SCYLLA

SCYLLA

"Now Scylla's necks menace his decks 

Charybdis threats his ships 

Six men are lost-O! dreadful cost 

But he through danger slips"

H.P. Lovecraft, The Poem Of Ulysses

"Scylla, whose name is derived from skulle, meaning "bitch", is portrayed variously as a beautiful female from the waist up but from the waist down had the heads of six ferocious dogs sprouting from her above twelve dogs' legs' or as an amorphous, tentacled mass with as many as six heads each with three sets of teeth and twelve sets of legs and feet."

"During the Middle Ages, Scylla was often portrayed in bestiaries as a marine monster, described as having the tail of a dolphin on the body of a wolf and from the waist up a young woman."
Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters and Dragons  

"Homer describes Skylla as a creature with twelve dangling feet, six long necks and grisly heads lined with a triple row of sharp teeth." 

"Skylla is probably derived from the imagery of words associated with her name : namely, "hermit-crab" (Greek skyllaros), "dog" and "dog-shark" (skylax), and "to rend" (skyllô). In classical art she was depicted as a fish-tailed sea-goddess"
Aaron J. Atsma, The Theoi Project: Greek Mythology

"She was once a beautiful maiden and was changed into a snaky monster by Circe. She dwelt in a cave high up on the cliff, from whence she was accustomed to thrust forth her long necks, and in each of her mouths seize one of the crew of every 
vessel passing within reach."
Thomas Bullfinch, Bullfinch's Mythology 

MERCURY

MERCURY

"In Circes palace grand. 

To beasts at her command. 

But Mercury did set him free 

From witcheries like this 

Unhappy he his men to see 

Engaged in swinish bliss."

H.P. Lovecraft, The Poem Of Ulysses

"Hermes (Mercury) was depicted as either a handsome and athletic, beardless youth, or as an older bearded man. His attributes included the herald's wand or kerykeion (Latin caduceus), winged boots, and sometimes a winged travellers cap."
Aaron J. Atsma, The Theoi Project: Greek Mythology 

"Celestial messenger of various skill, whose powerful arts could watchful Argos kill. With winged feet 'tis thine through air to course, O friend of man, and prophet of discourse; great life-supporter, to rejoice is thine in arts gymnastic, and in fraud divine."
Orphic Hymn 28 to Hermes

"The principal attributes of Hermes are a travelling hat, with a broad brim, which in later times was adorned with two little wings;"

"The white ribbons with which the herald's staff was originally surrounded were changed by later artists into two serpents, though the ancients themselves accounted for them either by tracing them to some feat of the god, or by regarding them as symbolical representations of prudence, life, health, and the like. The staff, in later times, is further adorned with a pair of wings, expressing the rapidity with which the messenger of the gods moved from place to place."
Sir William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology

VULCAN

 VULCAN

"Foul giants are they. 

Each hath 1 eye, and hard they ply 

Great Vulcan to obey. 

A cyclop's cave the wanderers brave 

And find much milk & cheese 

But as they eat, foul death they meet 

For them doth Cyclops seize."

H.P. Lovecraft, The Poem Of Ulysses

Vulcan (Hephaestos), the celestial artist, was the son of Jupiter and Juno. He was born lame, and his mother was so displeased at the sight of him that she flung him out of heaven."

"Vulcan's lameness, according to another account, was the consequence of his fall. He was a whole day falling, and at last alighted in the Island of Lemnos, which was thenceforth sacred to him."

"Jupiter gave her (Venus) to Vulcan, in gratitude for the service he had rendered in forging thunderbolts."
Thomas Bulfinch, Bulfinch's Mythology

CIRCE

CIRCE

"He drew his sword and spake harsh word 

To Circe standing there 

"My men set free", in wrath quoth he 

"Thy damage quick repair"!!!"

H.P. Lovecraft, The Poem Of Ulysses

"Kirke, a goddess with braided hair, with human speech and with strange powers;"

"Having given them this and waited for them to have their fill, she struck them suddenly with her wand, then drove them into the sties where she kept her swine. And now the men had the form of swine--the snout and grunt and bristles; only their minds were left unchanged. They shed tears as they were shut in, while Kirke threw down in front of them some acorns and mast and cornel--daily fare for swine whose lodging is on the ground."

Homer, Odyssey

"She sprinkled round about her evil drugs and poisonous essences, and out of Erebos and Chaos called Nox and the Di Noties and poured a prayer with long-drawn wailing cries to Hecate. The woods  leapt away, a groan came from the ground, the bushes blanched, the spattered sward was soaked with gouts of blood, stones brayed and bellowed, dogs began to bark, black snakes swarmed on the soil and ghostly shapes of silent spirits floated through the air. Stunned by such magic sorcery, the group of courtiers stood aghast; and as they gazed, she touched their faces with her poisoned wand, and at its touch each took the magic form of some wild beast; none kept his proper shape."

Ovid, Metamorphoses

"She was skilled in the magic of metamorphosis, the power of illusion, and the dark art of necromancy."

Aaron J. Atsma, The Theoi Project: Greek Mythology

SCYLLA

SCYLLA

"Now Scylla's necks menace his decks 

Charybdis threats his ships 

Six men are lost-O! dreadful cost 

But he through danger slips"

H.P. Lovecraft, The Poem Of Ulysses

"Scylla, whose name is derived from skulle, meaning "bitch", is portrayed variously as a beautiful female from the waist up but from the waist down had the heads of six ferocious dogs sprouting from her above twelve dogs' legs' or as an amorphous, tentacled mass with as many as six heads each with three sets of teeth and twelve sets of legs and feet."

"During the Middle Ages, Scylla was often portrayed in bestiaries as a marine monster, described as having the tail of a dolphin on the body of a wolf and from the waist up a young woman."
Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters and Dragons 

"Homer describes Skylla as a creature with twelve dangling feet, six long necks and grisly heads lined with a triple row of sharp teeth."

"Skylla is probably derived from the imagery of words associated with her name : namely, "hermit-crab" (Greek skyllaros), "dog" and "dog-shark" (skylax), and "to rend" (skyllô). In classical art she was depicted as a fish-tailed sea-goddess"
Aaron J. Atsma, The Theoi Project: Greek Mythology

"She was once a beautiful maiden and was changed into a snaky monster by Circe. She dwelt in a cave high up on the cliff, from whence she was accustomed to thrust forth her long necks, and in each of her mouths seize one of the crew of every 
vessel passing within reach."
Thomas Bullfinch, Bullfinch's Mythology 



 

CHARYBDIS

CHARYBDIS

"Now Scylla's necks menace his decks 

Charybdis threats his ships 

Six men are lost-O! dreaful cost 

But he through danger slips"

H.P. Lovecraft, The Poem Of Ulysses

"The opposite rock, which was much lower, contained an immense fig-tree, under which there dwelt Charybdis, who thrice every day swallowed down the waters of the sea, and thrice threw them up again."

William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology

"Scylla's fellow monsters lurking beneath the opposite cliff was Charybdis, a mythical whirlpool and daughter of Gaia and Poseidon."

Malcolm Day, 100 Characters From Classical Mythology

"There she assumed a new form, that of a disembodied mouth gaping at the surface, sucking in air and sea, and spewing them back out in an enormous 
vortex three times a day."
Carol Rose, Giants, Monsters and Dragons