<P> In 1917, Franz Kafka wrote in The Silence of the Sirens, "Now the Sirens have a still more fatal weapon than their song, namely their silence . And though admittedly such a thing never happened, it is still conceivable that someone might possibly have escaped from their singing; but from their silence certainly never ." </P> <P> Although a Sophocles fragment makes Phorcys their father, when Sirens are named, they are usually as daughters of the river god Achelous, with Terpsichore, Melpomene, Calliope or Sterope . In Euripides' play, Helen (167), Helen in her anguish calls upon "Winged maidens, daughters of the Earth (Chthon)." Although they lured mariners, the Greeks portrayed the Sirens in their "meadow starred with flowers" and not as sea deities . Roman writers linked the Sirens more closely to the sea, as daughters of Phorcys . Sirens are found in many Greek stories, notably in Homer's Odyssey . </P> <P> Their number is variously reported as from two to five . In the Odyssey, Homer says nothing of their origin or names, but gives the number of the Sirens as two . Later writers mention both their names and number: some state that there were three, Peisinoe, Aglaope, and Thelxiepeia (Tzetzes, ad Lycophron 7l2; Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca E7. 18) or Parthenope, Ligeia, and Leucosia (Eustathius, loc . cit.; Strabo v. § 246, 252; Servius' commentary on Virgil's Georgics iv. 562); Apollonius followed Hesiod gives their names as Thelxinoe, Molpe, and Aglaophonos (Scholiast on Homer's Odyssey 12 . 168, trans . Evelyn - White); Suidas gives their names as Thelxiepeia, Peisinoe, and Ligeia (Suidas s.v. Seirenas); Hyginus gives the number of the Sirens as four: Teles, Raidne, Molpe, and Thelxiope (Fabulae, praefat . p. 30, ed . Bunte); Eustathius (Commentaries § 1709) states that they were two, Aglaopheme and Thelxiepeia; an ancient vase painting attests the two names as Himerope and Thelxiepeia . Their individual names are variously rendered in the later sources as Thelxiepeia / Thelxiope / Thelxinoe, Molpe, Himerope, Aglaophonos / Aglaope / Aglaopheme, Pisinoe / Peisinoë / Peisithoe, Parthenope, Ligeia, Leucosia, Raidne, and Teles . </P> <Ul> <Li> Aglaope (Αγλαόπη) or Aglaophonos (Αγλαόφωνος) or Aglaopheme (Αγλαοφήμη, all to be translated as "with lambent voice"), attested as a daughter of Achelous and Melpomene . </Li> <Li> Leucosia (Λευκωσία): Her name was given to the island opposite to the Sirens' cape . Her body was found on the shore of Poseidonia . </Li> <Li> Ligeia (Λιγεία): She was found ashore of Terina in Bruttium (modern Calabria). </Li> <Li> Molpe (Μολπή), another daughter of Achelous and Melpomene . </Li> <Li> Parthenope (Παρθενόπη): Her tomb was presented in Naples and called "constraction of sirens". </Li> <Li> Peisinoe (Πεισινόη) or Peisithoe (Πεισιθόη), daughter of Achelous and Melpomene . </Li> <Li> Thelxiope (Θελξιόπη) or Thelxiepeia (Θελξιέπεια "eye pleasing"), daughter of Achelous and Melpomene . </Li> </Ul>

How many sirens were there in the odyssey