Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Scylla

TODAY I AM GOING TO WRITE A POST ON SCYLLA. I PERSONALLY FIND HER CREEPY YET BEAUTIFUL, SHE MAY NOT BE THAT WELL KNOWN AND THAT IS WHY I CHOSE TO WRITE A POST ABOUT HER. SO LETS GET TO IT. IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY, SCYLLA (GREEK:SKYLLA) WAS A MONSTER THAT LIVED ON ONE SIDE OF A NARROW CHANNEL OF WATER, OPPOSITE ITS COUNTERPART CHARYBDIS. THE TWO SIDES OF THE STRAIT WERE WITHIN AN ARROW'S RANGE OF EACH OTHER-SO CLOSE THAT SAILORS ATTEMPTING TO AVOID CHARYBDIS WOULD PASS TO CLOSE TO SCYLLA AND VICE VERSA. TRADITIONALLY THE STRAIT HAS BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH THE STRAIT OF MESSINA BETWEEN ITALY AND SICILY. THE IDIOM "BETWEEN SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS" HAS COME TO MEAN BEING BETWEEN TWO DANGERS, CHOOSING EITHER OF WHICH BRINGS HARM. THERE ARE VARIOUS GREEK MYTHS ACCOUNTING FOR SCYLLA'S ORIGINS AND FATE. THERE ARE VARIOUS GREEK MYTHS ACCOUNTING FOR SCYLLA'S ORIGIN AND FATE. ACCORDING TO SOME, SHE WAS ONE OF THE CHILDREN OF PHORCYS AND CETO. OTHER OURCES, INCLUDING STESICHOURS, CITE HER PARENTS AS TRITON AND LAMINA. ACCORDING TO JOHN TZETZES AND SERYIUS' COMMENTARY ON THE AENEID, SCYLLA WAS A BEAUTIFUL NAIAD WHO WAS CLAIMED BY POSEIDON, BUT THE JEALOUS AMPHITRITE TURNED HER INTO A MONSTER BY POISONING THE WATER OF THE SPRING WHERE SCYLLA WOULD BATHE. A SIMILAR STORY IS FOUND IN HYGINUS, ACCORDING TO WHOM SCYLLA WAS THE DAUGHTER OF THE RIVER GOD CRATAEIS AND WAS LOVED BY GLAUCUS, BUT GLAUCUS HIMSELF WAS ALSO LOVE BY THE SORCERESS CIRCE. WHILE SCYLLA WAS BATHING IN THE SEA, THE JEALOUS CIRCE POURED A POTION IN TO THE SEA WATER WHICH CAUSED SCYLLA TO TRANSFORM INTO A MONSTER WITH FOUR EYES, SIX LONG NECKS EQUIPPED WITH GRISLY HEADS, EACH WHICH CONTAINED THREE ROWS OF SHARP TEETH. HER BODY CONSISTED OF TWELVE TENTACLE-LIKE LEGS AND A CAT'S TAIL WHILE FOUR TO SIX DOG-HEADS RINGED HER WAIST. IN THIS FORM SHE ATTACKED THE SHIPS OF PASSING SAILORS, SEIZING ONE OF THE CREW WITH EACH OF HER HEADS. IN A LATE GREEK MYTH, RECORDED IN EUSTATHIUS' COMMENTARY ON HOMER AND JOHN TZETZES, HERACLES ENCOUNTERED SCYLLA DURING A JOURNEY TO SICILY AN SLEW HER. HER FATHER, THE SEA-GOD PHORCYS, THEN APPLIED FLAMING TORCHES TO HER BODY AND RESTORED HER TO LIFE. IN HOMER'S ODYSSEY XII, ODYSSEUS IS GIVEN ADVICE BY CIRCE TO SAIL CLOSER TO SCYLLA, FOR CHARYBDIS COULD DROWN HIS WHOLE SHIP: "HUG SCYLLA'S CRAG-SAIL ON PAST HER- TOP SPEED! BETTER BY FAR TO LOOSE SIX MEN AN KEEP YOUR SHIP THAN LOSE YOUR ENTIRE CREW" SHE WARNS, AN TELLS ODYSSEUS TO BID SCYLLA'S MOTHER, THE RIVER NYMPH CRATAEIS, TO PREVENT HER FORM POUNCING MORE THAN ONCE. ODYSSEUS THEN SUCCESSFULLY SAILS HIS SHIP PAST SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS, BUT SCYLLA MANAGES TO CATCH SIX OF HIS MEN, DEVOURING THEM ALIVE.

"...THEY WRITHED

GASPING AS SCYLLA SWUNG THEM UP HER CLIFF AND THERE


AT HER CAVERN'S MOUTH SHE BOLTED THEM DOWN RAW-

SCREAMING OUT, FLINGING THEIR ARMS TOWARD ME,

LOST IN THAT MORTAL STRUGGLE."

