Mermaids in Mythological tales

Written by: Mr. White and Mr. Black.

Tag: greek , mermaid , ocean

This page also has a PDF version: mermaids-in-mythological-tales
Featuring the page is the art by John William Waterhouse, A Mermaid (1900).

Little mermaid

When everyone talks about Mermaid, they probably think about the cute Little Mermaid from Disney and Hans Christian Andersen that probably everyone wacthed when they were young (I assumed you were born in 1900s).

By Disney in 1989

In the movie, it was the story of a little mermaid who fell in love with a prince that she rescued on the sea. She decided to trade her voice in exchange for a pair of legs to walk on land and tried to meet him. In the end they both succeeded and married each other and lived a happy life (Classic Disney movie lol).

On the other hand, in the original story written by Andersen (and other variations of the story), the little mermaid witnessed the prince marrying another princess in an arranged marriage, and died by dissolving into sea foam.

Greek mythology

Portrayed as a sexual, predatory and half-woman, half-fish creature hoping to eat sailors, like in the classic scene of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, where the pirates are surrounded by mermaids wanting to eat them, and the mermaids are seen as treasures to the pirates.

Known as the sirens in the Greek mythology, the mermaid will use her beauty, sing these beautiful songs and sit on rocks calling for anyone in the sea who dares to approach her, and she will in turn devour him.

By John William Waterhouse, Hylas and the Nymphs (1896)

 

By Herbert James Draper, Ulysses and the Sirens (1909)

The idea of beauty on the outside but with dangerous and cunning motive
inside is just mesmerizing and fascinating at the same time isn't it?

Please the enjoy the remaining drawing of Mermaid that we found on the internet.

Sculpture:

Archaic perfume vase in the shape of a siren (540BC)

 

Sculture of the Mermaid of St Dogmael in Pembrokeshire Village, Wales.

 

By Steve Hayward, Mermaid of the North in Balintore, Scotland (2007)

 

By Edvard Eriksen, Statue of The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen (1913)

 

By John William Waterhouse, The siren (1900)

 

By Elisabeth Jerichau Baumann, Mermaid (1873)

 

By Frederic Leighton, The Fisherman and the Syren (1857)

 

By Ilya Yefimovich Repin, Sadko (1876)
 

Mermaid from La Bibliothèque nationale de France.

 

By  Arthur Rackham, A Crowned Merman

 

By Charles Edouard Boutibonne, Mermaids Frolicking in the Sea (1883)

 

By Frans Francken the Elder, Allegory: the Ship of State (late 1500s)

 

By Arthur Rackham, Rhinegold & The Valkyrie (1910)

 

By John William Waterhouse, Ulysses and the sirens (1891)

 

By Julius Hübner, Melusine (1844)

 

Sirens in Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Bodley 764.

 

By James Clark Hook, Catching a Mermaid (1883)

 

By Evelyn De Morgan, The Sea Maidens (1886)

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mermaid#Eastern_Europe

https://womennart.com/2020/06/17/sirens-and-mermaids/

https://sarahpeverley.com/2014/07/25/mermaids-the-lure-of-sirens-song-2/

https://thedruidscauldron.net/2022/11/03/mermaids-the-sailors-doom/

https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/what-mermaid

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Mermaid_(1989_film)

https://americanliterature.com/author/hans-christian-andersen/short-story/the-little-mermaid/