Strait of Messina's Scylla and Charybdis Identified with 'The Odyssey's' Sea Monsters

“So now we're going to see the wonderful monsters of Scilla and Charybdis. These monsters are on either side of a very narrow, turbulent strait that does have eddies and currents that edits narrowest is only three kilometers long. So this strait separates Disilly from the southwestern tip of mainland Italy, and they're close enough to give you a sense if back then in a little boat, of being trapped between two opposing dangers.”

“And then Charybdis is essentially a gigantic marine vortex, and Homer said that three times a day Caribdas swallowed the sea then vomited back up again. And it's logical to set a whirlpool here because you do get strong tidal whirlpools and eddies in this area and the grancture. Greeks knew that from sailing these tiny boats through it, so it was a really dangerous place to be, and how wonderful to have stuck Scilla on the other side, just to make sure that it was really dangerous to get past the whirlpool.”

“The Strait of Messina, separating Sicily from mainland Italy, is explored as the location of the mythical sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis from 'The Odyssey.' The strait's dangerous currents and eddies are described as a natural phenomenon that likely inspired these legendary dangers.”