Search

Scylla, How did you become a terrifying creature?

L H Chambers
Apr 10, 2016
2 min read

My eldest son asked me to find out more about Scylla. I got rather excited, when I found huge amounts of information. To really find out more about this Nymph I will have a look at the company she kept, gods and goddesses she knew, and her life before and after being turned in to Scylla the sea creature.

Scylla (Σκύλλα) was a sea nymph, was first mentioned by poet, Homer (Homer's Odyssey).

Posioden was in love her. Poseidon's wife Amphitrite got very jealous and poisoned the water in which Scylla bathed. Amphitrite was the goddess of the sea and Posioden's wife, She was under the influence of the Olympian pantheon, this made Amphitrite a mere consort for poseioden. Amphitrite was apparently jelous of Scylla, and the way Posioden loved her,

I also found that a man called Glaucus was also in love with Scylla. Glaucus was once a fisherman, that found a herb that brought his fish back to life, so Glaucus decided to eat some himself. This herb not only made him immortal but also transformed his legs into fins, forever to be bound at sea. Legend has it, he used to advice sailors lost at sea. Glacus asked Circe for a love potion, but Circe actually fell in love with him.

There is also a Circe in the history I found. Circe is the goddess of magic. Who either gave the poison to Amphitrite of the gods, Glaucus asked Circe for a love potion, and another story that states it done out of Jealousy by the witch. This witch has a few names in different stories, one being Circe and the other being Kirke. More researched discovered these where the same woman. The same woman that loved Glaucus and was Jealous of Scylla.

One story of Scylla was a monster with "four eyes and six long necks equipped with grisly heads, each of which contained three rows of sharp teeth. Her body consisted of 12 tentacle-like legs and a cat's tail, while four to six dog-heads ringed her waist"

The other description made by Homer "twelve dangling feet, six long necks and grisly heads lined with a triple row of sharp teeth" There are many descriptions of Scylla, once she became the creature most are pretty similar.

.It all boils down to Scylla, being poisoned with poison from Circe. If there was three doses of that poison added then this would explain why she became so devastatingly huge and scary. Also why she was so angry and attacked back any time she could. One dose from Amphitrite, one from Glaucus and one from Circe her self. Everything on this creature was tripled in size and amount.

So a poor beautiful Nymph was turned into this almighty creature out of love and jelousy