Greek monsters in The Odyssey (2/2) (Z1, Z2)

The next isn’t necessarily a Greek monster, but it is an obstacle that prevents the protagonist of The Odyssey, Odysseus from continuing on his adventure home. The Lotus Flower was that obstacle. The Lotus Flower was found on one of the islands that Odysseus and his crew had landed on. When the men landed on the island, they were extremely hungry. They ate the only thing available, and that was the Lotus Flower. This flower is highly addictive, preventing the men from wanting to leave the island. There were other men there also; they seemed to be there for a long time. This flower made the men have very strong hallucinations, making them forget about their families and homes. Odysseus received advice from Athena telling him not to consume the flower, so he remained sane. Odysseus had to drag his crew back to the ship in order to leave or they would be stranded on the island for forever. These flowers are representation of drugs in today’s society, making a person completely forget about everything important in their life. It also stands for a certain thing that distracts a person from getting to a place or destination that can make you forget about everything important in your life.
                Scylla is the next Greek monster that Odysseus encounters on his journey home. Scylla is a six headed monster that takes six men from each boat that passes by, one man for each of the heads. She lives in a cave opposite of a whirlpool, Charybdis. Odysseus had to decide which side he wanted to go on. If he went to the whirlpool, everyone on the ship would drown, but if he went on the Scylla route, he would end up losing six of his men. He chooses to go the Scylla route and doesn’t scare his men by telling them that six of them will die.

            Charybdis is the whirlpool that is opposite of Scylla. It is seen as a sea monster, and people in Greek myth generally try to avoid it. Odysseus was the exception of this, but he did avoid the whirlpool by going the Scylla route of his journey. This resulted in the loss of six of his men, but it would have been better than losing all of his men, including himself, and his ship; everyone would have died. Later in the story, Odysseus is one a raft going down the same narrow pathway where Charybdis and Scylla are. This time, he goes down the path of Charybdis because by himself, he would have been killed instantly by Scylla. His raft was sucked into the Charybdis whirlpool, but he survived by holding on to a fig tree that was fortunately positioned right above the Charybdis darkness. In the next burst of water, his raft was thrown out of Charybdis’ mouth. Odysseus miraculously got ahold of his raft and paddled away to safety. This was the only story in Greek mythology in which a Greek mortal hero survived with Scylla and Charybdis. 

            The Cattle of the Sun were also among the Greek animals in which Odysseus encountered. They weren’t exactly monsters, but because of them, Odysseus and his men were punished by Zeus. These cattle belonged to Helios, the god of the sun. Odysseus and his men were trapped on the island, Thrinacia. The only food on the island was the cattle, so the men slaughtered them and ate them. They were trapped there from winds blowing the wrong way after the wind god gave them a bag of air to steer them home. When it was opened, it took them to this island.