ACCORDING TO OVID, THE FISHERMEN-TURNED-SEA-GOD GLAUCUS FELL IN LOVE WITH THE BEAUTIFUL SCYLLA, BUT SHE WAS REPULSED BY HIS FISHY TAIL AND FLED ONTO THE LAND WHERE HE COULD NOT FOLLOW. WHEN HE WENT TO CIRCE TO ASK FOR A LOVE POTION TO WIN HER, THE SORCERESS HERSELF FELL IN LOVE WITH HIM. MEETING WITH NO SUCCESS, SHE PREPARE A VIAL OF POISON AND POURED IT IN THE SEA-POOL WHERE HER RIVAL BATHED, TURNING HER INTO A THING OF TERROR EVEN TO HERSELF. IN VAIN SHE OFFERS FROM HERSELF TO RUN AND DRAGS ABOUT HER WHAT SHE STRIVES TO SHUN. THE STORY LATER ADAPTED INTO A FIVE-ACT TRAGIC OPERA, SCYLLA ET GLAUCUS (1746) BY THE FRENCH COMPOSER JEAN-MARIE LECLAIR. IN JOHN KEATS' LOOSE RETELLING OF OVID'S VERSION OF THE MYTH OF SCYLLA AND GLAUCUS IN BOOK 3 OF ENDYMION (1818) THE EVIL CIRCE DOES NOT TRANSFORM SCYLLA INTO A MONSTER BUT MERELY MURDERS THE BEAUTIFUL NYMPH. GLAUCUS THEN TAKES HER CORPSE TO A CRYSTAL PALACE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN WHERE LIE THE BODIES OF ALL LOVERS WHO HAVE DIED AT SEA. AFTER A THOUSAND YEARS, SHE IS RESURRECTED BY ENDYMION AND REUNITED WITH GLAUCUS. AT THE CAROLINGIAN ABBEY OF CORVEY IN WESTPHALIA, A UNIQUE NINTH-CENTURY WALL PAINTING DEPICTS, AMONG OTHER THINGS, ODYSSEUS' FIGHT WITH SCYLLA, AN ILLUSTRATION NOT NOTED ELSEWHERE IN MEDIEVAL ARTS. IN THE RENAISSANCE AND AFTER, IT WAS THE STORY OF GLAUCUS AND SCYLLA THAT CAUGHT THE IMAGINATION OF PAINTERS ACROSS EUROPE. IN AGOSTINO CARRACCI'S 1597 FRESCO CYCLE OF THE LOVES OF THE GODS IN THE FARNESE GALLERY, THE TWO ARE SHOWN EMBRACING, A CONJUNCTION THAT IS NOT SANCTIONED BY THE MYTH. ORE ORTHODOX VERSIONS SHOW THE MAIDEN SCRAMBLING AWAY FROM THE AMOROUS ARMS OF THE GOD, AS IN THE OIL ON COPPER PAINTING OF FILLIPO LAURI AN OIL ON CANVAS BY SALVATOR ROSA IN THE MUSEE DES BEAUX-ARTS DE CAEN. OTHER PAINTERS PICTURE THEM IVIDE BY THEIR RESPECTIVE ELEMENTS OF LAND AND WATER, AS IN THE PAINTINGS OF THE FLEMISH BARTHOLMAUS SPRANGER (1587) NOW IN THE KUNSTHISTORISCHES MUSEUM, VIENNA. SOME ADD THE DETAIL OF CUPID AIMINF AT THE SEA-GOD WITH HIS BOW, AS IN THE PAINTING OF LAURENT DE LA HYRE (1604/4) IN THE J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM AND THAT OF JACQUES DUMONT LE ROMAI (1726) AT THE MUSSE ES BEAUX ARTS DE TROYES. TWO CUPIDS CAN ALSO BE SEEN FLUTTERING AROUND THE FLEEING SCYLLA IN THE LATE PAINTING OF THE SCENE BY J.M.W TURNER (1841) NOW IN THE KIMBELL ART MUSEUM. PETER PAUL RUBENS SHOWS THE MOMENT WHEN THE HORRIFIED SCYLLA FIRST BEGINS TO CHANGE, UNDER THE GAZE OF GLAUCUS (C.1636) WHILE EGLON VAN DER NEER'S 1695 PAINTING IN THE RIJKSMUSEUM SHOWS CIRCE POISONING THE WATER AS SCYLLA PREPARES TO BATHE. THERE ARE ALSO TWO PRE-RAPHAELITE TREATMENTS OF THE LATTER SCENE BY JOHN MELHUISH STRUWICK (1886) AND JOHN WILLIAM WATERHOUSE (CIRCE INVIDIOSA, 1892.) I HOPE THAT YOU ENJOYED THIS POST ON SCYLLA AND IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT SCYLLA THEN YOU CAN GO TO HTTP://EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/WIKI/SCYLLA ALSO FEEL FREE TO SHARE MY BLOGS WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY. IF YOU HAVE REQUEST FOR A POST THEN PLEASE ASK I WILL HAPPILY WRITE A POST FOR YOU. I ALWAYS TAKE REQUEST.
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