a catalogue of two tailed goddesses

they / them. I've spent 15+ years researching two-tailed sirens and the Scythian ancestral goddess in ancient art, folklore, and pop culture. Enjoy 🧜‍♀️

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Guide to twin-tailed siren research

This blog is all of my research on the complex origins of the two tailed siren, the double tailed mermaid made famous by Starbucks. Oh, but she's so much more than a corporate logo!

The source for that logo is a 15th century printer’s mark, designed by German scholar Nicolaus Marschalk, but her history is much more complex than that. I explore her unusual pose here. I explain why I think single-tailed mermaids and two-tailed sirens are different in these posts.

This imagery likely has roots in ancient goddess imagery, particularly the unveiling goddess. The two tailed siren’s ancestors were the ancient Near East motifs of the Master of Animals and Mistress of Animals. The earliest version of the two tailed siren is from Luristan, dating from about 800 BCE. Mistress of Animal imagery is connected to Artemis depicted as Potnia Theron, which I explore in these posts.

The snake legged or tendril goddess was first popularized in ancient Scythian art. The Mistress and Master of Beasts imagery is related to the Scythian ancestral goddess from what’s now Ukraine and southern Russia. Some Scythian snake-legged deity imagery is clearly male or nonbinary.

Scythian ancestral goddess imagery can be found in Greece, in Olynthus and Vergina; in Bulgaria; and several examples in Turkey. She also is shown in Hellenistic vase painting and decorative art. She likely influenced Etruscan art, as in this lovely gold jewellery.

The Etruscan Typhon is related to Scylla, the Homeric monster who is often shown with two tails in ancient art. Typhon also likely influenced the snake legged Greek Giants. Sometimes the images get confused with each other, like with the fish-tailed Giants which combine Triton-like fish tails with Giants fighting; and Boreas shown with two snake legs, who looks like Typhon.

Two tailed Tritons are a thing in Greek and Roman art, and there's a few rare examples of two tailed "tritonesses," here and here. The Gorgons and Medusa are rarely shown with snake legs, and have connections to the Mistress of Animals and Potnia Theron. Two tailed figures appear in ancient Roman grotesques.

The snake-legged figure also spread east, with Isis-Thermouthis and other Egyptian deities getting snake legs; on the Temple of Bel; and most significantly, in Afghani, Pakistani, and Indian art. There's also the elusive Gnostic Abraxas, a figure with a rooster's head and snake legs.

However, Scylla and the Scythian goddess are the likeliest links from ancient art to Renaissance European art. Here's all my posts exploring Scylla's imagery.

There's a gap in how common two tailed goddess imagery is, from roughly 400 CE to 1000 CE, which I explore in these posts about Coptic, Celtic, and Pictish examples of two tailed figures.

Likely influenced by both the Scythian goddess and the two tailed Scylla, two tailed sirens in Romanesque church art spread the image across Europe: in mosaics, frescoes in Italy, in Sweden & Denmark, in Hungary, and in stone sculpture in Poland. She appears occasionally in medieval bestiaries, Hebrew manuscripts, and Christian manuscripts, as well as on coins. Two tailed sirens are rare in Irish art, as I explore in these posts.

In the Renaissance, she was extremely popular: in European architecture & interior details, Renaissance art, including woodcuts, printer's marks, world maps, emblems, fortune telling books, as an eternity symbol, a symbol of flattery, in alchemy texts, political cartoons, as a Zodiac symbol, and decorative art, including floor tiles and ceiling tiles, and in decorative drawings.

The two tailed siren continued to be popular into the 1700 and 1800s, such as in Cretan embroidery and pendants from Naples in the 1880s.

Her classic ear-to-fin pose has survived to modern art and contemporary art; and in pop art and culture.

Olokun is a fish-legged god from Benin, Nigeria, and his imagery is something I'll be exploring explore further, as there's also two tailed mermaids in Yoruba art. There’s some parallel but unrelated imagery in the Native art of North America, such as the Haida's Tchimose.

All images on this blog are for educational purposes only.

