Sirens (SYE-rinz). Sweetly singing enchantresses, part woman, part bird, who lured sailors to their doom. Some say the Sirens had been given their wings in order to help Demeter search for her daughter Persephone, who was abducted by the King of the Underworld. Their singing would have caused Odysseus to steer his ship into their rocks, had he not ordered his men to bind him to the mast as a precaution. But it was no match for that of the minstrel Orpheus, who distracted his fellow Argonauts so they sailed by the Sirens safely. Another picture.