Cuadernos de Filología Clásica: Estudios griegos e indoeuropeos ISSN: 1131-9070

Vol. 12, 2002, 319-328.

Scylla: Hideous monster or femme fatale?

A case of contradiction between literary and artistic evidence*

Mercedes AGUIRRE CASTRO

Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Abstract: When we look at iconographical representations of various episodes of the

Odyssey, we find out that the case of Scylla is quite particular. She is described by Homer
(Od.12, 85-100) as an evil monster with twelve feeth and six necks, each one finished in
a dog head with a triple row of teeth. But that is not her appearance in iconography. The
earliest Greek representations show Scylla as a hybrid creature, half woman and half fish,
usually with one or more dog heads around her waist.
This paper aims to show that in any case, and with any appearance, it is by her
character that we can include Scylla among the series of «dangerous women»; women
who, like Circe, Calypso and the Sirens represent that evil charm, that ambiguous
danger, both charming and terrible at the same time and which could be fatal to the
hero Odysseus.

Keywords: Scylla, sea monster, Odyssey, «dangerous women», iconography.

Resumen: Este artículo intenta revisar las diferencias entre la descripción homérica del
monstruo Escila y sus representaciones artísticas. Según éstas, Escila es una criatura
híbrida, mitad mujer mitad pez, normalmente con una o más cabezas de perro en tor-
no a su cintura. En cualquier caso, por su carácter podemos incluir a Escila en esa serie
de «mujeres peligrosas» que Odiseo encuentra en su viaje de regreso a Ítaca y que repre-
sentan ese peligro a la vez terrible y encantador que puede resultar fatal para el héroe.

Palabras clave: Escila, monstruo marino, Odisea, «mujeres peligrosas», iconografía.

Although Greeks were always very fond of beauty and perfection, they
created in their myths a large number of monsters. These monsters could be
hybrids composed of parts of different animals, or could have some other

*
Este artículo es una versión de la comunicación presentada en el congreso de
la Classical Association en Bristol (Inglaterra) en Abril de 2000.
319
Mercedes Aguirre Castro Scylla: Hideous monster or femme fatale?

hideous characteristics1. Many of them were immortals, divine race, offspring

of gods. Others, already degraded, would be born as mortal creatures. So,
Hesiod presents us with an authentic catalogue of monsters in the passage of
the progeny of Forcis and Ceto, whose successive children show all kind of
monstruous traits2.
Some of these monsters —those who are mortals indeed— will be killed
by famous heroes: Herakles, Bellerophon, Perseus. And their existence
seems to be actually connected to that fact in order to offer potential hero-
es the occasion to prove their heroic mettle3. However, not only heroes, but
also gods had to fight occasionally with monsters: Zeus with Typhaon,
Apollo with Pytho etc. In these cases, the fight symbolizes the superiority
of anthropomorphic and rational gods over monstruous, primitive and
chthonic powers. But not all monsters are mortal and not all are connected
with an individual hero, but they can appear in the context of one story:
The Erinis with Orestes, The Sirens with Odysseus, Oedipus with the
Sphinx etc.4
Literary sources depicting these monsters are not always too explicit in
explaining their physical appearance. So, the earliest evidence of the
Gorgons5 do not indicate that monstruous appearance that we can find in
later sources6. And the case of the Sirens in Homer’s Odyssey7 is similar
because —as we will see later— we know their physical appearance in later
sources or in iconographical representations. For that reason, when we delve
into the character of one of these monsters in Greek mythology, we someti-
mes find a divergence between literary sources and artistic representations.
The aim of this paper is to study the case of Scylla, a sea monster who
offers a metamorphosis, a change in her physical appearance according to the
different sources (literary or artistic), a female creature who menaces sailors

