Bronze Applique with Siren

Bronze applique modeled in the shape of a siren, depicted seated in a highly naturalistic pose. The elongated face is characterized by thin lips curved upward in the typical “archaic smile” and large, slightly hollowed eyes. The hairstyle is particularly elaborate: the hair is parted at the center and falls in curls with vertical waves, while on the chest and at the back it ends in finely worked braids. On her head, the siren wears a cylindrical headdress resembling a small crown. The crossed wings are rendered with great skill, with the main veins emphasized by dense diagonal incisions.

This refined bronze figurine, of exceptional artistic quality, was most likely conceived as a decorative element of a large ritual metal vessel, which has not survived. In Classical antiquity, the siren—represented with the hybrid body of a woman and a bird—is a widely attested figure, especially in sacred and funerary contexts. These creatures embody a profound symbolic ambivalence, suspended between attraction and danger, between the world of the living and that of the afterlife, between the human and the divine spheres. Their famous song alluded to arcane and seductive knowledge, evoking at once fear of the unknown as well as ideas of protection and cosmic order. In the territory of Kroton, siren iconography was particularly widespread, as demonstrated, for example, by the celebrated bronze vessel for holding and pouring liquids (askos) from Murgie, ancient Petelia.