Xanthe was running away from her pestering suitor, Odell. He could not get over his first encounter with her when she lent him a hand to purchase some bread from the market. Xanthe continued to run into the deep dark forest. In her head, she pleaded with Aphrodite, the Goddess of love, to spare her of Odell’s constant pursuit.
I implore thee, spare me, O queen, this agony and anguish, crush not my spirit. Xanthe found a large tree trunk and decided to hide behind it in hopes of losing Odell. As he lost his way, he called out to Xanthe, “Restrain your harsh, abusive attitude. Come to be, and know the joy of love, for I have never desired you more than now”. Odell has not taken in the clear clues of Xanthe’s dismissal.
Suddenly, there was a slight humming coming from above the forest. It was a beautiful tune being bestowed upon the ears of both Odell and Xanthe. The gentle flapping of wings could be heard coming down upon the ground. Xanthe poked her head slightly out from behind the tree trunk. Odell had stood in that same spot, his eyes looking glazed over as he looked in the direction of the melodious humming. Descending from the sky was a beautiful Siren with gold, feathered wings and wearing a shimmering white chiton.
The Siren approached Odell, who had been awestruck after hearing the sweet melody of hers. All of a sudden, the humming came to a halt. In a matter of mere seconds, the Siren began to bite and rip off Odell’s skin violently. Xanthe stood frozen with fear. She tried to escape discreetly but stepped on a twig, causing the Siren to avert her eyes towards where the sound came from.
The Siren strode over to the tree trunk where Xanthe was hiding. Xanthe made a run for it, the Siren pursuing her from behind. Xanthe had reached a cliff. At this point, she was exhausted from having run away from two people in a row, especially after seeing one of those pursuers getting skinned alive. She edged near the cliffs ending and attempted to throw herself off, to rid her of this agony.
The Siren quickly grabbed Xanthe by the waist, not allowing her to escape into the abyss of death. Xanthe cowered in fear, but the Siren assured her that she would not harm her, that she only harms men who cannot comprehend boundaries. Xanthe could feel herself relaxing in the presence of this Siren. She had never felt relaxed in such a way around anyone else. She found this woman’s comfort to be effective on a different level. Xanthe and the Siren sat at the edge of the cliff, looking out at the stars, as the Siren began to hum a soothing tune, unlike the bone-chilling one from before.
Xanthe could feel her eyelids become heavy, but before she could dose off, she felt a kiss upon her lips. She felt a feeling of golden euphoria as something she never knew she liked in the first place had been discovered. She had fallen in love with this woman. Xanthe became entranced as the Siren carried her away, flying in the starry night sky. I will sing of stately Aphrodite, gold-crowned and beautiful, for allowing a lost soul such as I, to discover the great love I have for the women as beautiful as yourself, who grace this bountiful world.
Analysis
The story of Xanthe and the Siren was meant to tell the tale of the creation of women feeling comfortable to express their romantic and physical attraction towards other women. In modern times, we may know this as “coming out” or realizing that we have different sexual preferences than others. While love has been in existence since human beings' creation, it was not always expressed freely. With Xanthe being a troubled young woman, desperately trying to steer herself out of the spotlight from men who crave her attention in turn, she feels a deep sense of disconnection from others in the world. Considering this Siren saved Xanthe from an unruly pursuer, it would make sense for Xanthe to be both awestruck that someone had potentially come to spare her from having to deal with the constant harassment from men.
In my myth, I added some context to show the process in which Xanthe ended up running away into the forest. She is running away from someone who mistook her act of kindness as a signal of romantic attraction. Of course, Xanthe was understandably frustrated with having to entertain Odell’s uncalled-for behaviour. This instance of dealing with the pursuit of her attention was starting to eat at her autonomy, which made her appear rude and ungrateful to Odell. I wanted to showcase how many men in the Homeric period felt that women had an obligation to listen to them and abide by their instructions. Doing so helps establish more of a reason for Xanthe to find comfort in the presence of other women, who are sure to protect her from the power-hungry gaze of men like Odell. Homer’s Iliad features the story of Paris and Helen, in which Paris kidnaps Helen due to her being the most beautiful girl in the world at the time. Of course, Helen was annoyed by Paris’s constant pursuit of her, so she told Paris that she wished he had died at the hands of her husband, Menelaus, so that she could be freed from the agony of having to entertain Paris’s romantic feelings for her (Hom. Il. 3. 395-461). Of course, Paris responded by trying to victimize himself in the situation by claiming that these words were hurtful and abusive considering how much he believes he showed his love (Hom. Il. 3. 395-461). I wanted to include this bit from Iliad and change it according to my story. It helped emphasize the disdain that Xanthe has towards men like Paris and Odell. Allowing Xanthe and Helen both have that shared attitude towards un-solicited attention from these men made that clear to everyone but the men who were after them.
