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Charybdis
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In Greek mythology, Kharybdis or Charybdis (; in Greek, ????ßd??) was a sea monster, once a beautiful naiad and the daughter of Poseidon and Gaia. She takes form as a huge bladder of a creature whose face was all mouth and whose arms and legs were flippers and swallows huge amounts of water three times a day before belching them back out again, creating whirlpools. Charybdis was very loyal to her father in his endless feud with Zeus, it was she who rode the hungry tides after Poseidon had stirred up a storm, and led them onto the beaches, gobbling up whole villages, submerging fields, drowning forests, claiming them for the sea.
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Encyclopedia
In Greek mythology, Kharybdis or Charybdis (; in Greek, ????ßd??) was a sea monster, once a beautiful naiad and the daughter of Poseidon and Gaia. She takes form as a huge bladder of a creature whose face was all mouth and whose arms and legs were flippers and swallows huge amounts of water three times a day before belching them back out again, creating whirlpools. Charybdis was very loyal to her father in his endless feud with Zeus, it was she who rode the hungry tides after Poseidon had stirred up a storm, and led them onto the beaches, gobbling up whole villages, submerging fields, drowning forests, claiming them for the sea. She won so much land for her father's kingdom that Zeus became enraged and changed her into a monster.
The myth has Charybdis lying on one side of a blue, narrow channel of water. On the other side of the strait was Scylla, another sea-monster. The two sides of the strait are within an arrow's range of each other, so close that sailors attempting to avoid Charybdis will pass too close to Scylla and vice versa. The phrase "between Scylla and Charybdis" has come to mean being in a state where one is between two dangers and moving away from one will cause you to be in danger of the other. "Between Scylla and Charybdis" is the origin of the phrase "between the rock and the whirlpool" (the rock upon which Scylla dwelt and the whirlpool of Charybdis) and may also be the genesis of the phrase "between a rock and a hard place".
According to Thomas Bulfinch, Charybdis stole the oxen of Geryon from Hermes, in whose possession they had been at the time, and was transformed into a sea monster as a punishment.
In literature
The Argonauts were able to avoid both dangers because they were guided by Thetis, one of the Nereids. Odysseus was not so fortunate; he chose to risk Scylla at the cost of some of his crew rather than lose the whole ship to Charybdis. (Homer's Odyssey, Book XII). Odysseus successfully navigated the strait, losing only six men to Scylla, but his men offended Helios by killing the god's sacred cattle. Zeus retaliated by destroying ship and crew (except Odysseus) with a thunderbolt.
Stranded on a makeshift raft, Odysseus was swept back through the strait to face Scylla and Charybdis again. This time, Odysseus passed near Charybdis. His raft was sucked into Charybdis' maw, but Odysseus survived by clinging to a fig tree grown on the rock overhanging her lair. On the next outflow of water, his raft was expelled, and Odysseus was able to recover it and paddle away.
Scylla and Charybdis feature in Ship Of Rome by John Stack. A Roman trireme lures a pursuing Carthaginian galley in to the whirlpool.
Location
Traditionally, the location of Charybdis has been associated with the Strait of Messina off the coast of Sicily, opposite the rock called Scylla. The whirlpool there is caused by the meeting of currents but is seldom dangerous. Recently, Tim Severin looked again at the location and suggested this association was a misidentification and that a more likely origin for the story could be found close by Cape Skilla in northwestern Greece.
Popular culture
- Charybdis is also referenced in a musical commentary for Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. In the song "Heart, Broken" Joss Whedon decries the modern trend of public scrutiny over an artist's creative process..
- Charybdis is also referenced in the Wing Commander film. In this film, it is said to be a Quasar which, as in the myth, destroyed many ships. Scylla also features in the form of a space-time distortion.
- Charybdis is also referenced in the MMORPG game Final Fantasy XI. It is a lottery pop NM (Notorious Monster) version of a Devil Manta found in Sea Serpent Grotto. It drops the much-sought-after sword, Joyeuse.
- Charybdis is also referenced in the lyrics to "Wrapped Around Your Finger" by The Police.
- Charybdis is also mentioned in Rick Riordan's second book The Sea of Monsters. Percy Jackson along with his friends have to pass through Scylla and Charybdis, where, in the book, is the passage into the Sea of Monsters.
- In the single player campaign of the first-person shooter Tribes II, Charybdis is a fiery planet of magma pools.
- Charybdis made an appearance as a boss (that resembles an Anglerfish) in the arcade game Ocean Hunter.
- A green puffer fish like creature that bears strikingly similar behaviors to the Charybdis can be found in the children's game Club Penguin. He's been codenamed "Puff Daddy" by fans. Unlike the real Charybdis, however, this fish bears a more comical, cute, and child friendly appearance, since Club Penguin is a game for young children.
- American heavy metal band Trivium have a song on their album, Shogun, called "Torn Between Scylla and Charybdis".
- The plot for the fourth season of Prison Break centers around Scylla (which is the Company's black book) and Charybdis (which is the electronic device used to retrieve the six pieces of Scylla that are stored on data cards).
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