Who or what are Sylla, Charybdis,and Sirens?

Question

I am trying to find their significance in Greek Mythology: mainly over the Odyssey and the Illiad.

Answer 1

The Sirens were spirits of the sea with the heads of beautiful women and the bodies of birds. They lived on stretches of rocky coast and on reefs, where they lured ships on to dangerous rocks by enchanting the sailors with their song.
Because of their terrible reputation, the Sirens were associated with death and were depicted seated upon mounds of human skeletons. According to the myths, they once competed with the Muses as singers and being defeated, threw themselves into the sea and drowned.


The evil spirits of the sea also included Scylla and Charybdis, who lived on either side of the Straits of Sicily. Scylla rolled rocks down to crush passing ships, while Charybdis was the motive power beneath a terrible whirlpool which struck fear into the hearts of sailors and sucked their vessels down to destruction. These monsters, of whom Homer gives us a very vivid picture in the Odyssey, were a poetic representation of the dangers that lay in wait for all those who ventured forth upon the waves.

Answer 2

They all feature in Homer's 'Odyssey' and were obstacles Odysseus (also called Ulysses) had to get past on his way home to Ithaca. Sylla (or Scylla) was a sea monster (once a pretty nymph who was cursed) with six heads who lived in a cave - Odysseus had to decide whether to sail past the cave or past Charybdis - a massive whirlpool. He chose Sylla and lost 6 men, rather than risk losing all of them (and the boat) with Charybdis. The Sirens were half-bird, half-woman creatures whose singing lured sailers to their death. Odysseus had his men stop up their ears with wax so they couldn't hear anything, and had himself tied to the mast of the ship so he couldn't escape. In this way, he is the only recorded person ever to have heard the sirens and lived. Their significance - the Scylla and Charybdis story is all about making hard choices, and the Sirens episode is another testament to Odysseus' cunning (his major characteristic).

Answer 3

As the previous post has discussed the properties of the monsters, I will not go into them

As for the choice between Scylla and Charybdis, I see it as a gamble of big and small. Odysseus can opt for Scylla, guaranteed to have casualties, but limited to just six (one for each head). Charybdis would be the bigger stake, meaning that Odysseus could lose the entire ship into the whirlpool, but there's also a chance that they might escaped unscathed.

As for the sirens, it reflected Odysseus need to laugh in danger. He already knew the lure of the sirens and yet he insisted in subjecting himself to the risk. He could not resist the temptation as was also reflected when he taunted Polyphemus and announced his name after he escaped, incurring the wrath of Poseidon

Answer 4

cool i know this.. sylla is in the sea she has 12 legs and 6 heads she eats a human for each head. charybdis is some kind of a whirl pool thing that sucks in water and spites it out with a lot of force 3 times a day and the sirens are half women half birds they use their really nice singing to draw people in then eat them spiting out their skin and bones

Answer 5

got to think now..... the first two were rocks that clashed together and crushed boats
the sirens were women who with their beautiful singing would lure sailors onto the rocks
seem to remember that jason had his crew stuff wax in their ears so they couldn't hear while they tied him to the mast so he could hear but not do anything about it. mmm strange man