Edition 38 | 2021
The Absurdist History of the Mermaid Image + Words Nahum Gale
T
he ocean – a vast and endless world unto its own – home to Darwinian marvels and scientific phenomena that have continued to capture the imagination of land dwellers for millennia. In all its mysterious depths and evolving line of creatures, the infinite sea has played host to a plethora of tall tales and folklore. Although none have quite ensnared the imagination of people quite like that of the mermaid.
Although, beyond the classic myths of the Greeks, mermaids have existed for arguably even longer in the hands of various cultures from across the globe. In the year 1000 BC, Middle Eastern stories of Atargatis, a Syrian goddess in Assyria who ruled the seas, was considered the world’s first mermaid.
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The first mermaids would appear in cave paintings depicting creatures with the body of a human but the tail of a great fish.
Dating as far back as the Palaeolithic era, 30,000 years ago in the Old Stone Age, the first mermaids would appear in cave paintings depicting creatures with the body of a human but the tail of a great fish. Though, it was not until the mythology of the Ancient Greek that these obscurities were brought to light. Initially, spiralling from the myth of sirens, that would enchant sailors with their ‘siren song’ and lead them to a watery grave, these original mermaids undertook a half woman, half bird appearance. Eventually, their first presence in texts surfaced within the epic Greek poem, Homer’s Odyssey, which would depict a treacherous sea voyage with the added temptations of mermaids, known then as sirens.
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Existing beyond the fog of the ocean, ye olde mermaids with flowing golden hair would sit upon reefs, singing their mermaid song to sailors who would stray too close to their shores. However, beyond the ancient sea shanty of ocean addict sailors and joyous depictions of underwater life from Disney’s The Little Mermaid (1989), the myth dives even deeper than that of the depths of the Mariana Trench.
She was cited as a sacred deity, worshipped in temples said to have been home to expansive ponds. The Irish too had their own variation: a Merrow. Though, the creature was known to bring bad luck. The Scottish had Ceasg (a maid of the waves) who uniquely had the lower body of a salmon. Throughout Europe, there were Melusine’s, a variation of the mermaid with two tails. The Khoi-san people of a South African region spoke of accounts of mermaids that dwelled in cavernous mountain lagoons. In China, mermaids would cry tears of pearls. And in Japan, the creatures have been referred to as ‘ningyo’; a beast with the entire body of a fish, but the face of a human. Having trouble picturing that? Well, Hayao Miyazaki made an anime of it called Ponyo (so check that one out).︎
The mermaid would go on to metaphorically represent the state of one who exists between two worlds. In this case, the mermaid is balanced between the sea and the earth. However, most do not realise the mermaid is also representative of life and death. Appearing as a common emblem at funerals, the creature’s song is considered to also exist as a lullaby to those passing from the world of the living to that of the dead.
However, mythology can only go so far and for the tales to continue to modern day, there would need to be legends of encounters and whispers of sightings... We look to explorer Christopher Columbus who, in 1493, claimed to have spotted mermaids upon one of his voyages. Although, in the descriptions left in his logbook, Columbus believed the creature to inhabit ghastly features,
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