Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Being between Scylla and Charybdis is an idiom deriving from Greek mythology, which has been associated with the proverbial advice "to choose the lesser of two evils". [1] Several other idioms such as " on the horns of a dilemma ", "between the devil and the deep blue sea", and "between a rock and a hard place" express similar meanings. [ 2 ]
Henry Fuseli's painting of Odysseus facing the choice between Scylla and Charybdis, 1794–1796. Charybdis (/ k ə ˈ r ɪ b d ɪ s /; Ancient Greek: Χάρυβδις, romanized: Khárybdis, Attic Greek: [kʰárybdis]; Latin: Charybdis, Classical Latin: [kʰäˈrʏbd̪ɪs̠]) is a sea monster in Greek mythology.
Odysseus and his men return to Circe's island, and she advises them on the remaining stages of the journey. They skirt the land of the Sirens, pass between the six-headed monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis, where they row directly between the two. However, Scylla drags the boat towards her by grabbing the oars and eats six men.
In Greek mythology, Scylla [a] (/ ˈ s ɪ l ə / SIL-ə; Ancient Greek: Σκύλλα, romanized: Skýlla, pronounced) is a legendary, man-eating monster who lives on one side of a narrow channel of water, opposite her counterpart, the sea-swallowing monster Charybdis. The two sides of the strait are within an arrow's range of each other—so ...
Line 70, describing how Ulysses sailed between the twin dangers of Scylla and Charybdis, is matched in the second passage by line 165 which describes how the fertile zone is located between the cold north and torrid south. There are also more subtle connections between the two.
The rich have become richer, and the poor have become poorer; and the vessel of the State is driven between the Scylla and Charybdis of anarchy and despotism." [1] It describes a positive feedback loop (a corresponding negative feedback loop would be e.g. progressive tax).
The Latin equivalent was the seafaring idiom of Scylla and Charybdis, 'He runs on Scylla, wishing to avoid Charybdis' (incidit in scyllam cupiens vitare charybdim), a parallel pointed out by Edmund Arwaker in the moral that follows his verse treatment of the fable. [7]
Next was the pass of Scylla and Charybdis where he lost part of his ship's crew. The rest landed in the isle Thrinacia, sacred to Helios (the Sun) where he kept sacred cattle. Though Odysseus warned his men not to (as Tiresias had told him), they killed and ate some of the cattle after Zeus placed Odysseus in his sleep to test his crew.