Sirena metamorphosis Painting

Seirênes is a feminine plural name in the ancient Greek language, in its masculine form means "wasps" or "bees", is therefore connected to the figure of Penfredo: one of the Graias, the "swan-like virgins". Vascular painters also represented mermaids as male bearded beings, and whether they were male or female, their nature can be identified by the body which always recalls that of a bird (with the lower parts sometimes shaped like a egg) with a human head, sometimes with arms and breasts, almost always with claws on the feet, but claws not having the function of kidnapping, a function of the Harpies, since, another fundamental characteristic, the sirens are closely connected to the world of music, playing the lyre or the double flute (diaulos) and accompanied by singing.