See Naples and Live – 14: Sirens, Sirens Everywhere...

 

Ever since I set out on An Odyssey in the Year of the Plague (see this blog March-October 2020), I seem to have been beset by Sirens.

Maybe it's just something that goes with following in the wake of Odysseus...

But Naples has a huge connection with the Sirens, and it's difficult to spend some time there without being aware of the fact.

In the National Archaeological Museum you can even interact with a digital Siren, a tiny but seductive virtual fish/woman who sings requests (see below).

©Nigel Summerley

Nearby, the museum also has this large-as-life Siren (below) complete with fishy tail but lacking any other appendages

©Nigel Summerley

According to legend, the Siren called Parthenope (see this blog – An Odyssey in the Second Year of the Plague – Parthenope – 13 February 2021) cast herself into the sea after failing to seduce Odysseus, and her dying body washed up on the beach in front of what was to become Naples.

The caryatid (below) comes complete with arms, fishy tail and everything else a Siren should have. She stands by the sea on Via Partenope and is part of the 17th-century Fontana dell'Immacolatella.

©Nigel Summerley

This Siren from the Palazzo Sanfelice (below) seems to make up in the fishy legs department for what she lacks in arms.

©Nigel Summerley

Breasts, of course, are a prominent feature in depictions of Sirens... and nowhere more so than at the Fontana di Spinacorona (below) which depicts Parthenope (in the more classically authentic half-bird, half-woman form) squeezing jets of liquid from her breasts to put out the fires of Vesuvius.

©Nigel Summerley

And last – and most contemporary – is this transport of delight spotted just across the bay from Vesuvius (which is seen reflected in the bus window). Only in Naples...

©Nigel Summerley