Scylla (sea monster)

Glaucus sought Circe after Scylla had rejected him. Circe tried to turn his affection towards herself, but he said his love would not change while Scylla lived. Circe became angry at the rejection and at the woman he preferred. She gathered poisonous herbs and mixed them with incantations. Then she travelled to the pool where Scylla went to bathe and spread the poison through the water.

Scylla entered the pool without knowing what Circe had done. When she looked down, monstrous heads and barking mouths had appeared around her body. She fled from them, but the creatures moved with her. Glaucus mourned her and left Circe. Scylla remained by the shore, later attacking the companions of Odysseus when they passed. The same account says that she would have overwhelmed the Trojan ships too, but the gods changed her into a rock before that could happen. The crags rose from the sea, and sailors steered clear of the dangerous place. In this telling, Circe’s anger began the transformation, but Scylla’s later presence at sea remained a danger to those who sailed past.