Scylla and Charybdis

Q: What is the story of Scylla and Charybdis?

Scylla and Charybdis were immortal and inescapable monsters in Greek mythology . They beset the narrow waters traversed by Greek heroes Jason and Odysseus . In some accounts Scylla was a nymph who was transformed into a monster by either Circe or Amphitrite . She had six heads on long necks and sharp teeth. Charybdis manifested as a gigantic whirlpool , condemned by Zeus to eternally swallow and spew forth sea water.

Q: Was Charybdis male or female?

In Greek mythology Charybdis was a monstrous whirlpool generally regarded as female. In some accounts she was originally the daughter of Poseidon (or the more ancient sea god, Pontus) and Gaea , the personification of Earth . Charybdis was confined to the bottom of the sea by Zeus and condemned to eternally swallow and spew forth sea water.

Q: What does the idiom “between Scylla and Charybdis” mean?

Scylla and Charybdis were situated in close proximity on either side of a strait, meaning that no ship could pass without encountering one or the other or both. To avoid Scylla a ship would have to risk the whirlpool , and to avoid Charybdis it would have to venture near Scylla. The impossible choice originated the phrase “between Scylla and Charybdis,” which means to be caught between two equally unpleasant alternatives.

Greek mythology

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What is the story of Scylla and Charybdis?

Was Charybdis male or female?

What does the idiom “between Scylla and Charybdis” mean?

Scylla and Charybdis, in Greek mythology, two immortal and inescapable monsters who beset the narrow waters traversed by the Greek heroes Jason and Odysseus. They were later localized in the Strait of Messina. Both Scylla and Charybdis gave poetic expression to the dangers confronting Greek mariners when they first ventured into the uncharted waters of the western Mediterranean. Scylla was often rationalized in antiquity as a rock or reef. (Read: Gods and Monsters in the Odyssey.)

Scylla: Description and origin

Scylla (or Skylla) was a supernatural female creature, with six heads on long snaky necks and 12 feet. Each head had a triple row of sharklike teeth. Her loins were girdled by the heads of baying dogs, and her voice, too, was compared to the yelping of dogs. From her lair in a cave she devoured whatever ventured within reach. Her father was variously given as a sea deity, either Phorcys or Triton, or the monster Typhon; Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft, or Craeteis (sometimes identified with Ceto, an ancient sea goddess) were regarded as her mother.

In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Books XIII–XIV, she was said to have been originally a beautiful nymph loved by the sea god Glaucus. After being rejected by Glaucus, the jealous sorceress Circe transformed Scylla into her fearful shape through witchcraft. In another account she was coveted by Poseidon, whose consort, Amphitrite, poisoned the spring in which Scylla bathed, causing her metamorphosis. She was sometimes identified with the Scylla who betrayed her father, King Nisus of Megara, out of love for Minos, king of Crete.

James Barry (1741-1806) painting title: The Education of Achilles, oil on canvas by James Barry, c. 1772; in the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut. 102.9 x 128.9 cm Alternate title: Chiron and Achilles

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Charybdis: Description and origin

Charybdis, who lurked under a fig tree a bowshot away on the opposite shore from Scylla’s cave, drank down and belched forth the waters thrice a day and was fatal to shipping. Her character was most likely the personification of a whirlpool. She was commonly held to be the daughter of Poseidon (or the more ancient sea god Pontus) and Gaea, the personification of Earth. In some traditions she incurred the wrath of Zeus by attempting to steal from Heracles (Zeus’s son) the cattle that he had seized as part of his 10th labor from the giant Geryon. She also helped Poseidon expand his dominion by causing flooding. For these transgressions Zeus confined her to the bottom of the sea, where she would eternally swallow and spew forth water, thereby causing a whirlpool.

The sea of monsters: Jason and Odysseus

Since the two monsters were situated in such close proximity, no ship could pass without encountering one or the other or both. To avoid Scylla a ship would have to risk the whirlpool, and to avoid Charybdis it would have to venture near Scylla. This impossible choice originated the phrase “between Scylla and Charybdis,” which means to be caught between two equally unpleasant alternatives. Greek legend relates that two heroes survived their encounters with the monsters. Jason and his Argonauts sailed past Scylla and Charybdis on their voyage home from Colchis with the Golden Fleece, the retrieval of which would fulfill the condition for Jason to become the king of Iolcos. The goddess Hera, who had aided Jason on his quest, asked the Nereid Thetis to ensure safe passage for his ship, the Argo, which emerged unscathed from the strait.

Odysseus’s companions were not as lucky. They sailed past Scylla and Charybdis while attempting to get home to Ithaca after the Trojan War. Advised by Circe, who had identified Charybdis as the greater of the two dangers, Odysseus steered his ship closer to Scylla. He lost six of his crew to her but successfully navigated the strait and reached the island of Thrinacia, on which lived the Cattle of the Sun. Disaster struck when his companions plundered the cattle despite warnings, enraging the sun god, Helios. Zeus, on Helios’s request, trapped Odysseus and his crew in a deadly storm after they left Thrinacia. The storm blew the ship back toward the strait, where Charybdis took it apart. Odysseus barely escaped her clutches by clinging to the fig tree until parts of the ship that she had swallowed floated to the surface again, allowing him to improvise a raft. (Read: Geography of Homer’s Odyssey.)