1) We have all found ourselves stuck between a rock and a hard place, trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea or caught between the hammer and the anvil. The next time you're in a tricky dilemma, why not try out the ancient version: caught between Scylla and Charybdis..
2) In Book 12 of the Odyssey, Odysseus and his crew skirt by the island of the Sirens somewhere along the western coast of Italy. With Odysseus tied to the mast and his men's ears filled with beeswax, they avoid the lure of the Sirens' song, continuing south towards Sicily..
3) Soon they come to the Strait of Messina between Sicily and Calabria. Both sides of the narrow channel were guarded by deadly monsters that proved inescapable threats to sailors - who attempting to avoid one, would inevitably come in reach of the other. On the Calabrian coast..
4) Scylla - a ferocious, twelve-legged, female monster emerging from a cavern in the cliff - with six heads on long necks, each hoping to carry off a sailor in a triple row of sharklike teeth. From her loins sprouted further heads of ravenous, baying dogs. On the Sicilian side...
5) Charybdis - a terrifying sea-monster lurking under the waves near the Sicilian shore, directly opposite Scylla's cave. Three times a day Charybdis sucks in seawater creating a violent whirlpool, large enough to swallow an entire ship..
6) Approaching the strait, Odysseus follows the earlier advice of Circe and steers closer to Scylla's cave than Charybdis; yielding to the immortal gods and conceding it is "better to mourn for six companions of your ship than to have them all wiped out together.."
7) Despite rowing with all their might, dreaded Scylla snatches away six of Odysseus' strongest and bravest men "like an angler fishing from a jutting rock". As Scylla slowly devours them at the entrance to her cave, Odysseus is tormented by their agonising screams..
8) Having chosen the lesser of two evils, Odysseus and his remaining crew narrowly escape Scylla and Charybdis, landing on the island of Thrinacia, home of Helios' sacred cattle. The monsters have long been evoked to describe the dilemma of navigating two hazardous courses..
9) ..Perhaps most famously by Erasmus (1515) quoting an older proverb: "having escaped Charybdis, I was caught by Scylla" - in some situations there can be no escape without some cost. Alternatively, a person might go too far in avoiding one extreme and tumble into its opposite..
10) The proverb of Scylla and Charybdis was seen as comparable in meaning to other ancient sayings such as "out of the frying pan and into the fire" and the fable of the hare who jumps into the sea to escape the dog - both allegedly coined by Germanicus! (Greek Anthology, 17)
11) So the next time you take the narrow path and find yourself stuck between a rock and a hard place, forced to choose the lesser of two evils ..remember the deadly passage of Odysseus through the Strait of Messina, facing both Scylla and Charybdis!
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1) Let's travel in time through this fascinating Roman denarius added to my collection, to the sacred grove of the goddess Diana on the mysterious shores of Lake Nemi – and into one of the most bloody and undeniably cinematic rites of the ancient world...
2) Situated in the Alban Hills south of Rome, Lago di Nemi is a circular crater lake nestled within the caldera of an extinct ancient volcano. The sheltered and tranquil body of water, which perfectly reflected the moon, came to be known by the Romans as 'Diana's Mirror'..
3) Within a sacred grove on the northern shore of the lake stood the temple sanctuary of Diana Nemorensis or 'Diana of the Wood' constructed around 300 BC, though the cult of Diana of Nemi is thought to have its origins as far back as the 6th century BC..
1) This bronze diploma was awarded to Marcus Surus Garasenus on 5th April 71 AD, recognising his completion of 26 years' service as an auxiliary marine in the Roman naval fleet based at Misenum. The prized diploma granted full Roman citizenship to Marcus, his wife and his heirs..
2) Marcus Surus originally came from the Roman province of Syria, leaving his home in what is today Jerash, Jordan to join the Roman navy during the reign of Claudius in 46 AD...
3) Marking completion of his stipulation 26 years of service, this diploma not only grants him honourable discharge and full Roman citizenship, but also records that 'Surus, son of Dama, from Jerash' will now be known by his Romanised name, Marcus Surus Garasenus.
1) An astounding survival from the Roman world. This silver bust of the emperor Galba is an incredibly rare example of an imperial imago, a reverential portrait of the reigning emperor mounted on a pole and carried into battle as a military standard...
2) The imago of the emperor was carried on campaign by a special standard-bearer known as the imaginifer. These precious metal busts ensured the symbolic presence of the emperor on the battlefield, and in the absence of the real ruler, could be used as...
3) ..objects of veneration in the camp, foci for oaths of fidelity to the emperor, as well as oaths of submission from a defeated enemy. This imago of Galba is of particular historical interest; after he had reigned for six months in the wake of Nero's suicide...
1) The fascinating Roman grave memorial of Sextus Vettius Geminus, veteran of the Third Augustan Legion based at Lambaesis, Algeria. The stele with its striking portrait is compelling in its own right – but is made even more so by an intriguing added function that it served...
2) Sextus Vettius Geminus lived sixty years and was a veteran of Legio III Augusta, in which he served a crucial role as signifer or standard-bearer. The old, bearded veteran is shown wearing his toga in a powerful frontal portrait that extends beyond the limits of its frame..
3) The memorial to Vettius Geminus was probably set up by his wife Licinia Muciana and a son also called Vettius, whose names are both damaged in the inscription. It is when we look at the top of the gravestone that we see something very surprising...
1) This incredible Roman bronze victory trophy is a unique survival from the ancient world, unearthed in the forum of Hippo Regius in Algeria where it once stood in celebration of a Roman military triumph...
2) The tropaeum, standing eight feet tall and weighing over a quarter of a ton, is sculpted in emulation of temporary trophies erected near the site of a victorious battle, taking the form of a tree trunk decorated with captured armour and weapons...
3) The cast bronze trophy shows a general's cuirass armour draped in a cloak, with precisely sculpted leather pteruges strips that provided some defence at the hips. Captured enemy weapons may have also been fixed to monument in ancient times...
1) The massive Trier Gold Hoard: 2,516 Roman aurei coins weighing 18.5 kg, unearthed in 1993 in the cellar of a Roman administrative building of ancient Augusta Treverorum. The hoard was deposited during the Antonine Plague or 'Plague of Galen' in the late 2nd century AD..
2) The gold hoard was unearthed by chance during the excavation of an underground parking garage in Trier. Sadly, hundreds of coins were stolen before the hoard could be secured by authorities, but an estimated 95% was preserved – the largest surviving Roman imperial gold hoard.
3) Study has shown the Trier hoard was first deposited in 167 AD at the height of the Antonine Plague: a catastrophic pandemic that may have killed upwards of 10 million people across the Roman Empire including, in all likelihood, the Roman emperor Lucius Verus..