Scylla devours six of Odysseus's men. In Homer's Odyssey, the crew must sail through a narrow passage between Scylla, a many-headed sea monster, and Charybdis, a deadly whirlpool.
The goddess Circe tells Odysseus to steer closer to Scylla because Charybdis could swallow the entire ship. She warns that losing six men is preferable to losing everyone. Odysseus keeps this advice from his crew, hoping to spare them fear, but Scylla reaches down from the cliffs and snatches six sailors from the deck.
The episode is not a conventional battle: Odysseus cannot defeat Scylla, and the men are taken almost instantly. Scylla and Charybdis later became a famous pair representing two disastrous alternatives, giving rise to the expression “between Scylla and Charybdis.” Later mythology often depicts Scylla as a woman with six dog heads, although Homer's description emphasizes her terrifying, predatory form.