A terracotta figure found in a tomb in ancient Apulia shows a siren as most people never picture her: clawed feet, wings and a bird's tail beneath a woman's head and torso, placed there to guide the dead. This episode traces how that feathered psychopomp became a fish-tailed temptress with a mirror. It starts with contested etymologies linking the name to a binding rope or a swarming wasp, then follows the sirens' origin as daughters of the river god Achelous and companions of Persephone who gained bird bodies either as a gift from Demeter or as punishment for failing to stop Hades.

The hosts cover the singing contest against the Muses that left the sirens plucked and grieving, Orpheus drowning out their song for the Argonauts, and Odysseus tied to the mast. Drawing on Jane Ellen Harrison, they argue the Homeric sirens offered omniscience r ...