Men have always been fascinated by oceans and depths and created sea monsters. Till this day, people have been fantasised on them, no matter if they are mythological or from books.
Charybdis and Scylla
Charybdis and Scylla are sea monsters of Greek mythology. Ulysses fight them during its Odyssey.Charybdis is whirlpool that suck up all the ship which come close to him. She is the daughter of Poseidon and Gaia. She devoured in part Heracles’ herd and Zeus punished her by changing her in a sea chasm sentenced to gobble ships. Scylla, as for her, was a nymph. Glaucus, sea god, was in love with her. To seduce her, he asked Circe, the sorcerer, a love philtre. However, Circe loved Glaucus, thus jealous of Scylla, she decided to pour poison in the fountain where Scylla bathed. Scylla became hideous. Ashamed and hopeless, she ran away in the strait of Messina near Charybdis to terrorise sailors. This myth created the expression “fall from Charybdis into Scylla » which means going to bad to worse. .
Mermaid
From Greek mythology, mermaids were creatures half-bird half-woman contrary to what we often think. They are also in the strait of Messina with Charybdis and Scylla.They seduce sailors with their beautiful voices and they drowned as soon as they heard them. Starting from Middle Age, people started representing them half-fish half-woman. There are several hypothesis regarding their number: According to Homer, there are two mermaids Aglaopheme and Thelxiepeia while for others there are til eight mermaids. They are in Homer’s Odyssey. Ulysses was warned by Circe that he will meet the mermaids. In order to resist them, he asked his crew to tie him down against the mast and told them to plug their ears with wax. That way, mermaids couldn’t be able to seduce them.
Leviathan and Jormungand
Leviathan is a god from Phoenician mythology who looks like a sea monster. He sleeps under water and if he wakes up, he will provoke apocalypse on earth. He is also a demon in the bible who can only be dismiss by the sword of god. This sea snake measure 75 meters and his body is covered of scale. It is often represented mouth open ready to eat the damned soul at the entry of Hell. In several others mythologies, we see giant sea snake. For instance, in the Scandinavian mythology, Jormungand is a sea snake, son of Loki and Angrboda. Odin threw him in the sea to stops the prophecy about the children of Loki destroying the Earth. Jormungand would be so big, he would be able to circle the earth and grab his tail. If he drops it, it would be the end of the world.
Kraken
his giant squid or octopus comes from Scandinavian mythology. He terrorises every sailor of the sea.Kraken can destroy the boat’s hull et to lead to disastrous shipwreck. According to legends, he would wrap his tentacle all around the ship and pull It down in the depths. There is some trace of the Kraken in Greek mythology in the Persia myth
Loch ness
It all started in 565 when the father Colomban would have seen loch ness monster in the loch ness lake in Scotland. While he was swimming in the lake with another religious, the monster would have appeared suddenly mouth open wide. Father Colomban would have stopped the loch ness by saying “Don’t think to come closer or hurt us, now go away !” . It’s only in 1933 that the loch ness monster became world wide known. This year, Doctor Wilson, was in holydays in Scotland and took a picture of the so-called monster. The photo became viral and lot of tourist went to Scotland. 60 years later, Doctor Wilson’s step brother admitted it was a hoax. However, many others claim to be the creator of the prank. Where is the truth? Where is the lie? ?
Cthulhu
Cthulhu is from the oeuvre of Howard Phillips Lovecraft, writer of fantastic books. One of the most known is “The call of Cthulhu”. This story created the myth of Cthulhu: millennium extra-terrestrial god arrived on Earth thousands of years ago. He was worshiped by creatures people. He was banned from Xoth system by the “Very Ancient God” and he went into exile in south pacific in the ocean city call R’Lveh till his awakening.
We could have talk about the sea bishop, Kappa, Umibozu, each uisge or the nereid but we decided to focus on the most known. Share with us the ones you know in the comments below!