1
According to K. Shepard, The fish tailed monsters, New York 1940, 4, many of
Greek hybrid monsters and some winged beings were originated in Eastern and
were borrowed by Greeks. See also P. Gonzalez Serrano, «Animales míticos en el
mundo clásico», Espacio, Tiempo y Forma 11 (1998), 138-142.
2
Th. 270-336.
3
Cf. P. H. von Blanckenhagen, «Easy monsters» in A. E. Farkas et al., Monsters
and Demons in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds, Mainz on Rheine 1987, 85.
4
Cf. P. H. von Blanckenhagen, op. cit.,86. In some of these cases the hero con-
quers the monster in a different way: it is not his force but his wisdom or a supe-
rior power which helps him to defeat it.
5
Hesiod, Th. 274-281.
6
Aeschylus, Pr. 798-800; Pindar, P. XII, 6 ff.; Euripides, Ion 988.
7
Od. 12.39-40 and 166-191.
Cuadernos de Filología Clásica: Estudios griegos e indoeuropeos 320
Vol. 12, 2002, 319-328.
Mercedes Aguirre Castro Scylla: Hideous monster or femme fatale?

on their journeys and symbolizes the sea and its dangers, the horror of sea
depths, where Amphitrite breeds thousands of monstruous beings8.
In Homer’s Odyssey 9 we find the description of the monster Scylla, one of the
dangers which Odysseus has to face on his journey back to Ithaca. This is the
most ancient literary source describing her and there is not ambiguity concer-
ning her lethal character and her terrifying shape. Besides, Homer presents us
with a creature, that even the immortals could not conquer, so the hero can do
nothing to fight against her, because ultimately it seems that he can not kill her10.
The development of Scylla in Greek art is quite particular. Unlike the other
episodes of the Odyssey, such as the meetings with Polyphemus or Circe, the
Scylla episode has not been depicted in the same manner in early art. The ear-
liest representation of her would seem to be the image of an etruscan ivory
box with reliefs dated about 600 B.C. On the box there appears a monster like
an octopus or giant squid next to a ship; and besides the Scylla image there is
a scene with the Cyclops11.
In the fifth century BC there appears an image of Scylla very different from
that described by Homer: she is now a hybrid creature, half woman half fish, fre-
quently with one or more dog heads protruding from her waist. So, now her phy-
sical appearance is quite dissimilar to the Homeric source, really it is only the
detail of the dogs that are attached to her human body that reminds us of
Homer. Remember that the poet describes her voice as that of a newborn puppy.
This image of Scylla is also described by later authors, like Apollodorus12,
or Higinius13. Here the myth tells us that Scylla’s hybrid appearance was due

8
Od. 5. 420. For the sea and its dangers, for example: E. Vermeule, Aspects of
Death in Early Greek Art and Poetry, London 1979, 179 ff.
9
Od. 12. 85-92.
10
Od. 12. 118-120. Her evil character is emphasized by other authors who com-
pare Clytemnestra (Aeschylus, A. 1232-33: tiv nin kalou÷sa dusfile;" davko" tuv-
coim! a[n ajmfivsbainan h] Skuvllan tina; «What an odious monster shall I fitly call
her, an amfisbaena? or a Scylla?») or Medea with her (Euripides, Med. 1343: th÷"
Turshnivdo" Skuvllh" e[cousan ajgriwtevran fuvsin «...a fiercer nature than
Tyrrhenian Scylla»). Scylla is also a ph÷ma brotoi÷sin «a plague to mortals» (Od.
12.125) and a similar expression —ph÷m! ajnqrwvpoi" «a plague to men»— is used
in Hesiod’s Theogony (329) referred to another monster, the Nemean lion.
11
Cf. D. Buitron-Oliver, «Between Scylla and Penelope: Female characters of the
Odyssey in Archaic and Classical Greek Art» in B. Cohen (ed.), The Distaff Side.
Representing the female in Homer’s Odyssey, New York 1995, 34. However, the etruscan
iconography of Scylla will be later similar to Greek iconography (cf. M. A. del
Chiaro, «Scylla on a caeretan red-figured vase», AC XXI [1969], 210-215).
12
Ep.7. 20-21.
13
Fab. 199.
321 Cuadernos de Filología Clásica: Estudios griegos e indoeuropeos
Vol. 12, 2002, 319-328.
Mercedes Aguirre Castro Scylla: Hideous monster or femme fatale?

