Scylla and Charybdis appear mainly in book twelve of Homers Odyssey, in which Odysseus and his crew must sail through the rocks near where the monsters live. Little information is known about their origins, though some stories are provided in myth. Scylla and Charybdis were located on opposite sides of the Strait of Messina between Sicily and Calabria, a region in southern Italy. The idiom between Scylla and Charybdis means to have to choose between the lesser of two evils. When depicted in Greek art, Scylla is shown with tentacles attached to her waist either behind or at the sides and with three dog heads protruding out as well. Charybdis is not typically featured in ancient Greek art.Background in Greek MythologyScylla and Glaucus, by Antonio Tempesta, 1606. Source: Metropolitan Museum of ArtAccording to Byzantine poet John Tzetzes, who preserved much Greek mythology and literature, Scylla was originally a beautiful naiad. She was desired by Poseidon, so the god claimed her as his own. In an act of jealousy, the nereid Amphitrite, who was Poseidons consort, turned Scylla into a monster with three serpentine tails and dog heads sprouting from each, by poisoning the water in which she bathed (Tzetzes, ad Lycrophonem, 45 and 46).Hyginus recounts a similar story of Scyllas origin in Greek mythology. In that story, Scylla was loved by the sea-god Glaucus, however, Glaucus was also loved by the sorceress Circe. In a similar act of jealousy to Amphitrite, Circe poured a potion into the seawater in which Scylla was bathing, thus transforming her into a sea monster (Hyginus, Fabulae, 199).Odysseus in front of Scylla and Charybdis, by Henri Fuseli, 1794-6. Source: Wikimedia CommonsThere are fewer accounts of Charybdiss origin in Greek mythology than there are of Scylla, and very little is known about her. Book twelve of the Odyssey only tells us that Charybdis is a large whirlpool, though nothing of the monsters origin is given (Homer, Odyssey, 12.105). It is unclear if Charybdis was believed to be an actual sea monster like Scylla, or if she was simply a representation of a dangerous whirlpool in the area she was said to have lived, which was in the Strait of Messina. Regarding location, the town of Scilla, Calabria, in southern Italy, was named after Scylla.Though Scylla and Charybdis are most prominently featured in book twelve of Homers Odyssey, they do also make an appearance in Virgils Aeneid. The hero, Aeneas, is advised by the prophet Helenus to take a longer detour around Sicily to avoid the pair of monsters (Virgil, Aeneid, 3.421-422). In another myth, Scylla is killed by Heracles because she stole some oxen for Geryon, and was then restored to life by Phorcys (Smith, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 1).ParentageTerracotta plaque of Scylla, 4th century BCE. Source: Metropolitan Museum of ArtScyllas precise parentage differs from author to author within Greek mythology. Homer, Ovid, and Apollodorus all name Crataeis as Scyllas mother (Homer, Odyssey, 12.124, Ovid, Metamorphoses, 13.741, Apollodorus, Epitome, 7.20). According to Apollodorus, Scylla has a father by the name of either Trienus, which could possibly be a textual corruption of Triton, or Phorkys (Ogden, Drakon: Dragon Myth and Serpent Cult in the Greek and Roman Worlds, 135). One commenter on Plato gives the name of Tyrrhenos as Scyllas father (Fowler, Early Greek Mythography, 32). Other authors give different accounts of her parentage.In the fragments of the Megalai Ehoiai, a lost epic of Greek mythology, Hesiod names Hecate and Phorkys as the mother and father of Scylla (Fowler, 32). Acusilaus, a mythographer who lived in the latter half of the 6th century BCE, claims it was Hecate and Phorkys as well (Fowler, 32). In the Argonautica, Apollonius of Rhodes says that Crataeis was another name for Hecate, and that she and Phorkys were the parents of Scylla (Apollonius, The Argonautica, 4.826-828).The earliest Greek authors and poets of Greek mythology do not mention anything of Charybdiss parentage or her origins, though later authors do.Circes Warning to Odysseus About Scylla and CharybdisTerracotta flask of Scylla, 3rd century BCE. Source: Metropolitan Museum of ArtIn book twelve of the Odyssey, one of the main epics of Greek mythology, Scylla is described by Circe as having twelve feet, all of which wave in the air, and six necks upon each neck there is a horrible head, with teeth in it, set in three rows close together (Homer, 12.89-90). She lives halfway up a cliffside in a misty cavern turned towards Erebos and the dark (Homer, 12.80-81). Her body from the waist down sits inside the cavern, and her heads poke out, ready and waiting to eat anything which passes too close by (Homer, 12.94-95). Scylla is so evil that not even a god would be glad to encounter that sight (Homer, 