Explanation of The Title
The title refers to the myth of the Sirens, creatures with the bodies of birds and the heads of beautiful women who perched on rocks at sea and lured men to their deaths with their hypnotic singing. The sirens appear in Homer's Odyssey, which Flavia recites to an interested audience. The allusion comes up since each of the three widows invited to the villa for the false matchmaking party is both young and very beautiful, drawing the attention of all the men.
There is also a humorous scene parodying the passage from the Odyssey, when the women and girls of the villa decide to skinny dip in the ocean and sunbathe naked on a rock out at sea. In excitement, the boys try to slip out in a boat to spy on them, but end up running aground on some nearby rocks.
Read more about this topic: The Sirens Of Surrentum
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