Editing Circe (section)

== Classical literature ==
=== Family and attributes ===
By most accounts, she was the daughter of the [[solar deity|sun god]] [[Helios]] and [[Perse (mythology)|Perse]], one of the three thousand [[Oceanid]] [[nymph]]s.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0218%3Abook%3D10%3Acard%3D3 10.135]; [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D938 956]; [[Apollonius of Rhodes]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/details/theargonauticaof00apoliala/page/168/mode/2up 4.591]; [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Library]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D9%3Asection%3D1 1.9.1]; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#0.2 preface]; [[Cicero]], ''[[De Natura Deorum]]'' [https://topostext.org/work.php?work_id=137#3.47 48.4]</ref> In ''[[Orphic Argonautica]]'', her mother is called [[Asterope (Greek myth)|Asterope]] instead.<ref>''[[Orphic Argonautica]]'' {{cite web| url = https://topostext.org/work/549#1207| title = 1217}}</ref> Her brothers were [[Aeëtes]], keeper of the [[Golden Fleece]] and father of [[Medea]], and [[Perses (brother of Aeetes)|Perses]]. Her sister was [[Pasiphaë]], the wife of [[Minos|King Minos]] and mother of the [[Minotaur]].<ref>Apollodorus, ''Library'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D1%3Achapter%3D9%3Asection%3D1 1.9.1]; Apollonius Rhodius, ''Argonautica ''.</ref> Other accounts make her and her niece [[Medea]] the daughters of [[Hecate]], the goddess of [[witchcraft]]<ref>Grimal; Smith.</ref> by Aeëtes,<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''[[Bibliotheca historica|Historic Library]]'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4C*.html#45 4.45.1]</ref> usually said to be her brother instead. She was often confused with [[Calypso (mythology)|Calypso]], due to her shifts in behavior and personality, and the association that both of them had with [[Odysseus]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Women of classical mythology : a biographical dictionary|last=E.|first=Bell, Robert|date=1993|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0195079777|location=New York|oclc=26255961}}</ref>

According to Greek legend, Circe lived on the island of [[Aeaea]]. Although Homer is vague when it comes to the island's whereabouts, the early 3rd BC author [[Apollonius of Rhodes]]'s epic poem ''[[Argonautica]]'' locates Aeaea somewhere south of ''Aethalia'' ([[Elba]]), within view of the Tyrrhenian shore (that is, the western coast of Italy).<ref>William H. Race, ''Apollonius Rhodius: Argonautica'', Loeb Classical Library (2008), 4.654–661</ref> In the same poem, Circe's brother Aeëtes describes how Circe was transferred to Aeaea: "I noted it once after taking a ride in my father Helios' chariot, when he was taking my sister Circe to the western land and we came to the coast of the [[Tyrrhenians|Tyrrhenian]] mainland, where she dwells to this day, very far from the [[Colchian]] land."<ref>''[[Argonautica]]'' 3.309–313, translation by W. H. Race, ''Apollonius Rhodius: Argonautica'', Loeb Classical Library (2008), p.241</ref> A scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius claims that Apollonius is following [[Hesiod]]'s tradition in making Circe arrive in Aeaea on Helios' chariot,<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Catalogue of Women]]'' [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Hesiod,_the_Homeric_Hymns_and_Homerica/The_Catalogues_of_Women#181 frag 46]</ref> while [[Valerius Flaccus (poet)|Valerius Flaccus]] writes that Circe was borne away by winged dragons.<ref>[[Gaius Valerius Flaccus (poet)|Valerius Flaccus]], ''Argonautica'' 7.120</ref> Roman poets associated her with the most ancient traditions of Latium, and made her home to be on the promontory of [[Circeo]].<ref>[[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' 7. 10</ref>

[[Homer]] describes Circe as "a dreadful goddess with lovely hair and human speech".<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' 10.135</ref> Apollonius writes that she (just like every other descendant of Helios) had flashing golden eyes that shot out rays of light,<ref>[[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/details/theargonauticaof00apoliala/page/172/mode/2up 4.727]</ref> with the author of ''[[Argonautica Orphica]]'' noting that she had hair like fiery rays.<ref>''[[Argonautica Orphica]]'' {{cite web| url = http://www.argonauts-book.com/orphic-argonautica.html#Circe%20and%20the%20Pillars%20of%20Heracles| title = 1225}}</ref> [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Remedia Amoris|The Cure for Love]]'' implies that Circe might have been taught the knowledge of herbs and potions from her mother Perse, who seems to have had similar skills.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Remedia Amoris|The Cure for Love]]'' [https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/CuresforLove.php#anchor_Toc523020777 4.15]</ref>

=== Pre-Odyssey ===
[[File:J. W. Waterhouse - Circe Invidiosa - Google Art Project.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Circe and [[Scylla]] in [[John William Waterhouse]]'s ''[[Circe Invidiosa]]'' (1892)|alt=]]

