SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS

in Greek mythology, two immortal and irresistible monsters who beset the narrow waters traversed by the hero Odysseus in his wanderings (later localized in the Strait of Messina). Scylla was a supernatural creature, with 12 feet and 6 heads on long, snaky necks, each head having a triple row of sharklike teeth, while her loins were girt with the heads of baying dogs. From her lair in a cave she devoured whatever ventured within reach, including six of Odysseus' companions. She was sometimes said to have been originally human in appearance but transformed out of jealousy through the witchcraft of Circe or Amphitrite into her fearful shape. She was sometimes confused with the Scylla who betrayed her father, King Nisus of Megara, out of love for Minos, king of Crete. Charybdis, who lurked under a fig tree a bowshot away on the opposite shore, 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. The shipwrecked Odysseus barely escaped her clutches by clinging to a tree until the improvised raft that she swallowed floated to the surface again after many hours. Scylla was often rationalized in antiquity as a rock or reef. Both gave poetic expression to the dangers confronting Greek mariners when they first ventured into the uncharted waters of the western Mediterranean.