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THE ODYSSEY

Book XII: Scylla and Charybdis

Circe's Navigational Briefing

Before departure, the goddess lays out the high-stakes choices for the journey ahead.

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Trial I: Sirens

They warble men to death in a field of flowers. Use beeswax for the crew; bind the captain to the mast.

  • ✅ Beeswax Prepared
  • ✅ Ropes Tested
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Trial II: The Straits

Choose Scylla's rock. It is better to lose six men to her six heads than the entire ship to Charybdis's whirlpool.

  • ⚠️ Scylla (6 Deaths)
  • ❌ Charybdis (Total Ruin)
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Trial III: Thrinacia

Do not touch the cattle of the Sun-god Hyperion. If you harm them, I forewarn you of the destruction of ship and comrades.

  • 🚫 No Hunting
  • 🍖 Final Warning

Bound to the Mast

"Come here, renowned Ulysses... he who listens will go on his way not only charmed, but wiser."

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Ulysses is Unbound

The Impossible Choice

Hug Scylla's Rock

A six-headed monster with twelve feet. She will snatch six men in her mouths.

Avoid Charybdis's Pool

Three times a day she sucks down the sea. If you are there then, not even Neptune can save you.

Risk Factor Analysis

The Sin of the Starving

Trapped for a month by South winds, the men exhaust their stores. While Ulysses sleeps, Eurylochus convinces them: "All deaths are bad enough, but there is none so bad as famine."

The Omen

"The hides of the cattle crawled about, and the meat on the spits began to low like cows."

The Thunderbolt

Jove shivers the ship with lightning. The men fall like sea-gulls into the brine. Ulysses alone survives on a makeshift raft.