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Key Details
Type
StraitMythology
Greek Pantheon
Coordinates
38.25°N, 15.65°E
About This Location
Two deaths in one lane
Still Odyssey 12: Circe maps a narrow water between Scylla (six necks, six men taken) and Charybdis (three times a day she swallows the sea). Odysseus chooses Scylla and loses six. Later geography says the Strait of Messina. There is no temple. Virgil and others reuse the pair as a proverb. Homer's advice is tactical: lose six rather than the ship. The monsters are local weather made flesh.
Primary Sources
“Hug the cliff of Scylla, and drive your ship past, lest Charybdis suck it down. Better to mourn six comrades than the whole company.”
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