Headword: {Χάρυβδις} Adler number: chi,144 Translated headword: Charybdis
Translation:
It sucks up the sea around Gadeira[1] and furiously spirals around again. It is said that it all leads down to {chaos} and destruction.[2] {Priscus} says about {Charybdis}: "They sail by {Sicily} in front of Messene and by the strait of Italy where {Charybdis} [is], [and] with tempestuous {winds} coming upon them, they sank, men and all."[3] {Charybdis} and {Scylla}, lying in a narrow place, are subject to the currents of the oceans and sink those sailing past. There {Odysseus} lost all his companions with the ships; he himself was carried away hanging on to a board in the currents of the sea. For some Phoenicians saw him floating in the waters and took him up and led him naked into Crete before {Idomeneus}. He entertained him for the winter season and then sent him to Phaiakia, which is now called Corcyra; and they sent him off with two ships and companions.[4]
Greek Original:
Χάρυβδις: ἡ ἀναπινομένη θάλασσα περὶ τὰ Γάδειρα καὶ πάλιν ῥαγδαιοτέρως ἐπαναστρέφουσα. εἴρηται δὲ πᾶν τὸ εἰς χάος καὶ ὄλεθρον κατάγον. Πρίσκος δὲ λέγει περὶ Χαρύβδεως: παραπλέουσι δὲ τὴν Σικελίαν πρὸς τῇ Μεσσήνῃ κατὰ τὸν πορθμὸν τῆς Ἰταλίας, ἐν ᾧπερ ἡ Χάρυβδις, πνευμάτων ἐπιλαβόντων δυσαῶν, αὐτοῖς ἀνδράσι κατέδυσαν. ὅτι Χάρυβδις καὶ Σκύλλα, ἐν στενῷ τόπῳ κειμένη, ὑποδέχεται τὰ τοῦ ὠκεανοῦ ῥεύματα καὶ τοὺς παραπλέοντας βυθίζει. ἐκεῖσε Ὀδυσσεὺς πάντας τοὺς ἑταίρους μετὰ τῶν πλοίων ἀποβαλὼν αὐτὸς μόνος περικαθίσας σανίδι ἐν τοῖς ῥεύμασι τῆς θαλάσσης ἐφέρετο: τοῦτον γὰρ ἑωρακότες τινὲς Φοίνικες ἐν τοῖς ὕδασι πλέοντα, ἀναλαβόντες ἤγαγον ἐν Κρήτῃ πρὸς Ἰδομενέα γυμνόν. τοῦτον ἐξενοδόχησε τῇ ὥρᾳ τοῦ χειμῶνος καὶ ἀπέπεμψεν εἰς Φαιακίαν, τὴν νῦν λεγομένην Κέρκυραν: οἱ δὲ πέμπουσιν αὐτὸν σὺν δυσὶ ναυσὶ καὶ ἑταίροις.
Notes:
See generally OCD(4) s.v. (p.307). For {Scylla} see {sigma 709}. [1] Present-day Cadiz, in SW {Spain}: {gamma 7}. (But NB, as the rest of the entry shows, this locates {Charybdis} far too far to the west.) [2] From the {scholia} to {Plato}, Letter 7, 345D. Likewise or similarly in other lexica. [3] {Priscus} fr.24 FHG (4.102). [4] From an ancient (and not very competent) summary of {Homer}, Odyssey; similarly in late historiography.