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Odysseus loses crew to Scylla in bedtime Odyssey

7/16/2026

42 8 Full Breakdown

Summary

Odysseus Confronts Scylla

In Book 12 of Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus steers his ship through a strait flanked by Scylla and Charybdis.
He orders his men to keep rowing despite the danger.
Scylla lunges, snatching several crew members whose screams echo as they are pulled into her jaws.
The poem, composed about 3,000 years ago, is narrated as a gruesome “horrifying death-throes” while the storyteller reads it to his 3-year-old son at bedtime.

Summary

Parent Reads Odyssey

The parent has spent months reading the full Odyssey to her toddler despite its adult themes.
The epic opens with a council of gods and contains drug use, a giant’s eye pierced by a red-hot stake, and infidelity, making it unsuitable for children.
Christopher Nolan told The New York Times that Homer inspired Dorothy, Huckleberry Finn and Bilbo.

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Odysseus Confronts Scylla

In Book 12 of Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus steers his ship through a strait flanked by Scylla and Charybdis.
He orders his men to keep rowing despite the danger.
Scylla lunges, snatching several crew members whose screams echo as they are pulled into her jaws.
The poem, composed about 3,000 years ago, is narrated as a gruesome “horrifying death-throes” while the storyteller reads it to his 3-year-old son at bedtime.

1 / 2