那不勒斯：這里曾有女妖出沒

那不勒斯的美為人期待，為人贊嘆，為人仰慕，除了綺麗的風光，瑰麗的文化，還有就是那些以“很久很久以前”作開頭，讓人興奮的傳說。傳說中在那不勒斯出沒，以天籟般的歌聲送人上黃泉路的女妖塞壬為這個美麗的地方抹上了一絲迷幻又殘忍的色彩。然而，也就是這些“殺人如麻”的女妖也會為愛喪命——帕耳忒諾珀愛上了尤利西斯，為追尋愛情，這一次投入海里的不是別人，而是她自己。有人說“不看那不勒斯，就沒有資格談愛情、人生、藝術、甚至死亡”，而在我看來，那不勒斯的美不應是“口口相傳”而形成的一種“印象”，而應是用心去感受的，就如感受塞壬在殘暴外表下隱藏著的一顆“等愛”的心……

——Mac

As you round Punta Campanella at the southern tip of the 2)Gulf of Naples—with the isle of Capri 3)looming large in the water to your right just across the strait—you enter the 4)Gulf of Salerno and a 5)stretch of coast and sea known to the ancient Greeks as the “Land of the Sirens.” The area is rich in folklore surrounding a myriad of mysterious creatures.

Modern descriptions of these6)fabled creatures contribute to the general confusion. Most depictions， including various images in Naples showing Parthenope (the siren for whom the ancient city—before Naples—in this area was named)， show them to be 7)mermaids. Actually， ancient descriptions describe them as having bodies of a bird and beautiful human heads.

Their images are frequently found on ancient Greek tombs， suggesting that they might have been funerary 8)divinities (perhaps similar to the human-headed hawk in Egyptian mythology， who 9)incarnated the souls of the dead). Little of any of that remains， however; today， they have come down to us as 10)voluptuous mermaids who made beautiful music to lure passing sailors to their doom. Even the numbers and names of the sirens are not consistent in accounts from classical mythology. There may have two， three， or even as many as nine. By most accounts， local waters harbored three: Parthenope (“virgin”)， Leucosia (“white goddess”)， and Ligeia (“bright-voiced”); one of them played the lyre， another sang， and another played the flute. The most famous siren story is the one in the 11)Odyssey， where 12)Ulysses has himself 13)lashed to the 14)mast in order to resist their “siren song.”

There is， however， a more relevant episode， one that “explains” the existence of the three islands along the coast， today called Li Galli islands， but originally called Sirenuse—land of the sirens. 15)Jason and the 16)Argonauts， too， sailed along this coast and were tempted by the sirens. The Argonauts， however， were accompanied by Orpheus， the greatest musician in Greek mythology. Orpheus outplayed and outsang the sirens and dispelled their powers， at which point they either were transformed into the three small islands on the coast， or threw themselves into the sea， washing up on nearby shores: Parthenope at the isle of Megaride in Naples， where the Egg Castle now stands， thus giving her name to the original city; Leucosia， farther south (Punta Licosa is the tip of the southern end of the Gulf of Salerno); and the siren Ligeia still farther south along the 17)Calabrian coast near what is， today， 18)Lamezia Terme.

An account of the episode， with 19)scholarly notes and references， may be found in The Greek Myths， which also notes that the sirens had been 20)banished to those rocks in the first place for having lost an earlier battle of the bands to the21)Muses! No one can explain how Ulysses could have been tempted by sirens who apparently went out of existence when Jason sailed by many years earlier! They may have resorted to replacement sirens—second 22)stringers， if you will. There must be a message in there somewhere.

Less mythologically， the 23)archipelago consists of three small islands， 1.5 miles off the coast， 3.5 miles southwest of the town of24)Positano. Today， all three of the islands—Gallo Lungo， La Castelluccia， and La Rotonda—are part of a protected marine national preserve. There is also a fourth small island， Isca， much closer to the shore， as well as another prominent， smaller rock sticking up out of the water between Li Galli and Isca， called Vetara.

Both Gallo Lungo and Isca have structures on them and this has caused some modern confusion， as well， as to who owned what， when. There are some Roman fragments on Gallo Lungo， but the first modern construction on the island consists of a large villa and secondary building， built in the 1930s by the Russian 25)choreographer and dancer 26)Leonid Massine (1896-1979). That property later passed to another Russian dancer 27)Rudolf Nuryev (1938-1993)， who apparently wanted to set up a dance academy on the premises， an idea that did not come to28)fruition. Isca has a lovely villa and garden on the side facing the cliff (and， thus， not visible if you sail behind the island， as most do). It was the property at one time of the great Neapolitan playwright， 29)Eduardo De Filippo (1900-1984) and is described in a delightful volume entitled， In mezzo al mare un’isola c’è... (There is an island in the sea…) by the playwright’s wife， Isabella.

In any event， the coast from Punta della Campanella all the way past siren country and on to the modern city of Salerno is of great beauty. Places such as Positano and 30)Amalfi dot the shore below high cliffs along which， alas， far too many post-siren seekers after paradise have decided to build too many houses.

當你繞過那不勒斯灣南端的康盤尼拉角(音譯)，隨著在你的右邊海峽對岸的海面上，一個龐然大物——卡普里島——赫然出現在你眼前時，你就進入了薩萊諾水域，這里同時也是古希臘人所熟知的“海妖塞壬之域”。大量形形色色關于神秘妖怪的民間傳說就在該區域流傳。

關于這方面的傳說紛紜多樣，而現代的各色描繪為人們一直以來存在的困惑更添一分。許多繪畫，包括在那不勒斯有關“帕耳忒諾珀”的各種圖像里——這名字是這個古老的城池被命名為“那不勒斯”之前的名稱——這些妖怪被畫成了美人魚。但事實上，根據古代的描述，她們應該是一些人首鳥身的怪物。

她們的形象也經常出現在古希臘的墳墓上，這似乎暗示她們可能曾經是死神(也許與埃及神話中的“人首鷹”相似，那是死者靈魂的化身。