Christopher Byassee
Staff Reporter
The dangers of the sea are many, but few so fearsome as the creature is known as Charybdis (Cha -rip-dis), goddess of The Ceaseless Whirlpool. Ancient poems and songs speak of destruction she has wreaked on any ship unlucky enough to pass too close to her turbulent waters. She is a non-related sister to the nightmarish Scylla. Charybdis is a smasher of the vessel, where Scylla is an eater of men. Charybdis catches them in her whirlpool and breaks them into flinders, before drawing the pitiful remnants into the depths.
Once a daughter of Poseidon, she had the temerity to aid her father in his perennial feud with his brother, Zeus. At Poseidon’s behest, she used her control over the waters to engulf those lands closest to the sea- including those that belonged to Zeus. This encroachment angered the King of Olympus that he captured Charybdis. But Zeus’ wrath was so strong that he did not settle for mere imprisonment - rather, he transformed Charybdis into her current monstrous form as punishment for her defiance. He then cast her into the waters of a narrow strait, opposite the similarly cursed Scylla, and there chained her to the sea bed.
In the centuries since, Charybdis has taken out her frustrations upon any who dared pass over the swirling water that hid her now-hideous form. The whirlpools created from her unquenchable thirst either crushed ships or drove them into the teeth of Scylla. Together, they terrorized the waters of their imprisoning strait- until Scylla was freed to bring horror to the lands of the gods. Charybdis was left alone. But now, the chains that have held her since Zeus first cast her down have been broken. And mighty Charybdis is free at last to vent her rage on the gods who mistreated her so cruelly.
Image Credit: Digital Map of Ancient Worlds
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