In Greek Mythology, Scylla was a monster that lived on one side of a narrow channel of water, opposite its counterpart Charybdis. The two sides of the strait were within an arrow's range of each other. so close that sailors attempting to avoid Charybdis would pass too close to Scylla and vice versa.
According to
Ovid Metamorphoses, the fisherman-turned
sea-god Glaucus fell in love with the beautiful Scylla, but she was repulsed by his fishy tail and fled onto the land where he could not follow. When he went to Circe to ask for a love potion to win her, the sorceress herself fell in love with him. Meeting with no success, she prepared a vial of poison and poured it in the sea-pool where her rival bathed, turning her into a thing of terror even to herself.
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- "In vain she offers from herself to run"
- "And drags about her what she strives to shun"
According to Some Sources Scylla was the daughter of the river god Crataeis and was loved by Glaucus, but Glaucus himself was also loved by the sorceress Circe. While Scylla was bathing in the sea, the jealous Circe poured a potion into the sea water which caused Scylla to transform into 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. In this form, she attacked the ships of passing sailors, seizing one of the crew with each of her heads.
Painting of Scylla turning inland from the advances of Glauchus
