What Is The Whirlpool Monster In The Odyssey?: Myth Vs Fact, Explained
If you’ve seen Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, you may have come away dazzled, but also somewhat confused by some of the things you saw on screen.
We’ve already compiled a handy timeline of the film’s events, gone in-depth about the Greek gods, broken down the bow contest, and discussed the importance of Zeus’ law. Another lingering question remains, though: just what is going on with that whirlpool monster?
Let’s remember the moment in The Odyssey: Odysseus (Matt Damon) hears Tiresias’ dooming prophecy, and he and his crew set sail, passing two deadly monsters called Scylla and Charybdis who live on opposite sides of a narrow craggy strait. Scylla is the terrifying six-headed monster living on one side, while Charybdis is the giant whirlpool next door. But what is she, exactly? Let's take a closer look, with some mild spoilers if you've yet to see the film.
What Is the Giant Whirlpool Monster, Charybdis?
In Greek mythology, Charybdis is not, in fact, a giant whirlpool, but rather a terrifying sea monster whose mouth opens to form a whirlpool. The daughter of Poseidon and Gaia (the personification of Earth herself), Charybdis didn’t start as a sea monster, but was turned into one by Zeus as a punishment for helping her father out with a land dispute—tough love!
We never get a full understanding of Charybdis’ body in Homer’s Odyssey, and Nolan leaves her shape up to the imagination, too. However, we know that Charybdis has a massive mouth because she uses it to suck the seawater in and vomit it back up three times a day. So, if you’re trying to evade Scylla’s many heads, you’d better watch where you’re sailing because you might end up in Charybdis’ deadly maw.
While in Nolan’s The Odyssey, we only catch a brief glimpse of the swirling depths of Charybdis, Homer treats us to a twofer. In his poem, after successfully passing by Scylla and Charybdis the first time—after only losing six men—Odysseus and his crew land on the island of Thrinacia. Stranded there for a month, the crew eventually go against Odysseus’ warning and slaughter the cattle of Helios, the Sun God. When the crew set sail again, an angry Helios gets Zeus to conjure up a storm that pushes them right into Charybdis’ mouth. All perish, except for Odysseus, who clings to a fig tree.
Charybdis Was Likely a Real Whirlpool Off the Coast of Sicily
Historians now believe that Charybdis was the mythological version of a very real whirlpool that existed in the area of today’s Strait of Messina, a stretch of water that divides continental Italy from the island of Sicily.
Sailors likely passing through the strait—specifically the area around Cape Peloro—told stories about a giant whirlpool back home, and those tales became personified in Greek legend. Although the whirlpool no longer exists, the waters there can still be treacherous for small vessels due to a mix of restless currents passing through the narrow waterway.
With jagged rocks on one side and a whirlpool on the other, these myths worked to caution travellers keen on cutting through this short but dangerous stretch of water.