to Circe’s jealousy. The witch, spurned by Glaucos who was in love with
Scylla, poured a magic potion in the water where her rival was bathing and
because of this potion Scylla was transformed into a female in the upper
body, with a fish tail and six dog heads around her waist14. The earliest repre-
sentations in Greek art (dating from the mid-fifth century BC) show this same
female upper body, nude down to the waist, usually in profile, and then a fish
or sea snake tail coiled up around her15.
In the terracota relief from Melos (to be found in the British Museum, and
dating from mid-fifth century BC) we can see the naked female upper figure
wearing a short chiton with a pleated skirt and with her hair bound with a band.
She has one hand on her hip and the other one touching her chin. The fish
tail is long and coiled up and two dog
heads issue from her waist16.
In the second half of the same cen-
tury we frequently find images of
Scylla on the coins of several cities
of South Italy. The reasons that are
usually given to explain these images
on coins from Akragas or Syracuse is
the relation between these cities and
the Straits of Messina where the
monster was traditionally located17.
On these coins the image is also of a
woman in profile with a long and
coiled fish tail; the dogs can emerge
Scylla on a silver coin from Akragas, from her waist, but they can also
ca. 420-410 BC. protrude from her shoulders, and
frequently she is accompanied by
some other marine creatures.

14
We also find this version in Ovid (Met. XIV, 40-70) and Virgil (Aeneid 3, 427-428).
15
G. M. A.Hanfmann, «The Scylla of Corvey and her ancestors», Dunbarton Oaks
Papers 41 (1987), 258 and K. Shepard, op. cit., 7 ff. propose a Near Eastern origin
of this Scylla with her mixture of human-animal forms. For example the Syrian
goddess Derketo (known by Lucian, De dea Syria, 14) could be a possible precur-
sor of her.
16
A detailed description of this relief in P. Jacobstahl, Die melischen reliefs, Berlin
1931, 54.
17
Cf. D. Buitron-Oliver & B. Cohen, The Odyssey and Ancient Art: An epic in word
and image, Annandale on Hudson 1992, 35. Scylla became a personification of the
Sicilian Straits, cf. G. M. A. Hanfmann, op. cit., 251.
Cuadernos de Filología Clásica: Estudios griegos e indoeuropeos 322
Vol. 12, 2002, 319-328.
Mercedes Aguirre Castro Scylla: Hideous monster or femme fatale?

We find a similar image on a campanian crater and on an apulian hydria of

approximately the same date.
On these South Italian images and on some similar artefacts dated to the
fifth and fourth centuries BC, Scylla is always depicted alone, without the hero
Odysseus, or any other elements which recall for us the Homeric episode.
However she is usually represented accompanied by other marine creatures:
fish, octopus, crabs etc. She is here just another inhabitant of the sea, on sce-
nes associated with the sea and in marine thiasoi.
In an apulian pelike (dated to 360-350 BC and in Naples) we can see Scylla
with her female body decorated with jewellery. She raises an arm and her face
and her body are seen full on. She has two
dog protrusions and a long fish tail finis-
hed off by a ketos-like head. She is carry-
ing the goddess Thetis on her fish tail
who is bringing the arms made for
Achilles. In front of her, another Nereid
is also riding a sea-beast.
In an apulian amphora with the motif
of Perseus killing the ketos and Andro-
meda exposed to the monster, there appe-
ars a further example of Scylla. Here her
body and face are also shown frontally,
she has a long fish tail and three dog pro-
trusions. She swims next to the monster
ketos and she is again accompanied by
Nereids18.
A Paestan krater (dated to 340-330 BC
and now in Malibu at the J.P. Getty
Museum19) is decorated with the Europa Paestan crater, 340-330 BC. Europa
myth. Here Europa is on the bull Zeus as on the bull, Scylla, Triton etc.

