Charybdis Fig Tree

The fig tree's trunk is on the top of a cliff on the opposite side of the straight looking outwards to the Scylla at the Strait of Messina. However, its long branches hang down so that they are right above the water.

The tree is credited in the Odyssey for saving Odysseus from being sucked in by Charybdis. When Odysseus's men ate the Sun-Gods' cattle, they were punished by having their ship ripped apart in a terrible thunderstorm. Only Odysseus is believed to survive, as he escapes by tying the keel and mast of the ship together to form a raft. But the current of Charybdis drags the raft into its spinning centre 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, get back on the raft, and later reach shore on the island of Ogygia.