Enchantress of the island of Aeaea who turned Odysseus‘s men into pigs. Odysseus, protected by a herb from Hermes, made her turn them back.
From The western seas. Today: unknown. Ancient readers placed many of these around Sicily and Italy.
Strength 3/10 · Wisdom 9/10 · Courage 6/10 · Divinity 8/10 · Fame 8/10
The story
Daughter of the Sun god Helios and aunt of Medea, living on the island of Aeaea with tame lions and wolves around her house. She fed Odysseus‘s scouts a drugged meal and turned them into pigs.
How it ends
Odysseus, protected by a herb called moly from Hermes, made her restore his men. They stayed a year, and she sent him to consult the dead Tiresias.
Still with us today
Madeline Miller’s bestselling novel Circe (2018) retells the Odyssey and much of Greek myth through her eyes.
Family
Appears in
Read about them in the Library
- Odyssey 10: Aeolus and Circe
- Odyssey 11: The land of the dead
- Odyssey 12: Sirens, Scylla and the cattle of the Sun
- Theogony and Works and Days 6: The wives and children of Zeus
- Library of Apollodorus 18: Epitome: the homecomings and Odysseus
- Argonautica 4: The Fleece and the long way home
- Metamorphoses 14: Aeneas in Italy
Ancient sources
- Homer, Odyssey