In the Veins of the Drowning

In modern times, Sirens have become sea creatures of mythology who are mermaid-like in appearance. However, they began in Greek mythology as half-bird, half-human women with alluring voices that often lured sailors to their doom. The first well-known depiction of Sirens in literature is Homer’s The Odyssey from the 8th century BC, though he doesn’t describe them physically. He only claims that their song will ensnare anyone who hears it.

In the most common variations of Greek myths, Sirens are known for being the original handmaidens of Persephone before she was abducted and taken to the Underworld by Hades. In one version of the story, after Persephone’s abduction, her mother Demeter provided the Sirens wings to aid in the search for Persephone. In other versions, Demeter became angry with the Sirens for failing to protect her daughter and transformed them into ugly bird-women.

Ancient art depicts versions of Sirens that were first birds with solely the heads of human women. These depictions resemble creatures of Near Eastern myth such as Ba of Egyptian cosmology, a human-headed bird that expresses the soul or spiritual manifestation of a person. These human-faced birds were typically associated with the otherworld or described as binding the human world with what lies beyond. This interpretation also connects Sirens to Persephone, queen of the Underworld. This art later evolved into winged women, sometimes with talons or bird legs, but overall more humanoid.

Over time, Sirens began to acquire more aquatic appearances. Mesopotamian art features the earliest known depictions of mermen and mermaids, which occurred during the Old Babylonian Period (around 1700 BC). Therefore, it’s theorized that the major shift from bird-like to mermaid-like Sirens was propagated by this era.

Sirens and mermaids also became conflated after this period. Though English still has separate words for these concepts—mermaid for fish-woman and siren for the mythological bird-woman—other languages have combined the two into one term with mermaid being the common connotation. The languages affected are Croatian, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian Slovenian, and Spanish, among others.

This major shift in the original depiction of Sirens to the modern, widely held perception is evidenced everywhere in film, television, and literature. Recent fantasy and romantasy novels have evidence of the more recent view of Sirens as mermaid-like creatures, such as To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo, Skin of the Sea by Natasha Bowen, and Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller.

Meanwhile, Cassidy draws on the original Greek myths for In the Veins of the Drowning through her depiction of the bird-like women who started it all. Similarly, though the author doesn’t claim to have been inspired by Greek myths, Shield of Sparrows by Devney Perry includes bird-like monsters called the Crux. These are female, winged, humanoid harbingers of death that coincidentally resemble Sirens of myth.

The use of the avian depiction over the aquatic one offers complexity to the fantastical elements of Cassidy’s novel. Mermaid versions of Sirens are often conventionally beautiful, particularly in film, which is meant to explain why their “lures” or “Siren songs” are so hypnotizing to male sailors. Meanwhile, the bird-like Sirens of Classical myth are more beastly and intimidating, thus initiating the novel with a different tenor than other texts that may include the mermaid versions.