Creature

Charybdis

The deadly whirlpool opposite Scylla, swallowing and spewing the sea.

MythWeave AI-generated editorial illustration, portrait v2

Overview

Charybdis is the swallower of the sea on one side of the strait in Odyssey Book 12. Circe says that three times a day she gulps down the water and three times spews it out; a ship caught during the swallowing could not be rescued even by Poseidon. On the first passage Odysseus keeps toward Scylla, preserving the vessel at the cost of six men. After the cattle of Helios episode, he drifts alone back to the strait, where Charybdis swallows the raft. He clings to a fig tree overhead until the timbers reappear. She is not a monster defeated once but a predictable environmental danger that cannot be removed.

Key facts

Three daily cycles

Odyssey Book 12

Circe describes the whirlpool as cyclical danger; passage depends on position and timing, not combat.

Clinging above the swallowed wreck

On the second encounter Odysseus hangs from a fig tree until the swallowed timbers rise again.

Whirlpool on the return

Charybdis and Scylla form a dangerous return strait, crossed with help from sea goddesses.

Relationships

Odysseusthreatens voyage
Charybdis' whirlpool forces the ship toward Scylla's side.
Argonaut Expeditionthreatens the return
Charybdis’ whirlpool narrows the return route together with Scylla.

Story appearances

The Odyssey HomecomingSea threat capable of swallowing the ship
Charybdis forces the route toward Scylla, making the choice itself catastrophic.
The ArgonautsCharybdis in the Argonaut expedition
Charybdis enters this story through the Argonaut expedition; other versions are handled where their own episodes call for them.

Ancient sources

MythWeave distinguishes ancient-source evidence from later adaptations and modern interpretation.

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