18
We frequently find images of the sea-monster ketos connected with Scylla ima-
ges: on the one hand, the Scylla and the ketos are represented on the same artefact
as two inhabitants of the sea; on the other hand, the ketos can be a part of the body
of Scylla , for instance in some apulian vases (dated from the fourth century BC)
or in the handle of a bronze mirror dated from the same century. Cf. J. Boardman,
«Ketos», LIMC VII, 1, 731 ff.
19
Cf. M. Jentoff-Nilssen, CVA. The J.Paul Getty Museum, Malibu 1990, p. l.231.

323 Cuadernos de Filología Clásica: Estudios griegos e indoeuropeos

Vol. 12, 2002, 319-328.
Mercedes Aguirre Castro Scylla: Hideous monster or femme fatale?

Apulian pelike, 360-350 BC. Scylla and Thetis.

he gallops over the sea; and this aquatic scene shows us also an image of
Scylla. Again she is nude down to the waist with only a fish tail and two dog
protrusions, her body is shown frontally but her face, in profile, is looking
back, to Europa. In one hand this Scylla brandishes a trident, and the other
hand is raised in the expression of greeting or surprise that we usually seem
to find in other representations.
On scenes such as these Scylla seems to be a representation of the sea. She
is totally independent from the Homeric episode, and we have seen that she
has even been related and interwoven into representations of other myths
concerning marine goings-on. Nothing in these scenes seems to indicate the
dangerous character that Homer described. In fact she even appears kind and
benign. The dogs protruding from her waist may well allude to the character
of her voice as detailed by Homer, but they do not exactly reflect any great
danger in dealing with her. A newborn puppy is not really the image of a hide-
ous and terrible monster!
In the fourth century BC some artists have created a slightly different ima-
ge of Scylla on some objects such as bronze mirrors, lids of silver or ceramic
boxes etc. On these artefacts she is shown frontally with two twin fish tails
—one to each side. The other symbols are similar to what we have already
seen: she can hold a trident or a sword in her hand and can be surrounded by
some other marine elements.
Sometimes this type of Scylla —who coexists with that with only one fish
tail— is depicted as a woman with a seductive appearance, long hair and per-
haps a menacing gesture. In these representations there appears a man who is
being menaced by Scylla with a rock or a rudder, but it is not very clear whet-
her a representation of the scene with Odysseus is implied or whether it is a
Cuadernos de Filología Clásica: Estudios griegos e indoeuropeos 324
Vol. 12, 2002, 319-328.
Mercedes Aguirre Castro Scylla: Hideous monster or femme fatale?

generic scene that is indepen-

dent of Homer. These Scyllas
can also have wings and in some
representations each fish tail is
finished by a ketos head20. Be-
cause some sort of human vic-
tim is being represented and her
attitude and aspect is menacing,
there is certainly a reflection in
of her original dangerous cha-
racter.
Around the third and second
centuries BC we find Scylla
repositioned into the context of
the Homeric adventure: here she Silver lid, III BC.
is found with the ship and Scylla with two fish tails.
Odysseus’ companions. And in
Roman art we find sculptural groups such as that from Sperlonga which
shows Scylla attacking the ship and the sailors in it21.
After this brief survey of the iconographical evolution of Scylla, we should
ask what is the reason for this change from the terrible monster who is des-
cribed in the Odyssey to the lovely hybrid woman in some of the vase pain-
tings and other artefacts. Some commentators have argued that Greek artists
tended to avoid representing monsters and unpleasant creatures and tried to
rationalise them22. However, we find other monsters which are always depic-
ted as monsters in Archaic and Classical Greek art just as they are in ancient
epic poetry23.