Although Xanthe’s response to the pursuit from Odell was similar to that of Helen’s, in that they both wanted to rid themselves of Paris and Odell’s, Xanthe took a bit of a friendlier approach to her problem as she didn’t feel the need to shame his actions out loud. In her head, she recited a hymn to Aphrodite, I Shimmering-throned immortal Aphrodite, Daughter of Zeus, Enchantress, implore thee, spare me, O queen, this agony and anguish, Crush not my spirit (Sappho. Hymn to Aphrodite. 1). I wanted to include this line from Sappho’s poem, Hymn to Aphrodite because I thought it captured the true desperation of Xanthe’s act to get Odell out of her life. With Aphrodite being the Goddess of love, Xanthe wanted to ask her to rid her of this curse, as it seems that she was the reason for Odell’s love for Xanthe being so strong. It is also known that Sappho was a writer who loves to write her poems dedicated to women who loved other women, which was the central theme of my myth. Sappho not only paved the way for the liberation of women who loved women, but she also depicted these romances in ways connected to the Goddess of Love and Beauty, Aphrodite, to show that the bondage between two women can be just as strong as a heterosexual bond.
Sirens are unique mythological creatures because of their ability to be both air and waterborne. They are best known for enticing their targets, who are the majority of the time men when they feel that they have crossed far into their boundaries. The Siren in my myth was a half-woman, half-bird version since this story takes place in a forest. I wanted to include her as the protagonist to see how a Siren would interact with a woman instead of with a man, seeing how they are portrayed as villains most of the time. In Homer’s Odyssey, Sirens are portrayed as such when interfering with Odysseus’s quest to go back home. Sirens are described as singing haunting songs to lure the sailors to them, but being smart, they plugged their ears until the boat passed where the sirens were waiting (Hom. Od. 12. 165-200). The Sirens tell Odysseus that no man rows past their island without hearing their voices, ultimately letting them know that no man passes because she kills them before they can come out of their trance after hearing their singing. I wanted to add this to the story to add that haunting element of what could happen to a man when he doesn’t stay within his boundaries. Unlike Odysseus and his crew, Odell did not try to block the sound of the Siren from taking over his body, ultimately leading to his violent death. Instead of crossing a physical boundary, Odell was crossing a metaphorical boundary, as he refused to give Xanthe her well-deserved space.
After Xanthe begins to drift off into euphoria after hearing the Siren hum a sweet tune, she receives a kiss from the Siren, which then causes the both of them to glow a bright gold aura, signifying their love for each other. I wanted to use this scene to clarify that there has been a shift in the way that Xanthe now feels when expressing her true self. That kiss to her was so magical because it brought out something in her that had been missing, which was her desire to be in the arms of women. In Apuleius’s The Golden Ass, it ends with a scene in which Psyche, the main protagonist who strives torturously to please her mother-in-law, Aphrodite, getting married to Aphrodite’s son, Eros. In that scene, Psyche is fed ambrosia which turns her into an immortal being, allowing her to wed Eros. ( Like Xanthe, Psyche went through much trouble trying to prove to everyone else and even herself that she had worth. She was forced to go through daunting tasks to prove herself worthy, which almost made her collapse and end her life. The Sirens kiss and the Ambrosia are the same as they both promoted Xanthe and Psyche to a new level of enlightenment and self-awareness. While Psyche realized her true passion lay for her beloved Eros, Xanthe realized that hers lay for the Siren and women in general.
At the end of the story, Xanthe is thankful to Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love, for granting her the ability to feel and express her love towards women. I wanted to include this because I thought it would be a good reference to look back too seeing as she’s responsible for the love that occurs between earthly beings. I included the beginning of a Homeric hymn to Aphrodite, stating, “I shall sing of the revered Aphrodite, the golden-crowned, the beautiful, who has for her portion the mountain crests of sea-girt Cyprus.” (Hom Hymn. 6.). In my myth, I decided to change this line up to “…for allowing a lost soul such as I, to discover the great love I have for the women as beautiful as yourself, who grace this bountiful world”, because I wanted it to be more specific to the story to establish how truly thankful that Xanthe is to the Goddess, for allowing her to experience and express her sexuality. It puts into place how Xanthe views women as just as beautiful as Aphrodite, the Goddess of Beauty herself. She has received a blessing from the Gods and Goddesses for what seemed like an eternity, so it would make sense that she would feel so alleviated from her release from the curse of the dangerous, male gaze.
Bibliography
Apul, The Golden Ass. 6. 23-24
Hom Hymn. (6. To Aphrodite)
Hom, Il. 3. 395-461
Hom, Od. 12. 165-200
Sappho, Hymn to Aphrodite. 1