As you most likely know, I live in Izmir Turkey, and we live about 30 minutes away from the islands that gave both Odysseus and St. Paul all sorts of trouble.
We cruised on a large tour boat, sailing around from sea cove to sea cove, where we dove in and swam in the Aegean sea. Sigh. So refreshing here mid-summer!
One of our stops were the Siren Rocks.
I’ve known the Siren rocks were out there, on the far side of an island, but since they face the open sea, I’ve never had a chance to see them. Yesterday, being so close to them was mind-blowing. They’re on an island just off the coast of a town called Foça, which comes from Phokaia, the Greek word for seal.
These rocks are perfect for seals. (Alas! all the seals have all departed from Foça, most likely from human overfishing 🤷♀️).
So what is the real story?
I figure all myth has some reality-history tied to it.
In the myth, the Sirens are flying bird-women who sing luring songs. In Odyssey, they lure passing sailors, with enchanting music and voices, to crash their ships. Odysseus closed his sailor’s ears with wax and tied himself to the mast. In Argonautica, Jason made the musician Orpheus play his own lyre so powerfully as to drown the Siren voices.
Between late antiquity and the middle ages, Sirens were tied to the mermaid myth and instead of bird wings, they were said to have fish/seal tails. (Thus we see them luring sailors with song in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides–the main mermaid is named Syrena; in the recent Odyssey movie, they also had tails). To me, the seal-connection makes more sense because the rock shapes are naturally seal rocks, plus the name of the region is Phokaia.
Being from San Diego originally, I know how seals and sea lions love these kinds of rocks, always hanging out there in La Jolla.
The Siren rocks are a long, long stretch of these rocks with amazing sculptured shapes.
The amazing stone landforms of the Siren Rocks were truly luring.
A “CLUE” I picked up on was the strange holes in the Siren rocks. I wondered if the sounds of seals and wind blowing through these rocks was part of the draw for “the sailors.”
During the Bronze Age, perhaps the tops were more like the fairy chimneys of Cappadocia, as both formations originated from volcanic activity and were shaped by soft volcanic materials subject to differential erosion by wind and water.
Cappadocia Fairy Chimneys
Maybe wind blowing through these strange formations on the coast fluted music of different tones, perhaps this stimulated the CURIOSITY inherent in sailors:
“What are those things? I’m jumping over to find out!”
The water was luring, yes. There were seagulls (imho a bit larger than normal size, so much so that I noted their size to my family). But no bird-women singing songs.
What do you think?
Today, we use the word “siren” to signal oncoming danger. I can imagine many times where blocking myself from temptation would have enabled me to avoid it. –Temptations pull at us and wear us down, leading us astray. The story of the Sirens gives context to the meaning in the Lord’s Prayer:
“Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil” (Matt 60
The solution is seen in the myths: block your ears, tie yourself against giving-in, play louder music.
Christ modeled all of these when he was tempted in the wilderness (Luke 4). To block his ears, he studied Scripture, to stay himself against temptation, he used Scripture as a sword. By knowing Scripture, he was able to sing the louder song of Truth and he triumphed.
“Thy word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against God.” Ps 119:11.
May the Lord protect you from the siren songs in your life.
I hope you have a fantastic week.
Darlene
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I am working on some side projects to enhance the CrossFall story world. One of the things I’m creating are some interactive mystery stories that take place in-world, in the virtual game.
I need some puzzle-loving testers who would like to see if they can solve a crime based on some clues. If you’re interested in beta-testing this puzzle, reply to this email and I’ll send you the mystery.
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From the Desk of Darlene N. Böcek Faith-building Sci-fi Fantasy Stories Hey there Reader– THANKS 😊 if you answered the 3 minute survey in our previous email. The results were so helpful and I aim to bring delight to your reading pleasure through the upcoming emails. You’re here for the stories. You’re here for the encouragement. You want it to feel like an actual update from an actual person. 👍 I’m on it! In pursuing your reading preferences identified in the survey, I have been in a holding…