I've done my best to properly credit all artists & source all images to museums, galleries, or publications. If I've made a mistake, please let me know.

For "side swimmers" or mermaids with two tails, not in the classic pose, see this post.

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Eastern fish-tailed men: Indian, Pakistani, Afghani 

Two-tailed naramakara, 101 CE–300 CE. Gandhara, modern day Pakistan. Currently at the Art Institute of Chicago.

There is an interesting branch of the two-tailed siren’s family tree to the east: in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. The motif likely moved east along the Silk Road, as goods and artistic traditions were traded. These images are usually male, and while they share the same pose as the Scythian snake-legged goddess, there are some differences. I’m going to use the term “naramakara” for these images, coined by academic Sonya Rhie Mace. “Makara” refers to having a fish tail, but these figures need their own term, as they have two fish tails, or fish legs.

The Afghani naramakara are distinct because their snake-legs or fish tails are being eaten by crocodiles. This difference is clear when looking at an ivory carving from Bagram to 2-3rd CE, in National Museum of Afghanistan and the "Afghanistan, Rediscovered Treasures” exhibit:

Further, these different images are very likely related, as the Indian images are from the Mathura region of the Kushan Empire, which at that time, included modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. In addition to Hellenistic influences, there may have been Scythian influences as well, as there is evidence that Scythian invaders were in the region around 80 BCE.

In the book “Yakṣas: Essays in the Water Cosmology” the author states that these two-tailed images are usually found on railing pillars or medallions. Here's an example of a Mathura naramakara, whose two legs end in animal heads:

Relief from Mathura, 2nd century CE. Archaeological Museum, Mathura.

Here is another an Indian naramakara from Sārnāth, with elephant-like ears, also on a railing pillar, and a drawing of a Mathura image on the left:

Some examples from the British Museum:

Stair-riser with four two-tailed naramakara. 2nd-3rd century CE, Kushanm  Gandhāra School. Found in Jamalgarhi, modern-day Pakistan. British Museum.

And my personal favourite, as she strongly resembles the two-tailed siren:

Two tailed narimakara. Near Peshawar, Pakistan. 1st century CE. From the museum website: This tray features a two-tailed mermaid on the top. It is thought that the empty bottom half of this tray was used to make offerings to mythical beasts to secure safe passage to the afterlife. Tokyo National Museum, TC-599.

Several art historians have suggested connections between these images and the snake-legged Giants in ancient Greek art, and figures of the Scythian goddess, in particular, the mosaic from Vergina.

While I'm very happy with my research on this, I'm still on the lookout for more examples of this image.

Further reading

Silk Road route and foreign influences:

Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), et al. The Art of Gandhara in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Metropolitan Museum of Art ; Yale University Press, 2007.

Overview of Greek influences, showing hippocampi and Tritons from Greece to Gandhara art are likely related:

Kouremenos, Anna, et al., editors. From Pella to Gandhara : Hybridisation and Identity in the Art and Architecture of the Hellenistic East. BAR Publishing, 2011. “Sea Monster Motif,” pages 155-159.

Afghani mermen:

Dupree, Nancy Hatch, et al. The National Museum of Afghanistan: An Illustrated Guide. Afghan Air Authority, 1974.

Term naramakara, and the fact that Scythian invaders were in the same area:

Mace, Sonya Rhie. History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura, ca. 150 BCE-100 CE. Brill, 2007.

Bordeaux, Olivier. “Anguiped Figures, Dragon-legged Animals and Sea-monsters, from Hellenism to Indian Art.” Mathurā: The Archaeology of Inter-Religious Encounters in Ancient India workshop, Bochum, 25/26 July, 2019.

Coomaraswamy, Ananda K. Yakṣas: Essays in the Water Cosmology. New ed. rev. and enl, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts ; Oxford University Press, 1993.

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Two tailed narimakara. Near Peshawar, Pakistan. 1st century CE. From the museum website: This tray features a two-tailed mermaid on the top. It is thought that the empty bottom half of this tray was used to make offerings to mythical beasts to secure safe passage to the afterlife. Tokyo National Museum, TC-599.