12.89).Odysseus is advised by Circe to sail closer to Scylla in order to avoid Charybdis, for Charybdis would likely consume all of Odysseuss crew and sink his entire ship; Circe tells Odysseus it is better to lose a few men rather than all of them (Homer, Odyssey, 12.109-110).Circe Offering the Cup to Odysseus, by John William Waterhouse, 1891. Source: Wikimedia CommonsOdysseus also asks Circe if there is any way of fighting Scylla, to which Circe replies that it is not advised to attempt it, for it is likely that he would lose his many men (Homer, 12.121-123). Additionally, Circe advises Odysseus to call upon Crataeis, Scyllas mother, and ask her to ensure that Scylla does not make more than one attack against his crew (Homer, 12.124).While discussing Scylla, Circe also gives a warning about Charybdis, who lives near the cliffside opposite Scylla. She is more dangerous than Scylla, for it is likely that Odysseus would lose his entire crew to her whirlpool, which she creates three times a day by sucking the sea water down and spitting it back out again. Not even Poseidon, god of the sea, would be able to help Odysseus should he encounter Charybdis, and so Odysseus chooses to pass his ship by Scylla (Homer, 12.105-110).Odysseuss Encounter With ScyllaBronze figurine of Scylla, late 4th century BCE. Source: Hellenic National Archaeological MuseumSo as not to terrify his crew, Odysseus does not inform them that they are going to drive their ship by Scylla. He only tells the oarsmen to drive their oars into the seawater as hard and as fast as they can once they reach the cavern where Scylla resides (Homer, 12.220-224). Despite Circes warning to Odysseus to not fight Scylla, since he would have no chance at victory, he dons his glorious armor, arms himself with two spears, and takes up a position at the foredeck of the ships prow, scanning the waters for Scylla (Homer, 12.225.230).As the crew makes their way through the rocks, on the other side of the passage, where Charybdis made her whirlpool. It is described as follows:When she vomited it up the whole sea would boil up in turbulence when in turn she sucked down the seas salt water, the turbulence showed at the seas bottom, black with sand; and green fear seized upon my companions (Homer, 12.237-243).As Odysseus and his crew are watching Charybdis, Scylla snatches six men off the ship (Homer, 12.245-246). As he and his other companions turn to look, they see their shipmates lifted high up, hands and feet dangling in the air, calling out Odysseuss name (Homer, 12.247-250). The men gasped and struggled as they were hoisted up on the cliffside, like fish being caught by a fisherman and gasping for air as he brings them on land (Homer, 12.251-255). Odysseus watches as Scylla consumes six of his men. Odysseus laments: It is the most pitiful scene that these eyes have looked on (Homer, 12.256-258).Odysseuss Encounter With CharybdisTerracotta relief plaque of Scylla, c. 450 BCE. Source: The British MuseumAfter their encounter with Scylla, Odysseus and his crew land on the island of Thrinakia (later identified as either Malta or Sicily), which is home to the cattle of the sun god Helios (Homer, 12.263). Odysseus knows that if they touch the beloved cattle of Helios, the gods will punish them, so he makes them swear an oath to him to not eat the sun gods cattle (Homer, 12.298-302); Helios sees all things and listens to all things (Homer, 12.322-323).Yet one day while Odysseus was off by himself, his second in command, Eurylochos, convinced the other men to eat the cattle (Homer, 12.352-353). Helios discovers Odysseuss crew has eaten the cattle and asks Zeus to punish them (Homer, 12.377-379), to which Zeus agrees (Homer, 12.387-388).Seven days later when Odysseus and his crew are out on the water again, Zeus summons a blue-black cloud over the ship and causes it to crash violently (Homer, 12.405). Throughout the night, Odysseus is carried along the water by the South Wind, and in the morning reaches the rock of Scylla and Charybdis once again (Homer, 12.430).As Charybdis is sucking down the broken ship in her whirlpool, Odysseus manages to grab the long branch of a fig tree on the cliffside above and cling to it. He hangs on the branch for many hours and watches until the remains of the ship are vomited back out from Charybdis. Eventually, he sees a suitable plank of wood, and he drops off the branch and uses the plank to paddle his way out (Homer, 12.431-444), and is then carried along the sea for nine days until reaching the island of Ogygia (Homer, 12.447-448).BibliographyApollodorus. (n.d.). Epitome (J. F. Frazer, Trans.) https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg002.perseus-eng1:e.7.20Fowler, R. F. (2000). Early Greek Mythography [Google Books]. 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