Siren

To the ancient Greeks and Romans, sirens were a group of minor female divinities that sang an irresistible song that enchanted sailors to their doom, as described in the Odyssey. Odysseus had his men put wax in their ears, so they wouldn't hear the sirens singing, while he had the men tie him to the mast of the ship, so he couldn't be lured by the singing, but could still hear it. In form, sirens had the heads, and sometimes the busts and arms, of women, but otherwise had the form of birds.

Modern word: Our word siren retains the original meaning of a dangerous and enticing woman. It also means a device for sounding signals of warning. In addition, it refers to a genus of eel-shaped amphibians.

Circe

In the ancient Greek tale of the Odyssey, Circe was a bad-tempered but beautiful sorceress. She had turned Scylla into a monster, out of jealousy. She was a daughter of the sun. She turned men into swine. or other animals. When Odysseus (Ulysses to the Romans) showed up on Circe's island, she turned his men into pigs. However, Mercury had warned Ulysses of what Circe would do, and gave him an herb that protected him from her spell. In order to rescue his men, Ulysses forced Circe to release them. Nevertheless, he fell under her spell. She, likewise, fell in love with him, and and he stayed on with her, on her island for about a year or two. They had at least two children together.

Eventually, when Odysseus decided to leave Circe, and return to his home in Ithaca, Circe told him what he needed to know about the two possible ways he might take his ship.

Aeolus

In ancient Greece myth, Aeolus was the keeper of the winds. He was the king of an island near Sicily. In The Odyssey, he received Odysseus (Ulysses to the ancient Romans), and provided a west wind to sail home, and gave him a leather bag containing the other winds. Unfortunately, Odysseus' men opened the bag of the winds, which blew them off course and greatly prolonged their voyage.

English word: In English, aeolian means borne or produced by the wind. An aeolian harp is a box fitted with strings so that when the wind blows across it, it produces musical tones. The Aeolian islands are the group of islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, supposedly the home of Aeolus.