She's very interesting, as she's an outlier in two tailed siren imagery. While she looks like a classic two tailed siren, she was found fairly far east, and early in art. She looks like a sister to Romanesque  sirens in continental Europe, but she’s a thousand years younger than them.

Like Scylla, she has a leaf skirt, and grasps her two fish tails in a gesture that goes back to the Scythian goddess and was adopted by the Romanesque siren. Her hair is in braids, and she's likely female, as she looks like she has breasts. Appearing in art related to the afterlife gives her something in common with the Etruscan Scylla, who was thought to escort souls to the afterlife.

She's not the only two tailed merperson from Pakistan. I've found a few other examples, mostly two tailed mermen, like this handsome one in the Chicago Art Institute:

Two-tailed naramakara, 101 CE–300 CE. Gandhara, modern day Pakistan. Currently at the Art Institute of Chicago, US.

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I found some other marine monsters from Gandhara. Let's take a look.

Marine Deity, possibly Triton or Ichthyocentaur. Date: ca. 1st century CE. Pakistan (ancient region Gandhara (Swat Valley?) MET. Triton is occasionally shown with horse legs and a fish tail in ancient Greek art, and the motif traveled east.

Dish with Marine Creature and Couple. Pakistan (ancient region of Gandhara) 1st century BCE. MET.

Dish with Nereid Riding a Sea Monster. Pakistan (ancient region of Gandhara) ca. 1st century BCE. MET. Nereids astride sea monsters, with a scarf floating around them, is a motif that goes back to antiquity.

Further reading

Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), et al. The Art of Gandhara in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Metropolitan Museum of Art ; Yale University Press, 2007.

[twintailedsiren]

"I asked ChatGPT-"

Well I did a bunch of drugs & wrote random nonsense down

"I asked Gemini-"

I asked the old men playing chess in the park, they don't trust it

"I asked Claude-"

I looked at the sources myself because I have a tiny computer with info the librarians at Alexanderia would drool over in my pocket

"I asked Co-Pilot-"

The seller at the vegetable stand gave me a delicious recipe for wild mushrooms when I asked

"I asked Grok-"

I'm not going to ask a racist pedophile for anything

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Two-tailed triton, detail of a plate. Urbino Workshop. Raphaelesque set, 1575-1600. Maiolica. Porcelain Gallery. Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples. My photo.

Let's take a closer look at him:

I'm thinking this is Triton, because he's holding a trident.

The museum had some other interesting pieces, all showing the fascinating grotesque style popular in the Renaissance:

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Two tailed merman, playing double horns with animal heads. Giovanni Bernardi i da Castelbolognese, 1949- Faenza 1553. Italian gem engraver. Decorative elements, engraved rock crystal. Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples. My photo.

Two-tailed mermaids and mermen were common in Renaissance decorative art, particularly in Italy. Here's another two-tailed merman from the same collection:

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“By the sea” (1925) by Polish artist Feliks Michał Wygrzywalski (1875-1944).

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At first glance, the woman on the right is just swimming— but then you see her two fish tails she has for feet.

I've seen Wygrzywalski's work in Gdnask, and I got curious, and found this lovely painting:

Syreny nad brzegiem morza (Sirens on the seashore). The woman with her back to us has fins for feet.

Syreny (Sirens) 1924. Artinfo.pl.

I also found this painting on my harddrive, but I can't find a source or date.

[danskjavlarna]

From Die Muskete, 1916.

If you’re into mermaids and mermen, my collection of vintage merfolk is going swimmingly.

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well I'm jumping into the sea

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The Underwater World, 1906, by Gaston Noury ​​(1865-1936) French artist. Private collection.

Sirens and Medusae, 1898. Gaston Noury,  Private collection.

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Two tailed mermaids on vintage postcards, via the Newberry, Chicago. Art by Gaston Noury, French artist. I love their elaborate hairstyles and hats, looking chic while under the waves. The last postcard isn't from the Newberry.

