Siren-Shaped Perfume Flask, 600–480 BCE, Greece. Terracotta. Overall: 12.7 x 18.1 x 6.7 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1928.193.

In the Odyssey, Odysseus’s crew escapes the sirens by plugging their ears with wax.

A half-bird, half-woman creature, a siren lured sailors to death by the sweetness of her song. The most famous sirens appear in the ancient epic the Odyssey. Shaped like a siren, this vessel likely held valuable perfumed oil. Its small mouth limited spillage, and a string attached to the loops on its back allowed it to hand or hold a stopper.