How many men does Scylla devour?

Scylla devours six men in Homer’s Odyssey. As Odysseus’s ship passes through the narrow strait, the monster snatches six sailors from the deck and eats them alive.

Circe warns Odysseus that Scylla and Charybdis guard opposite sides of the passage. Charybdis can destroy an entire ship in a whirlpool, so Circe advises steering closer to Scylla and accepting the loss of six men as the lesser danger.

The number is easy to confuse with Scylla’s six heads, which later artistic traditions emphasize. In Homer’s account, however, the six sailors are the victims—not six separate monsters. Scylla is also distinct from Charybdis: one attacks passing crews, while the other swallows the sea.

Later Greek and Roman writers supplied different origins for Scylla, often portraying her as a transformed beautiful woman. Homer’s episode remains the canonical source for the six men taken from Odysseus’s crew.