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Gaston Noury

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Today, I want to look at some vintage ads of two-tailed mermaids, I have that summer mood.

Cover of La Vie Parisienne. French, Art Nouveau.

La Vie Parisienne, 1913.

Georges Léonnec, 1923. French.

Das angefrorene Nixlein by Reinhold Max Eichler, Jugend 1898. German.

Two tailed mermaid surprises a boatman, Jugend 1909.

Fantasio, Dutch magazine, 1923. Adolphe Willette.

 La Vie Parisienne. Not quite a mermaid, but I’m including her.

Found on Pinterest, no info.

Found on Pinterest.

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Two tailed mermaid, holding a mirror. Baum Bugle, Vol 32 #2, 1988.

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Today is the last day of Pride, so we’re going to look at some lovely sapphic images of mermaids by the amazing artist Relm.

Low Tide.

Sketch. 2018.

A siren in my bedroom.

Deep Sea Dalliance / Underwater Dalliance.

Chasing tides.

The Evening Moon.

Summers in Italy.

Aishwarya.

Breakfast in Tropez.

Oasis (Wanderlust Series).

The moments between worlds.

When the butterflies are just warning signs. I have a print of this.

Love amongst chaos.

Alice in Wonderland.

Mother of pearl III.

Heron's catch.

unknown title.

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I was lucky enough to be able to see the exhibit "Parthenope: The Siren and the City" in Naples last weekend, so I'll be sharing some of the photos I took while I was there. Just an amazing exhibit, they had great pieces from so many museums, and their displays on ancient siren imagery were just breathtaking.

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Two Scyllas, red-figured calyx. Terracotta. Paestum excavation. 360 BCE, Asseteas. Inv. 82411. Naples Archeology Museum. My photo.

The Scylla on the right has dogs around her waist, and so is absolutely Scylla. She has a fish-tail and holds an oar or staff.

The figure on the right is likely Scylla, thoughts rare to see two Scyllas paired together— because unlike the sirens, Scylla is a character, not a mythological race. But her tail is similar two Scylla, and she holds an oar or trident over her shoulder, though she lacks any dogs.

Another time two Scyllas are paired together is here:

Scylla, detail of the abduction of Europa. Red-figured kalyx, about 380 BCE. Carlos Collection of Ancient Art, Michael C Carlos  Museum, Emory University.

The Scylla on the left has dogs around her waist, and wields a trident, while the other Scylla doesn’t have dogs:

Detail, Carlos Collection of Ancient Art, Michael C Carlos  Museum, Emory University.

Also, the Naples Museum piece likely shows the abduction of Europa as well:

I'm not going to say that these two Scyllas are dating, but it's still very cool to see them together. it also makes the "two Scyllas" theory very interesting.

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In many of your posts about the two-tailed Scylla, you mention that this mythical creature is often portrayed as half sea monster, represented by her long and coiling tail. I imagine that this references Cetus, the Greek sea monsters, who often had serpentine fishtails in art.

This made me wonder: could the Cetus or any other mythical beast also be represented with twin tails, like Scylla and Triton are? Or does the archetype of the two-tailed siren only appear alongside human torsos?

As always, thank you for your lessons!

This is an interesting question! I haven't found any mythical beasts with two tails in ancient art. Only human forms.

However, I have found some two tailed beasts on the ceiling of St. Martin's church in Zillis, Switzerland. The ceiling frecoes date from the 1100s, and have several two tailed animals, such as a possible hippocampus:

File:St. Martin Zillis Detail2.JPG - Wikimedia Commons

There's also this two tailed beast from the same ceiling: https://artofthemiddleages.com/s/main/item/3288?media=3

I'm not sure how links will work in answers. If I find any two tailed monsters in ancient art, I'll be sure to post them.

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hey @jabutipirangaI found another two-tailed sea monster— this one with the head of two dogs, on an Apulian vase from the Naples Archeological museum. He's surrounded by people on the backs of hippocampus:

I couldn't find a museum info card, but I think they're pretty cool looking.