Charybdis Fig Tree

The Charybdis Fig Tree is a massive fig tree situated above the whirlpool monster Charybdis in the infamous Strait of Messina.

Location

The fig tree's trunk is on the top of a cliff on the opposite side of the straight looking outwards to the Scylla. However, its long branches droop down so they are right above the rotating void of Charybdis.

Mythology

Very little is known about the Charybdis Fig Tree. There are barely any sources to explain the background of the fig tree, though it is credited in the Odyssey for saving Odysseus from being sucked in by Charybdis. When Odysseus's men ate the Sun-God's cattle, they were punished by having their boat ripped apart in a terrible thunderstorm. Only Odysseus is believed to survive and makes a raft by lashing the keel and mast together to form a raft. But the current of Charybdis drags the raft into its spinning center and Odysseus is able to escape by grabbing the overhanging branches of the fig tree. When Charybdis throws the raft back up again, Odysseus manages to drop back into the water and get back on the raft where he later manages to land on the island of Ogygia where the nymph Calypso lived.