Between Scylla and Charybdis
Videos
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". Several other idioms such as "
Henry Fuseli's painting of Odysseus facing the choice between Scylla and Charybdis, 1794–1796
Britannia between Scylla and Charybdis (James Gillray, 1793)
Scylla
Videos
In Greek mythology, Scylla is a legendary, man-eating monster that lives on one side of a narrow channel of water, opposite her counterpart, the sea-swallowing monster Charybdis. The two sides of the
Between Scylla and Charybdis
…Being "between Scylla and Charybdis" ( also ) is an idiom deriving from Greek mythology, which has been associated with the proverbial advice "to choose the lesser of two…
Scylla as a maiden with a kētos tail and dog heads sprouting from her body. Detail from a red-figure bell-crater in the Louvre, 450–425 BC. This form of Scylla was prevalent in ancient depictions, though very different from the description in Homer, where she is land-based and more dragon-like.
Scylla on the reverse of a first-century BC denarius minted by Sextus Pompeius
The Rock of Scilla, Calabria, which is said to be the home of Scylla
Scylla figurine, late 4th BCE. National Archaeological Museum, Athens