Glaucus the sea-god loved the maiden Scylla, who spurned him; when he sought a love-potion from Circe on Aeaea the sorceress desired him herself, and in jealousy poisoned the bay where Scylla bathed until howling dogs girdled the girl's loins and she became the cliff-monster of the strait.1
The fisherman become sea-god
Glaucus was once a mortal fisherman of Anthedon who tasted strange grass on the shore and leaped into the sea, changed by Oceanus and Tethys into a blue-green god of the deep. Swimming through his new element he saw Scylla, a maiden with a girl's own face, and burned with love.2
The rejected suit
Scylla fled his embraces and clung to a cliff above the safe dry land. Glaucus told her he was no monster but a god who could grant long life and fame — yet she would have none of him. In despair he crossed the sea to Circe's isle and begged the enchantress for a potion to win the maiden.3
The poisoned bay
Circe desired Glaucus herself and, when he refused her, poured poison into the bay where Scylla bathed. The water frothed; from Scylla's loins sprang ravening dogs barking around her waist, and the girl who had fled a lover became the dog-girt terror Homer placed in the strait opposite Charybdis — a Scylla distinct from Nisus' daughter of Megara.4
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How the centuries saw it
Circe Invidiosa
John William Waterhouse, 1892
Waterhouse's tall oil (Art Gallery of South Australia) freezes Ovid's jealousy: Circe pours emerald poison into the bay where Scylla will bathe, turning Glaucus' rejected love into the strait-monster of Messina.
Glaucus and Scylla
J. M. W. Turner, 1841
Turner's late oil dissolves Ovid's sea-chase into light and spray: the blue-green fisherman-god pursues Scylla across a boiling gulf while Circe's jealousy waits offstage.
Glaucus and Scylla
Bartholomeus Spranger, c. 1580–1582
Vienna Mannerist panel: Spranger gives Glaucus a muscular sea-god's body as he reaches for fleeing Scylla — the Ovidian pursuit Circe will answer with poison.
Glaucus and Scylla
Salvator Rosa, c. 1660–1670
Rosa's dark coastal drama: transformed Glaucus stretches toward Scylla on a rocky shore while the sea behind them promises Circe's revenge — Ovid as a storm of desire.
Glaucus and Scylla
Laurent de La Hyre, 1640–1644
Getty canvas: La Hyre stages Glaucus' plea with cool French clarity — blue sea-flesh and the nymph's recoil before Circe ruins the strait.