Mythological head Charybdis, vases, Sicilian artisan ceramics, Design, home decoration, artistic vase, dark brown head, mermaid

Head Gods and Myths and Legends,
Charybdis large h27 l22 p22

It was entirely handmade in shape and colour, a modern technique was used for decoration which allowed us to obtain very particular colours,
I guarantee that photos cannot capture its shapes and beautiful colors,
this is ceramic this is art.

And a large head that deserves a place in sight that highlights its particularity

in itself already an element of very high artistic value which can still be enhanced by a plant placed inside
because it too, like the other heads, is empty inside.


Scylla and Charybdis, the myth between the two shores
Jealousy and passion at the origin of the myth

It is a story full of passion, unrequited love, ferocious revenge and a dramatic epilogue, which tells of the mythological deeds of gods and mortals in the body of water that separates Reggio from Messina. It is the story of Scylla, a nymph of shocking beauty, transformed by the sorceress Circe into the hideous monster which, according to legend, has been plaguing the waters of the Strait for centuries together with Charybdis, a devastating marine creature created by Zeus capable of swallowing and rejecting sea water three times a day causing deadly vortices.

Scylla and Glaucus
It is Circe's jealousy at the origin of the terrible spell that gives life to one of the myths that most fuel the charm and mystery of the Strait. Near the rocks of Zancle, on which she loved to rest and spend her days, Scylla meets Glaucus, a fisherman from Boeotia, transformed into a sea divinity for having eaten the grass that brought his fish back to life and then instructed in the art of prophecy by Ocean and Tethys. The vision of this being, half man and half fish, terrifies the nymph to the point of making her run away. Glaucus, abandoned to his fate, tries in vain to hold her back by screaming his love for her and telling her his dramatic story, sculpted and handed down to us today by Ovid in the Metamorphoses ("I am not a monster nor a ferocious beast, or virgin, but a god of 'water [...], but before I was a mortal, but to tell the truth the deep sea was already my world").

Circe's revenge and the birth of the myth
In desperation, Glaucus turns to the sorceress Circe, goddess daughter of Helios and the nymph Perseide, famous for her spells capable of changing the appearance of men, in an attempt to bring his beloved Scylla back to him. But the only result that Glaucus achieves is to unleash the jealousy of the sorceress who immediately tries to distance Scylla from the sea god by also unleashing the weapons of seduction towards him. Rejected by Glaucus, Circe pours out her vengeful fury on Scylla, transforming her with a feral spell into a ferocious monster equipped with six barking dog heads, the terror of navigators and sailors of every era. From that moment, according to legend, Scilla took refuge in desperation and anger in a cave under the fortress where the Castle stands and which still exists today, near some rocks a few kilometers from Charybdis which inhabits the Sicilian shore. Beings condemned to live forever facing each other, both constant and inexorable presence in the heart of the Mediterranean.


Explanation of the myth
Not everyone knows that until the 18th century under the fortress of Scilla there was a very particular formation of rocks, which gave the impression of a monstrous creature coming out of the cave. At the time of the Greeks, storm surges were frequent and boats passing through the Strait were pushed by the sea against the rock. With the stormy sea and the rocks tearing the boats apart causing the death of many, the myth of the monster of Scylla was born.

On the Sicilian shore, however, it was the sea currents that generated vortices, which still occur today but of lesser intensity, which often swallowed up the boats that passed near them. Here too we thought of a monster, Charybdis, who sucked up sea water and rejected it, creating enormous vortices.