By Tim Lambert
In the Ancient Middle East some people believed in gods that were half man and half fish. The earliest ‘mermaid’ was the Assyrian goddess Atargatis. (The Assyrians lived in northern Iraq c. 1,000 BC). She accidentally killed a man and, overcome with remorse she jumped into a sea and took the form of a fish. However, the sea refused to cover her beauty and her upper part became a beautiful woman while her lower part remained a fish.
The Ancient Greeks also believed in mermaids. In a Greek myth, Thessalonike, the sister of Alexander the Great, was transformed into a mermaid when she died. The Romans also believed in mermaids. Mermaids often appeared in Roman art.
After the fall of Rome in the 5th century mermaids continued to exist in European folklore. They were seen as being like fairies, having magic powers and the ability to prophesy the future. The word mermaid was first recorded in the 14th century. It comes from the Old English word mere, meaning lake or sea and maid. They were maids of the sea. People also believed in mermen.
Other cultures also believed in mermaids. In India they were called Jalpari. Some Ancient Chinese books also mention mermaids. Other Asian countries like Japan, Korea and Thailand also had stories about mermaids. Many Native Americans also believed in part-human, part fish beings.
European explorers sometimes saw ‘mermaids’. (They probably saw marine mammals). On 9 January 1493, Christopher Columbus reported seeing mermaids. He said they were ‘not half as beautiful as they are painted’. He probably saw manatees.
In 1608 the crew of the explorer Henry Hudson saw a mermaid. Hudson wrote: ‘This morning one of our company looking overboard saw a Mermaid . . . from navel upward, her back and breasts were like a woman’s (as they say that saw her) her body as big as one of us; her skin very white; and long hair hanging down behind, of colour black; in her going down they saw her tail, which was like the tail of a porpoise and speckled like a mackerel’.
However, with the rise of science in the 18th and 19th centuries Europeans stopped believing in mermaids. However, they continued to appear fairy tales. Hans Christian Andersen wrote his famous story, The Little Mermaid in 1837. The famous Little Mermaid Statue in Copenhagen was unveiled in 1913. The Disney cartoon, The Little Mermaid was made in 1989.
Many films have been made about mermaids. The first feature film about a mermaid was called Neptune’s Daughter. It was made in 1914. Another famous movie about a mermaid, called Splash was made in 1984.
There is a pub in Portsmouth called The Mermaid. It was built in 1900 and it was named after a field called Mermaid Field. (The name is a corruption of mere, meaning pond and mead, meaning meadow. It wasn’t named after the mythical being!).
29 March is International Mermaid Day.
