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The mermaid myth is alive and well today. In
fact, when many people mistook Animal Planet’s
2012 docufiction Mermaids: The Body Found
for a factual documentary, the National Ocean
Service (a branch of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration) was forced to
declare that “no evidence of aquatic humanoids
has ever been found”. Yet the myth has
infiltrated Asian, European and American legend
and lore, and mermaids are still very present in
the human psyche.
1
1. Syrena and fellow
mermaid Yao strike a
pose
2. Malaysian mermaid
Joyce Ng shows off her
impressive fishtail
A BRIEF HISTORY OF MERMAIDS
The first mermaid tales originated from Assyria
(now Iraq), dating back to 1000 BC. It was told
that the goddess Atargatis unintentionally
killed her mortal lover. Ashamed, she jumped
into a lake and was turned into a mermaid,
fishtail and all.
The tale One Thousand and One Nights, a
collection of West and South Asian stories and
folk tales, also contains several mermaid stories,
such as Djullanar the Sea-girl, who had two
human legs but was able to breathe underwater.
Meanwhile, in Greek mythology, Thessaloniki,
the sister of Alexander the Great, turned into a
mermaid after her death, and was said to live as
such in the Aegean Sea.
In 1493, Christopher Columbus reported
sightings of three swimming mermaids (although
it’s likely he may have mistaken them for passing
dugongs). Also, according to his logbook, the
English pirate Blackbeard told his men to steer
away from the mermaids, as they might steal the
pirates’ gold…