Odysseus in front of Scylla and Charybis, painting by Henry Fuseli, 1794-1796. Pretty sure that’s Scylla top right and Charybdis top left

(8) SCYLLA & CHARYBDIS

Yes – it’s another matched pair of villains, but from classical mythology and a pair that was canonically matched in their mythology.

Scylla and Charybdis were two sea monsters that Odysseus had to sail between in Homer’s Odyssey.

“Greek mythology sited them on opposite sides of the Strait of Messina between Sicily and Calabria, on the Italian mainland…They were regarded as maritime hazards located close enough to each other that they posed an inescapable threat to passing sailors; avoiding Charybdis meant passing too close to Scylla and vice versa.”

However, they weren’t equal hazards. Of the two, Charybdis was far more dangerous. Whereas Scylla would snatch up six sailors – one for each of her six ravenous heads – Charybdis would suck the whole ship down to the depths. Accordingly, you’d err on the side of Scylla.

And yes – you read that right when I said her. Scylla and Charybdis were female sea monsters. In the usual style of classical mythology, they were nymphs or demi-goddesses transformed into monsters by the gods. In some later versions, Scylla was adapted as a beautiful nymph transformed into her monstrous form. The reasons varied – as did the form, although it consistently involved six man-eating heads, which she would feed by snatching sailors from passing ships. In one version, the heads were those of dogs. Charybdis was somewhat more ambiguous in her origin and form, but the latter consistently involved her sucking or swallowing down water like a whirlpool or maelstrom.

Indeed, Charybdis was rationalized as an explanation for a coastal whirlpool, while Scylla was rationalized as a rock shoal, presumably with waves that could sweep sailors from a ship.

Between Scylla and Charybdis became a proverbial expression similar in meaning to between the devil and the deep blue sea, or similar expressions for a dilemma or choosing between evils. Indeed, I used to believe that the latter originated from the former, with Scylla as the man-eating devil and Charybdis swallowing you down into the deep blue sea. Sadly, the origin of the latter phrase is not clear but probably does not originate from the Odyssey.

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