The siren (like the sphinx and the griffin) is one of the hybrid creatures of Eastern origin that appear in Archaic art. The Greeks adopted them and gave them their own interpretation, incorporating them in the mythology and art of the time. The siren is generally depicted as a female figure (see also Male Siren) with the head of a woman and the body of a bird, often with spread wings. In pottery and coroplastic art, sirens are usually associated with burial practices and funerary monuments. They represent a means for mortals to communicate with the Hereafter and the Underworld, through music and funeral dirges.