Theme trail · 10 stops
Sea Monsters
“The sea is frightening, and the sea makes us dream.”
For people who travelled in small wooden boats, the sea was full of invisible dangers: currents, whirlpools, fog, sudden waves. Legends gave these dangers a face, sometimes terrifying, sometimes beautiful. And alongside the monsters there are heroes of the sea too.
Scylla and CharybdisCalabriaIn the Strait of Messina, real whirlpools became two monsters.
The Fata MorganaCalabriaOver the same Strait, a sorceress makes cities appear above the water.
ColapesceSicilyAnd beneath the Strait, a boy holds up one of the columns of Sicily all by himself.
The SirensGreek mythologyThe Sirens enchanted sailors with their song, and only Odysseus heard them without being shipwrecked.
The Siren ParthenopeCampaniaOne of them, according to legend, gave her name to the first Naples.
Pizzomunno and CristaldaApuliaIn Vieste, out of jealousy, the sirens turned a love story into a sea stack.
JörmungandrNorse mythologyIn the North the world serpent is so long that it wraps around the whole earth.
The KrakenNorse mythologyNorwegian sailors told of an island that moves and has tentacles.
TaniwhaPolynesiaIn New Zealand the guardians of the waters can protect or punish.
KappaJapanese mythologyIn the rivers of Japan, a little spirit can be beaten with a bow.
Next trail: Good Witches and Bad Witches
Who's behind this
Ciro Simone Irmici
I build websites, apps and games. I built the Atlas with artificial intelligence and I check every card and every source myself. I am not a scholar of mythology: I tell these legends with respect and always say where they come from. If you know a legend from your town, write to me.
More of my work: free audiobooks on YouTube · ebooks on Gumroad · Apple Books · music on Spotify and YouTube Music