20
Cf. Note 18.
21
A study on the Sperlonga group for instance in B. Andreae & B. Conticello,
Skylla und Charibdis: zur Skylla Gruppe von Sperlonga, Stuttgart 1987 and B. Andreae,
Odysseus: Mythos und Erinnerung, Mainz 1999. See also G. M. A. Hanfmann, op. cit., 251.
22
Cf. D. Buitron-Oliver & B. Cohen, op. cit., 137.
23
The Chimaira, whose representations (the earliest dating from the seventh
century BC) match the description of this monster found in Hesiod’s Theogony
(319-325). And also the images of the Cyclops Polyphemus in Greek art (again
dating from the seventh century BC as well) all seem to match with the idea of a
giant, some sort of terrible monster with a single eye on his forehead such as we
find in most of the ancient literary texts. For a discussion about the earliest
Polyphemus images in early Greek art, see, for instance, A. Snodgrass, Homer and
the artists, Cambridge 1998, 92, ff.
325 Cuadernos de Filología Clásica: Estudios griegos e indoeuropeos
Vol. 12, 2002, 319-328.
Mercedes Aguirre Castro Scylla: Hideous monster or femme fatale?

We can suggest that the new and evolved image of Scylla could be derived
of a substratum of folklore: some prehomeric legends related to the sea
which concerned fantastic women who represented the dangers of sea jour-
neys for ancient sailors24.
With this type of appearance, Scylla does indeed look like other hybrid cre-
atures of Greek mythology. For example she is similar to Echidna, described
in Hesiod’s Theogony as a beautiful female with a snake tail25. No definite depic-
tions of Echidna are known in Greek art, although, as we have already said,
she would surely recall the later images of Scylla: a beautiful female down to
the waist with a sea snake tail. Similarities between these monsters do not
finish here: both, besides that ambivalent appearance, live concealed in a cave,
under the earth, and are remote of that world thought normal for gods and
mortals. Both creatures are immortal —unlike many other mythical monsters
such as Medusa, the Hydra, the Chimaira etc. —and both seem to have a rela-
tion with the Underworld26. Perhaps as a consequence of these similarities and
because Echidna —in Hesiod’s Theogony— gives birth to a whole progeny of
monsters, some traditions actually consider Echidna to be Scylla’s mother27.
On the other hand, Scylla has a double shape like the Sirens who are depic-
ted in the earliest representations as bird women. Nevertheless, later their
image as mermaid women with one or two fish tails will become the most
common. The case of the Sirens has parallels with that of Scylla, because

24
A folkloric tradition is proposed by some authors to explain the divergences
between art and text in some of the iconographical representations of the Odyssey
episodes. See for instance : O. Touchefeu-Meynier, Thèmes Odysséens dans l’art antique,
Paris 1968, 122 and 238; R. M. Cook, «Art and Epic in Ancient Greece», BABesch
58 (1983), 1-10. For Homeric subjects in early Greek art, see A. Snodgrass, op. cit.,
129 ff. and G. Ahlberg-Cornell, Myth and Epos in Early Greek Art, Jonsered 1992.
25
Th. 298-299.
26
They are both related with the deep of earth. Echidna lives in a cave (Hesiod,
Th. 297, 301) and Scylla’s cave is as deep as it connects up with Erebos (Homer,
Od. 12.80-81). Referring to the relationship of caves with the Beyond and fertility
cf. A. Motte, Prairies et jardins de la Grèce antique, Brussels 1971, 18 ff.; M. Aguirre,
«Ambigüedad y otros caracteres en las divinidades remotas de la épica arcaica»,
CFC 6 (1996), 143-157.
27
There are some different traditions about Scylla’s genealogie. Homer tells us
that Scylla’s mother is Crateis (Od. 12.124-126), a no definite female character who
has been identified with the sea waves. However, other sources propose different
mothers: Lamia, according to Stesichorus (in his poem Scylla, cf. D. Page [ed.],
Poetae Melici Graeci, Oxford 1962, 118, n. 220), or Hekate according to Acusilaos
(FGr Hist I, 57) and Hesiod (fr. 262 Merkelbach-West), or Echidna according to
Higinius (Fab.125, 14,151.1).

