The painter is John William Waterhouse (for the left one at least).
Left -- Odysseus tied to the mast to ensure that he would not be tempted by the SONG OF THE SIREN. Curiously enough, he exposed himself to this out of sheer curiosity more than anything else
Right -- Orpheus was the greatest musician of all time (or so it is claimed). When the Argonauts encountered the SONG OF THE SIREN, Orpheus began to play a song on his harp which was more mesmerising than the siren's. The argonauts were not tempted by the sirens so they were saved.
-Adithya
Ullyseus and the Sirens.
Osysseus' encounter with Sirens. Orpheus beat the Sirens by playing his harp more beautifully than they sang and drowning their voices.
Forgot about UMQC last week :-(
Anyway, great question Dinky!
Sirens!!!
(a) Odysseus wants to be the man to survive the Sirens, beeswax in the ears of his crew, yadayadayada :-P
(b) Another voyage: Jason and the Argonauts to nab the Golden Fleece, and one of the Argonauts, Orpheus, drowns out the Sirens with his heavy metal lyre :-)
(c) I am guessing that the phrase is "siren song"? Of impending death/doom? Not sure...
Odysseus & Orpheus evading the Sirens.
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