Mermaids: The Dark & Messed Up Origins | Exploring the Myths Behind Infamous Sea Creatures

[Music] [Music] hmm [Music] so [Music] so [Music] congratulations you've just been killed by a mermaid welcome to the afterlife i guess you're probably wondering how could i have avoided this there's nothing more annoying than going for your daily run only to be interrupted by some random mermaid who wants to drown you luckily for you and myself today's video is sponsored by raycon vote is the number one anti-mermaid mythical creature wireless earbuds on the market by me if you're in need of a slick pair of wireless earbuds that are comfortable affordable and have crisp audio quality then stick around into the end to find out more i think we're all somewhat familiar with mermaids by now whether it's a beautiful woman with a fishtail who majestically swims through the ocean or something far more seductive that would drown you without a second thought if you dared to venture too close every region has its own stories surrounding them and some of them are quite dark and twisted so join me today as we take a look at mermaids and their rather messed up history the most common description of a mermaid is that of an aquatic creature with the head and torso of a woman and the lower half of a fish but depending where you are in the world that can vary one of the biggest influences in the west regarding mermaids comes from the sirens of greek mythology who despite often being confused and compared with mermaids or in fact more bird than fish we see the sirens in two of greek mythology's most well-known epic poems the argonautica and the odyssey in both of these they are fairly similar to modern mermaids using their enchanting voices to lure sailors into a watery grave which is where the term a siren's call comes from being enticed to go somewhere or do something that we know will end poorly something i'm sure many of us can relate to when the argonauts encountered the sirens their musician orpheus drowned out the siren song with his own song and as a result only one man jumped overboard when odysseus and his crew encountered the sirens he instructed his men to fill their ears with beeswax in order to nullify the singing odysseus himself however was extremely intrigued that no man had ever heard the siren song and lived to tell the tale and so he further instructed his crew to tie him to the mast of his ship no matter how much he begged and pleaded with them to release him they were to ignore him until they passed safely by the sirens authors after homer believed if a man heard the siren song and survived the sirens would have to drown themselves in the sea once we get closer to the hellenistic period images of sirens shifted from bird women to women with a fishtail roman authors in particular such as hygienist and ovid heavily linked the sirens to the ocean ovid himself helped popularize the origin story of sirens according to him they were not always half woman half bird originally they were the nymphs and handmaidens to the goddess persephone in the versions of the story where persephone was abducted by hades and taken to the underworld her mother demeter gave the handmaidens wings so they could aid in the search for her lost daughter hygienus on the other hand saw this as more of a curse demeter blamed the handmaidens for her daughter's disappearance and so in anger she transformed them into the sirens the siren song although beautiful and alluring also has a strong undertone of sorrow and even death continually calling out to persephone in the hopes she may one day return before we move away from greek mythology for those wondering if there was a male equivalent merman did also exist one example was a man who went by the name of glaucus a fisherman who discovered a magical herb that would bring fish back to life when consumed curious of its effects on mortals he tried some for himself this resulted in his legs becoming a fishtail and the overwhelming desire to live in the sea although he was now considered immortal glorca struggled to come to terms with his newfound gift that is until the other deities of the sea taught him its secrets and even the art of prophecy from then on glaucus was known as someone who would appear to those lost at sea in order to guide them to safety one of his most noticeable appearances is in the argonautica where he appears to the argonauts and informs them of what really happened to heracles and the other missing men helping to stop a full-blown mutiny from the crew members who blamed jason for the disappearance of heracles the most well-known example of a merman in greek mythology was triton the son of poseidon and amphitrite neither of his parents are ever really described as merfolk because they could live on both land and sea triton however is described as being half man and half fish from the day he was born making him the stereotypical merman for the most part he acted as his father's messenger within the sea which makes sense considering covering the underworld the earth the heavens and the sea may have been a bit too much for hermes to handle alone similar to glaucus he also appeared to the argonauts to aid them in the return leg of their journey however there are numerous images of triton wrestling and drowning heroes and other mortals heracles wrestling triton is an image you see often in greek pottery the image of merman became so heavily associated with triton himself that they were eventually just known as tritons or tritone the musical fishermen of the ocean moving to the eastern parts of the mediterranean and mesopotamia there are numerous stories to examine images of humans with fish tales can be traced as far back as the first babylonian empire the mesopotamian goddess atargatis is one of the first recorded stories of mermaids in this region she fell in love with a human shepherd who sadly drowned in a lake not being able to deal with the pain of being apart from each other she threw herself in the lake in the hopes that she would also drown and reunite with her lover in the afterlife the gods however would not allow her to die and so they made the ocean her new home they transformed her into a fish at least her lower half her torso would remain that of a woman because her beauty could not be hidden one thousand and one nights is also a great texture read if middle eastern ideas surrounding mermaids pique your interest there are numerous stories that feature humans who are able to breathe and live underwater these are described as sea people or seabourn now if there's one place we can rely on for these stories