Wednesday, May 24, 2017

How Scylla and Chimera Got their names

Since I am oldest I get to go first, none of the alphabet nonsense.  When Mommy first brought me and my litter mate Charybdis home we were foster kitties. But Mommy and the guys fell in love with us from the very first day, so we knew this was going to be our forever home. Mommy wanted to name us Katrina (Scylla) & Camille (Charybdis) cause she thinks they are pretty girl names and they are famous hurricanes, but Daddy said NO. He told Mommy she could keep us IF he got to name us. So she said OK as long as he didn't name us War (Charybdis) and Pestilence (Scylla) and she requested he pick out a girls name. So he looked in Greek mythology for some girl monsters and since Scylla & Charybdis go together and we look so much alike he thought that would be the perfect names for us. Especially since he felt like he was between a rock and a hard place when it was feeding time and he was the only one around. We were bottle feed when we first came to live here. Since the whole family liked it, Scylla & Charybdis became our names.

This is about the Scylla in Greek Mythology
Scylla was a nymph, daughter of Phorcys. The fisherman-turned-sea-god Glaucus fell madly in love with her, but she fled from him onto the land where he could not follow. Despair filled his heart. He went to the sorceress Circe to ask for a love potion to melt Scylla's heart. As he told his tale of love to Circe, she herself fell in love with him. She wooed him with her sweetest words and looks, but the sea-god would have none of her. Circe was furiously angry, but with Scylla and not with Glaucus. She prepared a vial of very powerful poison and poured it in the pool where Scylla bathed. As soon as the nymph entered the water she was transformed into a frightful monster with twelve feet and six heads, each with three rows of teeth. Below the waist her body was made up of hideous monsters, like dogs, who barked unceasingly. She stood there in utter misery, unable to move, loathing and destroying everything that came into her reach, a peril to all sailors who passed near her. Whenever a ship passed, each of her heads would seize one of the crew.

Scylla is also the name of a daughter of King Nisus of Megara.
Scylla could bark like a dog (according to some skulax, "young dog").


I have a very LOUD MEOW, so I guess you could compare it to a dog barking. I prefer to think Daddy named me after the beautiful nymph Scylla before Circe turned her into a monster.

Ok I am done so Chimera can have her turn.

Chimera where are you, it's your turn to MEOW. ~Scylla, reporting for ATCAD

 Well you aren't going to have to listen to a long boring tail now that it's my turn. I plan to keep it short and sweet. The humans like mythology so when they needed a name for me Youngest Boy came up with Chimera from Greek mythology. Apparently he thought I looked like a monster. The Chimera according to Greek mythology, is a monstrous fire-breathing hybrid creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, composed of the parts of more than one animal. I did sort of resemble a drowned rat when they found me. I was soaking wet and didn't even look like I had fur as it was sticking to my skin I was so wet.

~Chimera, reporting for ATCAD

5 comments:

H.R. Bennett said...

I had a ton of cats, but my favorite is still the kitty I had for the majority of my life (5 - 28). Her name was Beast, originally known as Catzilla, because I was five and very inventive. haha

Just Ducky said...

Good names and grate stories to go with them. You have a theme in the family for names. I like that.

Timmy Tomcat said...

Wow there is a lot of naming action at your home! Really good stories and putting a lot of work into a name shows how much your pawrents adore you both
Purrs
Timmy
Miss Fitz

Angel Gracie=^o.o^= said...

Great way to name the cats. A lot to think about. I like all the names you were given.

Anonymous said...

A lot of thought went into your names! That's really cool and makes your names VERY special.....

Love, Teddy and Angel Sam