Scylla, a fabulous monster of the sea described by the poets and mythologists to have borne the form of a woman downwards to the waist, and thence divided into two tails of a fish, with the heads of three dogs, open mouthed, at her waist. It is in this shape she is seen on an ancient Sicilian medal and on some other monuments. In her hands she is usually made to hold a rudder in the act of striking some one ; thus is she figured on a denarius of Sextus Pompey (PRAEF. ORAE MARIT. ET CLAS. S.C.), to indicate that spot in the gulf of Sicily, where (after the death of his greater father) he gained some successes by sea over Julius Caesar. Scylla, in fact, was a lofty and dangerous rock, over- looking the narrow straits that divide Sicily from Italy, and opposite the whirlpool of Carybdis ; the two together were regarded by the ancients as presenting the very acme of perilous navigation ; and the extreme difficulty of steering safely between them gave rise to the proverb -- Incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdin. Scylla. -- See Contorniate Medals. View whole page from the |Dictionary Of Roman Coins| |