S is for Scylla (and Charybdis)

Scylla and Charybdis are two of my favourite mythical monsters. I hadn't heard of them since I heard the Trivium song 'Torn between Scylla and Charybdis). I actually named my car after Scylla :)
By The painting is an Italian fresco [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Scylla was originally a nymph, the daughter of Phorcys. The sea god Glaucus fell in love with her, but she fled from him onto land, where he could not follow. He was filled with despair and asked the sorceress Circe  for a love potion for Scylla. However, Circe fell in love with Glaucus, but he wasn't interested. Circe blamed Scylla for this, and so poured poison into the pool where she bathed, causing her to transform into a monster with twelve feet and six heads, each of which had three rows of teeth. Below her waist her body was made up of various monsters, including dogs which barked incessantly.

Charybdis was a sea nymph, daughter of Poseidon and Gaia. She flooded land to enlarge her father's underwater kingdom, until Zeus turned her into a whirlpool as punishment, which swallowed water and spat it back out three times a day.

Both monsters were located along the same strait (believed to be the Strait of Messina between Sicily and Italy) and were so close to each other that sailors would have to choose one or the other. Odysseus chose to sail closer to Scylla, since it was better to lose a few crew members to the monster than to lose the whole ship to the whirlpool.

Comments

  1. Ida Thought22 April 2013 at 10:11

    Hi Laura, I wish I had have found you earlier, I enjoy reading about mythology, better late than never #atozchallenge

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  2. Alex J. Cavanaugh22 April 2013 at 11:24

    Not sure which nymph got the worst end of the deal.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dani22 April 2013 at 11:46

    Man, it didn't pay to be beautiful then. I'm glad to be average looking.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Timothy S. Brannan22 April 2013 at 13:22

    Great post and perfect for S.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Unknown22 April 2013 at 14:00

    I love how in Greek Myth they relate it to their everyday lives and places.

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  6. S. L. Hennessy22 April 2013 at 14:02

    I always felt bad for Scylla.

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  7. Amy Jarecki22 April 2013 at 14:56

    Thank you for the mythology lesson. Scylla is new to me :-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Mina Burrows22 April 2013 at 17:03

    I never heard the Scylla story. I'm loving your theme. So cool.

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  9. SK Anthony22 April 2013 at 17:43

    Smart choice... whirlpool vs monster. I feel bad for Nymphs now :(

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  10. Mark Means22 April 2013 at 19:42

    I remember a line in the old Police song, "Synchronicity II" mentioning these two :)

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  11. Outcast22 April 2013 at 20:41

    This is interesting, never knew about this story before Laura, so cool that your car shares the name too.

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  12. Kelley Lynn22 April 2013 at 21:14

    Ooo, this is super interesting. Thanks so much for sharing.

    And every car deserves a name. :) Good choice!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Lynn(e) Schmidt22 April 2013 at 22:21

    I love mythical creatures sooo much. I don't think I'd ever heard either of these stories before, but I like them a lot.

    Good job with the A to Z Challenge!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Rob Z Tobor22 April 2013 at 23:33

    So you have a car named after a monster with six heads and twelve feet and which barks incessantly . . . . now that's a cool car.....

    ReplyDelete
  15. David T List23 April 2013 at 00:11

    I just found your blog today... Now I have to go back and read them all because I love mythology of all sorts! I remember the scene in the Odyssey (from the 80s) when Scylla was snatching the crew off the ship one by one.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Jeff Hargett23 April 2013 at 00:14

    Always fascinating learning these details.

    ReplyDelete

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