Editing Muses (section)

===Against the Sirens===
In the sanctuary of [[Hera]] in [[Coroneia]] was a statue created by Pythodorus of Thebes, depicting Hera holding the sirens. According to the myth, Hera persuaded the sirens to challenge the Muses to a singing contest. After the Muses won, they are said to have plucked the sirens' feathers and used them to make crowns for themselves.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D9%3Achapter%3D34%3Asection%3D3 Pausanias, Description of Greece, 9.34.3]</ref><ref name="Lempriere">Lemprière 768.</ref> According to [[Stephanus of Byzantium]], the sirens, overwhelmed by their loss, cast off their feathers from their shoulders, turned white and then threw themselves into the sea. As a result, the nearby city was named [[Aptera, Greece|Aptera]] ("featherless") and the nearby islands were called the ''Leukai'' ("the white ones").<ref>Caroline M. Galt, "A marble fragment at Mount Holyoke College from the Cretan city of Aptera", ''Art and Archaeology'' '''6''' (1920:150).</ref> [[John Tzetzes]] recounts that after defeating the sirens, the Muses crowned themselves with the sirens' wings, except for [[Terpsichore]] who was their mother, adding that the city of Aptera named after this event.<ref>[https://topostext.org/work/860#653 Tzetzes, Ad Lycophronem, 653]</ref> Furthermore, in one of his letters, [[Julian the Emperor]] mentions the Muses' victory over the sirens.<ref>[https://topostext.org/work/803#74 Julian the Emperor, Letters, 74]</ref>