Mythological Aquatic Creatures

I’m sure if someone says the word mermaid, most of us would first think of Disney’s Ariel. Mermaids however were represented in folklore, literature and legends dating as far back as 546 BC. The name mermaid came from the old English word "mere" meaning sea and maid. Although most people’s first perception of mermaids is sweet beautiful women, in most legends they were evil. Mermaids would sing to men to enchant them and cause them to jump off their boats and drown. Other stories tell of mermaids singing to men causing them to jump in the water and then they would drown the men or squeeze them to death. It is also said they would carry men down to their kingdom forgetting that humans could not breathe other water.

The first know story dates back to Assyria 1000 BC. The goddess Atargatis fell in love with a man and unintentionally killed him. She was so ashamed about what she had done that she decided to jump into a lake and turn herself into a fish. The waters however would not allow her to conceal her beauty and turned her into a mermaid; half fish from the waist down and human from the waist up.

Another popular legend was about Thessalonike, Alexander the Great’s sister. After she died it is said she became a mermaid. It is said she lived in the Aegean (The Aegean Sea (Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος, Egeo Pelagos [eˈʝeo ˈpelaɣos] (listen); Turkish: Ege Denizi or historically Turkish: Adalar Denizi^[1]) is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus) (2) and when she would encounter ships she would ask the sailors one question, “Does Alexander the Great Live?” The correct answer she would look for was “He lives and reigns and conquers the world”. If the incorrect answer was given she would take her rage out on the ship and sailors and cause terrible storms in the seas.

Arabian Tales also told of mermaids, but differed from the mythological stories. The “sea-people” were like humans, but unlike humans could live and breathe under water. They could also breed with humans, and their children would be born with the ability to live underwater. Another Arabian tale, "Abdullah the Fisherman and Abdullah the Merman" tells the story of a man who gains the ability to live underwater. He discovers a society where he realizes is the opposite of society on land. Things like money, work or clothing do not exist in the underwater society.

In British tales, mermaids were seen as bad luck or omens of bad things to come. They would tell the sailors they would never see land again. Seeing one also meant bad weather was near. Some mermaids were even described to be 2,000 feet in length.

In Chinese tales however, mermaids were seen as good luck. Their tears could turn into pearls, which made them priceless to sailors. One thing all tales seem to have in common is that their sining would lure men. Usually once a mermaid lured a man she could have her way with him, good or bad.

Unlike, Disney’s version of the Little Mermaid, Andersen's Mermaid is a more violent tale about a mermaid who lives with her family in an under water kingdom. At the age of 15 the mermaids are allowed to swim up shore and watch the human life. When the youngest mermaid turns 15 she is eager to swim up shore and see humans. She learns that unlike mermaids, humans have souls. When she swims up shore, she sees a prince on a boat and falls in love with him. She goes to sees the sea witch who gives her a potion to become human. In return, she has to give her tongue to the sea witch. She also has to bare horrible pain in her human legs. If she gets the prince to give her a true love kiss then she will permanently turn into a human. With every step she feels like knives are stabbing her feet. She bares the pain though to be with the prince who falls in love with her. The king however, tells the prince he must marry the neighboring king’s daughter. The prince tells the mermaid he will not marry the princess, but then ends up marrying her. The mermaid’s sisters then swim up short with a knife that the sea witch has given them. They tell their sister to go kill the prince and pour his blood on her feet and she will return to mermaid form. However the mermaid can not get herself to commit murder and then kills herself from heartbreak. She is then given a chance at a soul for her good deed. This tail was first published in 1837 by Hans Christian Andersen.

There have been claimed sighting of mermaids throughout the centuries. There has never been actual proof of mermaids. In 2009, a town in Israel claimed to have seen a mermaid off its coast. There was a $1 million award prize to whoever could prove the existence of a mermaid.

Mermaids have always interested me. As a child and still till this day I wonder if they do exist. I believe there are plenty of things in the world that DO exist that we will never see or no more of other than the tales that are passed down from generation to generation.

 (1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mermaid

(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atargatis

(3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegean_Sea