Scylla and Charybdis

Scylla and Charybdis form one of the best-known situations in the Odyssey: the hero must pass between two threats with no good choice. Scylla destroys men from the ship; Charybdis sucks down the sea like a whirlpool.

Myth as a formula of choice

The phrase "between Scylla and Charybdis" became a lasting formula for a dangerous choice. In antiquity it was not an abstract proverb, but part of the geography of Odysseus' return.

Additional sources and visual checks

Scylla and Charybdis are presented as mythological geography of a dangerous strait, not merely as two monsters. The checks are the Odyssey, later poetry and ancient imagined seascapes.

For source checks: - Perseus Digital Library - LIMC online - Beazley Archive

Related topics

• Odyssey
• Sirens
• Greco-Roman Mythology

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