Ancient Greek sirens were depicted as bird-human hybrids

In ancient Greek mythology and art, sirens were depicted differently than the modern image of women with fish tails. While contemporary imagination portrays them as beautiful women with aquatic tails, Homer’s ‘Odyssey’ does not provide a specific physical description of the creatures.

Ancient Greek artists typically represented sirens as hybrid beings with the faces of women and the bodies of birds, often featuring wings and claws. This avian form was common in Greek pottery, statues, and funerary monuments. The modern concept of the mermaid-like siren emerged much later through centuries of cultural transformation.