to get super weird in terms of appearance you can always count on japan here you have creatures known as ningya which means human fish and i can promise you they are in no way seductive mermaids the ninja are not part fish they are mostly fish with their head being the only part that resembles a human they also had golden horns a red belly and additional eyes around their torso hunting and capturing these creatures required a rather large group as they were said to be around 35 feet long so definitely more of a monster than mermaid in slavic folklore there are creatures known as the rusalika female spirits had dwell in lakes and rivers luring young men to their death with the sound of their voices these are said to be the spirits of young women who dined from drowning because of an unhappy marriage this can be a suicide due to being abused and harassed or even jilted by a lover it can also be because they may have been murdered by said lover an example often used would be an unwanted child resulting in them being drowned to hide the pregnancy the spirit is then cursed to spend their remaining time as a resalica seeking vengeance before the 19th century the rosalica were not always considered the evil they were associated with fertility during the spring they would emerge from the water and walk among fields in doing so they transferred a portion of their own essence which would seep into crops and allow them to be nurtured during the 19th century they were perceived as chaotic and unclean spirits it was common to hear stories of young women dying by lakes and rivers becoming rusalka when young men approached the riverbed they would be mesmerized by the singing and when they were close enough the rusalika would entangle them in their long vibrant hair wrap their feet around them and drag them below the water as odd as it may sound in countries such as poland they prefer to tickle their victims to death as opposed to drowning them which sounds equally as horrifying they can also alter their appearance to suit the desires of their victim from afar they appear as beautiful women but when up close their hair colour changes to a mouldy green and their face distorts showing their true nature they were not however always considered malevolent or evil spirits for the sake of being evil much like a poltergeist if their death was in some way avenged then their spirit would be allowed to rest they may not be half woman half fish but they do share several similarities with mermaids you have the colorful vibrant hair the idea of beauty and most rusalika had to remain partially submerged in the water making trips to land not very common the rasalika was a symbol of immense beauty but also one that was extremely feared and respected mermaids were also mentioned in britain and ireland during the medieval period coming across a mermaid at sea was considered a bad omen in some cases mermaids would foretell troublesome weather or some kind of disaster other times the mermaids themselves would cause ill fortune the ballad of sir patrick spenz talks about a rather cryptic mermaid she would tell sailors and ships at sea that they would never see land again and other times she would lie to them and tell them that they were near the shore those who were not lost at sea could tell that they were nowhere near land this just meant their vessel was fated to crash into rocks there were also cautionary tales involving mermaids drowning people in rivers and lakes if they came too close on rare occasions some of these stories were more positive such as mermaids helping those who were drowning and even teaching them medicines and cures that were found in nature some other mermaids from around the world worthy of a mention include the european melucina the mother of water spirits native to central africa and the chinese shark people stories of mermaids have existed for thousands of years all over the world and there is no shortage of them in modern fiction either when you have stories and legends that are universally told and stand the test of time it's normally because there is something there we can relate to or reflect upon something that intrigues but also still leaves an element of mystery when it comes to mermaids it's not hard to see why people enjoy them in stories their tragic past and the duality between beautiful and deadly above the water there is a calm beautiful and elegant exterior which plays on your humanity and draws you in below it's mysterious cold dark and unforgiving a pretty accurate description of how we used to and even sometimes today still view the ocean sailing the seas thousands and even hundreds of years ago was much more perilous than it is today mermaids are just one of a long list of creatures created to try and explain these stories they also serve as a reminder that appearances can be somewhat deceiving as we mentioned earlier today's video has been made possible by raycon finding a good pair of wireless earbuds can be very expensive but not with raycon they offer premium wireless earbuds in all sorts of colors and designs at a fraction of the price you'd expect to pay at raicon they prioritize the customer experience which is why they offer a 45-day return policy raycon earbuds give you six hours of playtime and are extremely comfortable making wearing them for long periods of time a joy and not a nuisance their seamless bluetooth pairing means you can step away from your screen whether it's to go do some chores or just lay down and still enjoy whatever you were listening to if you're someone who's ever trying to exercise with regular earbuds you'll know what a nightmare it can be the first time i went for a run using my raikon earbuds i was expecting to be running down the street trying to find where i had lost them but they didn't budge in fact you can jump around to your heart's content and because they fit so snugly they won't move and this goes for all sorts of exercise if that sounds good you can get a 15 percent discount by visiting slash byracon.com that's byrakon.com mythology or you can use the link in the description go and check out raycon today as it really helps support the channel as always i've been your host mythology and fiction explained reminding you to maybe stay away from the fish women [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Mythology & Fiction Explained

Views: 993,621

Keywords: Mermaids, mythology, sirens, mythology and fiction explained, folklore, sea creatures, are mermaids real?, real mermaids

Id: 5l6TIOJPNmE

Length: 16min 20sec (980 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 12 2021