Charybdis
Charybdis is the engulfing sea danger opposite ScyllaScyllaScylla is the cliff-dwelling monster with six long-necked heads in Odyssey Book 12. She seizes six members of Odysseus’s crew as they pass, while Charybdis threatens destruction on the other side of the passage.Open the full entry in The OdysseyThe OdysseyThe Odyssey is an ancient Greek epic traditionally attributed to Homer (epic poet). Across 24 books it follows Odysseus’s return to Ithaca after the Trojan War and reunion with Penelope (Greek mythology) and Telemachus, interweaving sea adventures, recognition, household order and human choices.Open the full entry. OdysseusOdysseusOdysseus is the legendary hero of Ithaca, protagonist of The Odyssey and a Greek leader in The Iliad. His long return from the Trojan War to Penelope (Greek mythology) and Telemachus centers on cunning, disguise, endurance and recognition.Open the full entry first passes by ship and later returns alone after the shipwreck, escaping by clinging to a fig tree until floating wreckage reappears.
Contents5 sections
Key facts
The Lower Cliff and the Fig Tree
CirceCirceCirce is a goddess associated with drugs and transformation in Greek mythology. In The Odyssey she turns members of Odysseus’s crew into pigs, later restores them and gives essential guidance for their onward journey.Open the full entry describes two nearby cliffs, with Scylla in the higher one and Charybdis beneath a fig tree on the lower. Three times daily she draws the water down and three times expels it. Circe warns that even Poseidon (Greek god)Poseidon (Greek god)Poseidon (Greek god) is the god of the sea, earthquakes and horses in ancient Greek religion and mythology. In The Odyssey, anger at Odysseus for blinding his son Polyphemus makes him a major obstacle to the hero’s return.Open the full entry could not rescue a traveler caught in the suction.[1]
The First Passage
As the ship passes, the crew’s attention is drawn to the spectacle of Charybdis’s water. While they watch in fear, Scylla takes six men from the opposite side. Avoiding one danger therefore does not secure everyone against the other.[1]
Survival After the Shipwreck
After Zeus (Greek god)Zeus (Greek god)Zeus (Greek god) is king of the gods and a deity of the sky, thunder and order in ancient Greek religion and mythology. In The Odyssey he presides over divine decisions, enforces prohibitions and helps Athena (Greek goddess) bring the final conflict to an end.Open the full entry destroys the ship following the cattle episode, Odysseus lashes mast and keel together. Wind carries him back to Charybdis. He catches hold of the fig tree, waits for the wreckage to be expelled and drops onto it, paddling away with his hands.[1]
From the Passage to Calypso
This escape precedes Odysseus’s arrival at Calypso (Greek mythology)Calypso (Greek mythology)Calypso (Greek mythology) is the goddess on Ogygia in The Odyssey who shelters and detains Odysseus and offers him immortality. After Hermes conveys Zeus (Greek god)’s order, she releases him and helps equip his raft and voyage.Open the full entry’s island and comes near the end of his retrospective voyage narrative. The circumstances in which the epic first finds him are thus explained only as the extended flashback closes.[1]