Scyllaeum (Greek:τὸ Σκύλλαιον) was a promontory, and ancient town or fortress, on the west coast ofBruttium (modern Calabria), about 25 km north of Rhegium (Reggio di Calabria), and almost exactly at the entrance of theSicilian strait.
The promontory is well described byStrabo[1] as a projecting rocky headland, jutting out boldly into the sea, and united to the mainland by a narrow neck or isthmus, so as to form two small but well sheltered bays, one on each side. There can be no doubt that this rocky promontory was the one which became the subject of so many fables, and which was represented byHomer and other poets as the abode of the monsterScylla.[2] But the dangers of the rock of Scylla were far more fabulous than those of its neighborCharybdis, and it is difficult to understand how, even in the infancy of navigation, it could have offered any obstacle more formidable than a hundred other headlands whose names are unknown to fame.[3]
At a later periodAnaxilas, the despot of Rhegium, being struck with the natural strength of the position, fortified the rock, and established a naval station there, for the purpose of checking the incursions of the Tyrrhenian pirates.[4] In consequence of this a small town grew up on the spot; and hencePliny speaks of anoppidum Scyllaeum; but it was probably always a small place, and other writers speak only of the promontory.[5] At the present day the rock is still occupied by a fort, which is a post of considerable strength, while a small town (modernScilla) stretches down the slopes towards the two bays. The distance from the castle to the opposite point of theSicilian coast, marked by the Torre del Faro, is stated byWilliam Henry Smyth at 6047 yards (c. 5.5 km), or rather less than 3.5 English miles, but the strait afterwards contracts considerably, so that its width between thePunta Pezzo[6] and the nearest point of Sicily does not exceed 3971 yards (c. 3.6 km).[7]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857).Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.