The Egyptian Siren of the Nile

For so many years, tales have passed down from one generation to another until it became nearly impossible to know where most of them actually stemmed from. Yet, mythology has been an integral part of cultures, shaping many of their superstitions and some eccentric beliefs. More interestingly, it drove people to believe in the existence of some mythical creatures even when they were never anywhere to be seen.

The Egyptian mythology isn’t that different from other mythological tales around the world; it has tales of supernatural creatures doing some spooky and uncalled-for deeds. One of those popular creatures is known as El Naddaha. This creature pretty much bears a great resemblance to the mermaid or banshee in other cultures.

El Naddaha is known to be an extraordinarily beautiful woman that lives by the Nile River. Despite her depiction in some tales as a fine-looking female, her mission was to lure men into the waters by her soft voice. Legends have it that her voice was too loud to ever pay no attention to, escorting men to veer closer in the hopes of taking a glimpse of the woman with that hypnotizing voice; however, they eventually drown. Other tales may also claim that men who don’t drown in the river are still cursed or doomed should they have heard her voice.

This belief seems to still have its way through the rural parts of Egypt, especially those that are situated on the shores of the Nile or near the sea. The myth is quite popular around Egypt and yet it’s mysterious what the incident that caused its rise was, but it has been going around since the 50s. This mythical creature is quite similar to the mermaid in other cultures. However, people in Egypt never seemed to buy the notion of the mermaid creature, so instead, they claim El Naddaha to be a Jinn, especially that her description involves the woman to have a bright appearance with a transparent lower body part.