Scylla
Odysseus and his crew sail through a narrow channel of water where Scylla lives on one side. The distance between her lair and the whirlpool of Charybdis fits within an arrow's range. Sailors attempting to avoid the whirlpools pass dangerously close to the monster. Homer describes this creature as land-based and more dragon-like than later versions suggest. Book Twelve of the Odyssey records Odysseus receiving advice from Circe about how to navigate past the beast. She tells him to hug Scylla's crag and sail at top speed. Losing six men is better than losing the entire ship, she warns. When the crew gets distracted by Charybdis, Scylla snatches six sailors off the deck. She devours them alive while they scream for help.
Conflicting ancient accounts describe varying divine lineages for the figure known as Scylla. Homer names Crataeis as the mother but mentions no father. Apollodorus suggests the father was either Trienus or Phorcus. Eustathius on Homer gives Triton or Poseidon as the father with Crataeis as parents. Other authors list Hecate as Scylla's mother in texts like the Hesiodic Megalai Ehoiai. Acusilaus claims the parents were Hecate and Phorkys. Apollonius of Rhodes states that Crataeis was another name for Hecate. Semos of Delos says Crataeis was the daughter of Hecate and Triton. Stesichorus alone names Lamia as the mother of Scylla. Hyginus describes her as the offspring of Typhon and Echidna. These divergent genealogies reflect how different cultures adapted the myth over centuries.
Book Three of Virgil's Aeneid associates the strait where Scylla dwells with the Strait of Messina between Calabria and Sicily. The coastal town of Scilla in Calabria takes its name from the mythological figure. It is said to be the home of the nymph who once lived there. John Tzetzes and Servius' commentary on the Aeneid describe a beautiful naiad claimed by Poseidon. The jealous Nereid Amphitrite turned her into a terrible monster by poisoning the water of the spring. This location became the geographical anchor for the legend across Mediterranean history. Sailors navigating the narrow channel still face the same perilous choice described in ancient texts.
A red-figure bell-crater in the Louvre dated 450, 425 BC shows Scylla as a maiden with a kētos tail and dog heads sprouting from her body. This form was prevalent in ancient depictions though very different from Homer's description. A unique ninth-century wall painting at the Carolingian abbey of Corvey in Westphalia depicts Odysseus fighting Scylla. Agostino Carracci's 1597 fresco cycle in the Farnese Gallery shows the two embracing despite the myth forbidding it. Filippo Lauri painted the maiden scrambling away from amorous arms while Salvator Rosa depicted the scene on canvas. Bartholomäus Spranger placed them divided by land and water elements in his 1587 work. J.M.W. Turner added cupids fluttering around fleeing Scylla in his 1841 painting now held by the Kimbell Art Museum. Peter Paul Rubens captured the moment when the horrified Scylla first begins to change under Glaucus' gaze.
Ovid's Metamorphoses tells how the fisherman-turned-sea god Glaucus falls in love with beautiful Scylla. She flees to a promontory where he cannot follow after seeing his piscine form. Circe prepares a vial of poison and pours it into the sea pool where Scylla bathed. The enchantress herself became enamored with Glaucus and grew hatefully jealous of her rival. John Keats rewrote this narrative in Book Three of Endymion published in 1818. In Keats version Circe does not transform Scylla but merely murders the nymph. Glaucus takes her corpse to a crystal palace at the bottom of the ocean. After a thousand years she is resurrected by Endymion and reunited with Glaucus. Jean-Marie Leclair adapted the story into a five-act tragic opera titled Scylla et Glaucus in 1746.
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Common questions
Who transformed Scylla into a sea monster in Greek mythology?
Circe transformed the nymph Scylla into a sea monster by pouring poison into the spring where she bathed. Homer describes this creature as land-based and more dragon-like than later versions suggest.
What is the distance between Scylla's lair and Charybdis according to Homer?
The distance between her lair and the whirlpool of Charybdis fits within an arrow's range. Sailors attempting to avoid the whirlpools pass dangerously close to the monster.
When was the red-figure bell-crater showing Scylla dated at the Louvre?
A red-figure bell-crater in the Louvre dated 450, 425 BC shows Scylla as a maiden with a kētos tail and dog heads sprouting from her body. This form was prevalent in ancient depictions though very different from Homer's description.
Where does Book Three of Virgil's Aeneid place the strait where Scylla dwells?
Book Three of Virgil's Aeneid associates the strait where Scylla dwells with the Strait of Messina between Calabria and Sicily. The coastal town of Scilla in Calabria takes its name from the mythological figure.
Who are the parents of Scylla according to conflicting ancient accounts?
Homer names Crataeis as the mother but mentions no father while Apollodorus suggests the father was either Trienus or Phorcus. Other authors list Hecate as Scylla's mother in texts like the Hesiodic Megalai Ehoiai and Hyginus describes her as the offspring of Typhon and Echidna.
All sources
23 references cited across the entry
- 1bookAeneidVirgil — Oxford University Press — 2007
- 2inlineSuda, sigma, 709
- 3bookThe whole ball of wax and other colloquial phrases : what they mean and how they startedLaurence Urdang — Perigee Books — 1988
- 4bookA Hog on Ice and Other Curious ExpressionsLiitt D. Charles Earle Funk — Harper & Row — 1948
- 13inlineHyginus, Fabulae Preface & 151
- 14inlineTzetzes on Lycophron, 45.
- 15inlineHyginus, Fabulae 199
- 17inlineOvid, Metamorphoses xiv.51–2
- 18citationEndymion Book III
- 23webGlaucus and Scylla
- 24inlineView on Flickr