In Greek mythology, Charybdis, or Kharybdis ("sucker down", Greek Χάρυβδις), is a sea monster, daughter of Poseidon and Gaia, who swallows huge amounts of water three times a day and then belches it back out again. She takes form as a whirlpool and devours anything within range. She lay on one side of a narrow channel of water. An ancient engraving of Charybdis This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... // Greek mythology consists of a large collection of narratives that explain the origins of the world and detail the lives and adventures of a wide variety of gods, goddesses, heroes, and heroines. ... Picture taken from a Hetzel copy of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea Sea monsters are often miscategorized as mythical, but are actually legendary gigantic sea-dwelling creatures (but see also lake monsters). ... Neptune reigns in the city centre, Bristol, formerly the largest port in England outside London. ... Gaia (pronounced //, sometimes also // or //) (land or earth, from the Greek ; variant spelling Gaea—see also Ge from ) is a Greek goddess personifying the Earth. ...

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 from 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 be the genesis of the phrase "between a rock and a hard place". In Greek mythology, Scylla, or Skylla (Greek Σκύλλα) was a name shared by two characters, a female sea monster and a princess. ...

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). The Argo, by Lorenzo Costa In Greek mythology, the Argonauts (ancient Greek:Αργοναύται) were a band of heroes who, in the years before the Trojan War, accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest for the Golden Fleece. ... This article is about the Greek sea nymph. ... In Greek mythology, the Nereids (NEER-ee-eds) are blue-haired sea nymphs, the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris. ... Odysseus and the Sirens. ... The Homère Caetani bust at the Louvre, a 2nd century Roman copy of a 2nd century BC Greek original. ... Odysseus and Nausicaä - by Charles Gleyre The Odyssey (Greek: Ὀδύσσεια, Odusseia) is a Greek epic ascribed to Homer between 800 and 600 B.C., about the return home of Odysseus after the Trojan War. ...

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 scholars have 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 north west Greece. Satellite photo of the Strait of Messina, taken June 2002. ... Sicilian redirects here. ... In Greek mythology, Scylla, or Skylla (Greek Σκύλλα) was a name shared by two characters, a female sea monster and a princess. ...

Charybdis was originally a sea-nymph who flooded land to enlarge her father's underwater kingdom, until Zeus turned her into a monster. This article or section contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ... Statue of Zeus Phidias created the 12-m (40-ft) tall statue of Zeus at Olympia about 435 BC. The statue was perhaps the most famous sculpture in ancient Greece, imagined here in a 16th-century engraving. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...