Scylla and Charybdis

After passing by the peoples of the island of the sirens Odysseus, his ship must pass between the island of the Scylla and Charybdis. Scylla is a six headed monster that devours one sailor per head and Charybdis is a whirl pool that sits on this side of Scylla's lair. Circe had instructed Oddysseus to stay close to the cliffs of Scylla's lair and only observe Charybdis whirling waters across the strait. Scylla's heads devour one of Oddysseus crew members each as they sail past. Scylla means female dog in Greek and the 6 headed monster has been depicted as having dogs heads and a nymphs body in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Homer describes the monster as having 12 feet, two feet per head. Scylla is obviously a matriarchal clan of six tribes living on hills next to a straight. The scyllains produce a whirlpool next to that strait.The whirl pool is often also described as a living monster. So one either has people convert to their tribes or chances losing the entire crew to the whirl pool. It might be that each monster depicts a male and female aspect of the same religion or two peoples living in the same area that afford one to join one of the two if one is to survive encountering either, the devouring might represent the husbands one must sacrifice to ally with the scyllaans that allows for peaceful unity with both peoples. Marrying into each tribe of Scylla allows one to be allied with the people of Charybdis. The Strait of Messina between Italy and Sicily. The phrase Scylla and Charybdis has been used to describe making a choice between a rock or a hard place, two unappealing choices, one that destroys you while the other that hurts you.
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