Bird-women on the Harpy Monument from Xanthos, Lycia: sirens or harpies Draycott, Catherine M. Kurtz, Donna Art Plastic arts Visual art and representation Asia Archeology Greek archeology Materials studies (archaeology) History of art and visual culture History of the ancient world Lykia Lycia Harpy Monument sirens harpies death demons souls afterlife snatching abduction Xanthos Lycian art The initial identification of the bird-women on the Harpy Monument as the eponymous 'harpies' has long been superseded by the identification of the creatures as sirens. The small figures they are shown carrying have often been seen as eidola or souls of the deceased. This in turn has led to the idea that one of the functions of sirens was to transport the souls of the deceased to the afterlife. However, there is every reason to believe that the images show an abduction image, related to contemporary images of sphinxes carrying off young males. It is unusual in that the figures they abduct are female, and in this the images actually do recall the legend of the harpies abducting the daughters of Pandareos, which led to the initial naming of the tomb. Although they may not be adequately labelled as 'harpies' or 'sirens', their role as shown here is closer to the former than the latter. Citation: Draycott, C. (2008). Bird-women on the Harpy Monument from Xanthos, Lycia: sirens or harpies. In: Kurtz, D. (ed.) Essays in Classical Archaeology for Eleni Hatzivassiliou 1977-2007. Oxford: Archaeopress, pp. 145-153. 2008 text Book (monograph): Section of book or chapter of book Published Not peer reviewed Publisher's version Published isbn: 978-1-903767-05-4 Oxford Research Archive internal ID: ora:4232 http://www.archaeopress.com/searchBar.asp?title=Sub+Series&id=51&Sub+SeriesID=51 ora:4232 en http://www.archaeopress.com/searchBar.asp?title=Sub+Series&id=51&Sub+SeriesID=51 urn:uuid:a70b11c6-b3c4-4d21-82f0-e695aae74f05