Cuadernos de Filología Clásica: Estudios griegos e indoeuropeos 326

Vol. 12, 2002, 319-328.
Mercedes Aguirre Castro Scylla: Hideous monster or femme fatale?

their earliest images, as we have just said, feature a female torso with wings
like a bird, and either appear independent, or in the context of the Homeric
episode. The artistic interpretation of the Sirens here, demonstrates another
divergence from the Odyssey (their earliest literary source28) and an evolution
in their own right, as Homer does not actually describe their physical appea-
rance. He does not give us any information about their shape, but only men-
tions the dangerous charm of their voices. Indeed it is Euripides who is the
first extant author to refer to them as winged women29.
Several reasons have been given to explain the Siren’s later evolution to fema-
le figures with fish tail, whose earliest literary evidence comes from the sixth
century AD and with some uncertain artistic depictions in Greek art of the
third century BC30. As the Sirens are also a symbol of that tempting danger
which could lead sailors to their deaths, they recall for us many similar creatu-
res of other mythologies and folkloric traditions. We should consider a strong
relationship between them and that beautiful and charming Scylla whose phy-
sical appearance could have adopted because of their similar beguiling charac-
ter and by being both marine creatures closely associated with the sea. In fact,
almost all marine mythical creatures will be depicted in art with a fish tail.
Therefore it seems possible that many themes and motifs were mixed up
together in which a series of dangerous women, hybrids or not, are menacing
the sailors on their voyages. And, although Homer is particular in describing
Scylla as a monstruous being with many tentacles like a giant octopus, artists
could have decided to depict a more generalised marine creature with the
same fish tailed shape as other mythical characters related to water (especially
male figures such as Triton, Acheloos, Nereus etc.). It is the feature of the
dogs protruding from Scylla that make sure the Homeric description is not
completely forgotten.
In either way, whether in the sape of a monster with six necks, twelve feet
and sharp teeth as enjoyed by Homer or in the shape of a woman with fish tail
as in the many artefacts, we should include Scylla among the series of dange-
rous women whom Odysseus meets and who all attempt to detain our hero on

28
Od. 12.39 ff. and 158 ff.
29
Hel. 167. But maybe Euripides has been actually influenced by the art form of
the Sirens, see G. K. Gresseth, «The Homeric Sirens», TAPhA 101 (1970), 211.
30
Cf. O. Touchefeu Meynier, op. cit., 181. There are some studies about the Sirens,
their character and appearance, for instance: J. Pollard, Seers, Shrines and Sirens,
London 1965; G. K. Gresseth, op. cit.; P. Rossi, «Sirènes antiques. Poésie, philosop-
hie, iconographie», BAGB (1970), 463-481; E. Hoffstetter, Sirenen in archaischen und
klasischen Griechenland, Würzburg 1990.

327 Cuadernos de Filología Clásica: Estudios griegos e indoeuropeos

Vol. 12, 2002, 319-328.
Mercedes Aguirre Castro Scylla: Hideous monster or femme fatale?

his journey home to Ithaca. There are femmes fatales like Circe or Calypso who,
in spite of their beautiful and seductive appearance, hide something sinister or
terrible31; or there are the Sirens with their charming voices. Are all these fema-
les not equally man devouring-albeit in another sense? Do they not all represent
for Odysseus the same danger: the danger of not coming back home? They are
all females with an ambiguous character, potentially harmful enchanteresses
who all happen to live far away from the usual sphere of gods and humans. All
of them are located in passages that lead us to the Beyond. Homer is explicit
when he describes the cave where Scylla lives: it is tremendously deep as it con-
nects up with Erebos. And there is something infernal and other-wordly too
about the Sirens: they live on their flowery meadow surrounded by the bones
of their victims32. And Circe and Calypso live on their far distant islands at the
very end of the world33. All these females represent the dangers of the sea, its
most sinister and terrible shape, but disguised with charm and beauty.

Mercedes AGUIRRE CASTRO

Universidad Complutense - Madrid

31
Cf. J. Neils, «Les femmes fatales: Scylla and the Sirens in Greek art» in The
Distaff Side, 174-184 and M. Aguirre, «El tema de la mujer fatal en la Odisea» CFC
4 (1994), 301-317.
32
Od. 12.44-46.
33
Od. 12. 3-4; Od. 1.50 ff. and 7. 246-247.
Cuadernos de Filología Clásica: Estudios griegos e indoeuropeos 328
Vol. 12, 2002, 319-328.