Are Mermaids Real?

Question

I was wondering because someone sent me an email saying that a dead mermaid was found on a beach in haiti.

Answer 1

There have been references to them in literature since essentially the
Greeks and Homer's Odyssey (arguably the Sirens).

However, they are usually reputed to have been seen by sailors who haven't
seen women in years.

The only thing that apparently comes close is the Manatee - which I guess
some American sailors in the past have thought looks like a woman.

Frankly, I just don't see it.

Of course, I'm not a sailor, and I don't like rum.

Over the last couple of millenia, literature ascribes much magic to
mermaids which is probably a clue that they don't have much basis
in reality to keep the record straight.

For instance, how many real critters do you know can change how
they breathe for the rest of their lives based on their relationship with
men? Romantic? Sure. Evolutionarily plausible? No.

Answer 2

Only the statue of The Little Mermaid, a monument to Hans Christian Andersen, in Copenhagen harbour.


A mermaid (from the Middle English mere in the obsolete sense 'sea' + maid(en)) is a legendary aquatic creature with the head and torso of human female and the tail of a fish. The male version of a mermaid is called a merman; the gender-neutral collective noun is merfolk. Various cultures throughout the world have similar figures. They were known to sing sailors to their deaths, like the Siren, or squeeze the life out of drowning men, while trying to rescue them.

The Sirens of Greek mythology are sometimes portrayed in later folklore ; in fact in some languages the name sirena is used interchangeably for both creatures. Other related types of mythical or legendary creature are water fairies (e.g. various water nymphs) and selkies.

Answer 3

A mermaid (from the Middle English mere in the obsolete sense 'sea' + maid(en)) is a legendary aquatic creature with the head and torso of human female and the tail of a fish. The male version of a mermaid is called a merman; the gender-neutral collective noun is merfolk. Various cultures throughout the world have similar figures. They were known to sing sailors to their deaths, like the Siren, or squeeze the life out of drowning men, while trying to rescue them.

The Sirens of Greek mythology are sometimes portrayed in later folklore ; in fact in some languages the name sirena is used interchangeably for both creatures. Other related types of mythical or legendary creature are water fairies (e.g. various water nymphs) and selkies.

Tales of mermaids are nearly universal. The first known mermaid stories appeared in Assyria, ca. 1000 BCE. Atargatis, the mother of Assyrian queen Semiramis, was a goddess who loved a mortal shepherd and in the process killed him. Ashamed, she jumped into a lake to take the form of a fish, but the waters would not conceal her divine nature. Thereafter, she took the form of a mermaid — human above the waist, fish below — though the earliest representations of Atargatis showed her as being a fish with a human head and legs, similar to the Babylonian Ea. The Greeks recognized Atargatis under the name Derketo, where she was often conflated with Aphrodite.

Lucian of Samosata in Syria (2nd century CE) in De Dea Syria ("Concerning the Syrian Goddess") wrote of the Syrian temples he had visited:

"Among them - Now that is the traditional story among them concerning the temple. But other men swear that Semiramis of Babylonia, whose deeds are many in Asia, also founded this site, and not for Hera Atargatis but for her own Mother, whose name was Derketo"
"I saw the likeness of Derketo in Phoenicia, a strange marvel. It is woman for half its length, but the other half, from thighs to feet, stretched out in a fish's tail. But the image in the Holy City is entirely a woman, and the grounds for their account are not very clear. They consider fishes to be sacred, and they never eat them; and though they eat all other fowls, they do not eat the dove, for she is holy so they believe. And these things are done, they believe, because of Derketo and Semiramis, the first because Derketo has the shape of a fish, and the other because ultimately Semiramis turned into a dove. Well, I may grant that the temple was a work of Semiramis perhaps; but that it belongs to Derketo I do not believe in any way. For among the Egyptians, some people do not eat fish, and that is not done to honor Derketo." [1]

Answer 4

yeah it might be!!11as iam not present on the day in haiti when the mermaid .....the beautiful creature of nature.......was found..........
by the way send a retort to ur fd that u had missed the scene.

Answer 5

No. They are not real. What they found in Haiti was not a mermaid, it was a dead manatee.

Answer 6

yes, they are if you beleive in them, funny how people find it hard to beleive in mermaids, dwarves,vampires and things but millions beleive that a man walked on water and rose from the dead. just a thought. no offence meant

Answer 7

Sounds like a hollywood fantasy or a tabloid magazine artical.I have heard don't believe everything that we read and hear.

Answer 8

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
very interesting!!!!!!!!!!
I always thought they were people that had fins in fariy tale books
but u also wonder:
Are aliens real 2???
We just don`t know!

Answer 9

I don't believe it..
Maybe it's only a joke..
Don't you paste it to your mind..
it's only a story-tale..

Answer 10

No they are not real.It was probably a joke email.