Scylla, scourge of the deep!!!
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
The Legendary Scylla
I first heard of Scylla in my senior year of high school, and if it wasn’t my first time hearing it, it was certainly my most recognizable memory of Scylla. Being a part of our theatre production of Mary Zimmerman’s: The Odyssey, I was one of the sailors who survived the attack of Scylla! More than a year later, I’m now sitting in front of my laptop writing about her after being reminded of her existence in my search for sea monsters. Scylla (sometimes spelled Skylla) is a six-headed monster who would devour sailors on passing ships, one sailor for each mouth. Scylla was said to be “a beautiful nymph” who was then turned into a monster by the sorceress Circe. Visual depictions of Scylla vary, some portray her to be a complete monster while others have made her upper half of the body to be nymph while the lower half are the six heads of canines and the tail of a sea creature. This vicious monster was said to be found between Greece and Sicily; there are two rocks called Scylla and Charybdis named after the two monsters. Charybdis is often associated with Scylla since their proximity to each other was perilous no matter which route sailors chose. Charybdis was a whirlpool strong enough to take down entire ships; in The Odyssey, Odysseus chooses to sail to Scylla so that only six lives instead of everyone’s would be lost. There do not seem to be any records indicating the size of Scylla, however based off of readings she would most likely have been a gargantuan beast in size to be able to swim in likely turbulent waters from Charybdis, and to be able to scale tall cliffs and come down to devour sailors. If she was a complete monster with beastly head on long necks, then the size of a building may just be a good estimate. However if Scylla was half-nymph and half canine-monster with a serpentine tail, then another estimate in size may be that she was the size of a house.
Though she’s best known for eating sailors, Scylla, with her three rows of teeth per head, could also eat dolphins, sharks, or any creature that was at least of those sizes. Due to Scylla’s purely mythical existence, there have not been any eye witness sightings of her. Scylla’s behavior is fairly simple based off of readings, dwell in the cave and cliff side where she resides, and eat prey whether they are sailors or marine life.
Scylla’s past, just like her visual interpretations, vary. Her parents are probably the most diverse. Homer had her born of Krataiis who could have been a rock or river. Others have her the daughter of a shark, Lamia. One story says that a sea god Glaucus fell in love with Scylla, while she was a nymph. Glaucus decided to seek the help of the sorceress Circe for a love potion. However Circe was jealous of Scylla and according to some stories fell in love with Glaucus as he was describing his love for Scylla. From here, Circe decided to create a special concoction with herbs and put them into the pool which Scylla bathed in. When Scylla went into the pool she transformed into a monster with a serpent tail and the lower half of the body suddenly having six raging dog-heads. Another account of the story contains no love interests, but simply jealousy on Circe’s part (Circe usually is responsible in some of the stories of Scylla’s origin). Scylla has appeared in The Odyssey and in the tale of Heracles, the latter killing her. In the story of Jason and the Argonauts, the goddess, Hera, has the sea goddess Thetis gets Jason and his crew safely past Scylla and Charybdis. A couple stories with Poseidon and Scylla exist, both dealing with Poseidon being in love with Scylla. One story has Poseidon’s wife, Amphitrite, turn Scylla into a monster due to jealousy. Scylla today is the name of a rock in the waters between Italy and Sicily, and one tale as to how she became a rock is due to the sea god Poseidon. Poseidon had fallen in love with Scylla, and after sleeping with her turned her into the rock. Scylla’s origin’s and history vary, but what does not vary is her reputation. Scylla was the ferocious monster who along with Charybdis made a deadly passage for all sailors.
QUICK FACTS
Name: Scylla (Latin Spelling), (alt: Skylla (transliteration), Greek name (Skulla), Translation: tear, Rend (skullo^)
Location: Mythological Greece/ Ancient Greece.
Traditionally the strait has been associated with the Strait of Messina between Italy and Sicily, but more recently this theory has been challenged, and the alternative location of Cape Scilla in northwest Greece has been suggested by Tim Severin.[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scylla
Food: Humans (tend to be sailors), dolphins, sharks or anything similar to the previous two in size.
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