In the ''[[Argonautica]]'', [[Apollonius Rhodius|Apollonius]] relates that Circe purified the [[Argonauts]] for the murder of Medea's brother [[Absyrtus]],<ref>"They escaped neither the vast sea's hardships nor vexatious tempests till Kirké<!--Kirké in original--> should wash them clean of the pitiless murder of Apsyrtos" ([[Apollonius of Rhodes]], ''[[Argonautica]]'', iv. 586–88, in Peter Grean's translation).</ref> possibly reflecting an early tradition.<ref>See the ancient concept of ''[[Miasma (Greek mythology)|miasma]]'', a Peter Green's commentary on iv. 705–17, ''The Argonautika Apollonios Rhodios'', (1997, 2007) p. 322.</ref> In this poem, the Argonauts find Circe bathing in salt water; the animals that surround her are not former lovers transformed but primeval "beasts, not resembling the beasts of the wild, nor yet like men in body, but with a medley of limbs."<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/830/830-h/830-h.htm#2H_4_0006|title=iv: 659–84|date=1997|publisher=Gutenberg.org|access-date=2014-03-19}}</ref> Circe invites Jason, Medea and their crew into her mansion; uttering no words, they show her the still bloody sword they used to cut Absyrtus down, and Circe immediately realizes they have visited her to be purified of murder. She purifies them by slitting the throat of a suckling pig and letting the blood drip on them. Afterwards, Medea tells Circe their tale in great detail, albeit omitting the part of Absyrtus' murder; nevertheless Circe is not fooled, and greatly disapproves of their actions. However, out of pity for the girl, and on account of their kinship, she promises not to be an obstacle on their way, and orders Jason and Medea to leave her island immediately.<ref>[[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/details/theargonauticaof00apoliala/page/170/mode/2up 4.662]-[https://archive.org/details/theargonauticaof00apoliala/page/172/mode/2up 752]</ref>

The sea-god [[Glaucus]] was in love with a beautiful maiden, [[Scylla]], but she spurned his affections no matter how he tried to win her heart. Glaucus went to Circe, and asked her for a magic potion to make Scylla fall in love with him too. But Circe was smitten by Glaucus herself, and fell in love with him. Glaucus did not love her back, and turned down her offer of marriage. Enraged, Circe used her knowledge of herbs and plants to take her revenge; she found the spot where Scylla usually took her bath, and poisoned the water. When Scylla went down to it to bathe, dogs sprang from her thighs and she was transformed into the familiar monster from the ''Odyssey''.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://ovid.lib.virginia.edu/trans/Metamorph14.htm#487618604 14.1-74]</ref><ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#199 199]</ref> In another, similar story, [[Picus]] was a Latian king whom Circe turned into a woodpecker.<ref>[[Virgil]], ''[[Aeneid]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/245#7.148 7.186]</ref> He was the son of [[Saturn (mythology)|Saturn]], and a king of [[Latium]]. He fell in love and married a [[nymph]], [[Canens (mythology)|Canens]], to whom he was utterly devoted. One day as he was hunting boars, he came upon Circe, who was gathering herbs in the woods. Circe fell immediately in love with him; but Picus, just like Glaucus before him, spurned her and declared that he would remain forever faithful to Canens. Circe, furious, turned Picus into a woodpecker.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://ovid.lib.virginia.edu/trans/Metamorph14.htm#487618609 14.320-396]</ref> His wife Canens eventually wasted away in her mourning.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://ovid.lib.virginia.edu/trans/Metamorph14.htm#487618610 14.397-434]</ref>

During [[Giants (Greek mythology)|the war between the gods and the giants]], one of the giants, [[Picolous]], fled the battle against the gods and came to Aeaea, Circe's island. He attempted to chase Circe away, only to be killed by Helios, Circe's ally and father.<ref>[[Eustathius of Thessalonica|Eustathius]], ''Ad Odysseam'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=EAYREAAAQBAJ&pg=PT324 10.305] "Alexander of [[Paphos]] reports the following tale: Picoloos, one of the Giants, by fleeing from the war led against Zeus, reached Circe’s island and tried to chase her away. Her father Helios killed him, protecting his daughter with his shield; from the blood which flowed on the earth a plant was born, and it was called μῶλυ because of the μῶλος or the battle in which the Giant aforementioned was killed."</ref> From the blood of the slain giant, a herb came into existence; [[Moly (herb)|moly]], named thus from the battle (malos) and with a white-coloured flower, either for the white Sun who had killed Picolous or the terrified Circe who turned white;<ref>[[Ptolemaeus Chennus|Ptolemy Hephaestion]], ''New History'' [https://topostext.org/work/237#190.32 4] "The plant “moly” of which Homer speaks; this plant had, it is said, grown from the blood of the giant killed in the isle of Circe; it has a white flower; the ally of Circe who killed the giant was Helios; the combat was hard (mâlos) from which the name of this plant."</ref><ref>Rahner, Hugo. ''Greek Myths and Christian Mystery'' New York. Biblo & Tannen Publishers. 1971. pg. [https://books.google.com/books?id=N8XAF-JE6PAC&pg=PA204 204]</ref> the very plant, which mortals are unable to pluck from the ground, that Hermes would later give to Odysseus in order to defeat Circe.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0218%3Abook%3D10%3Acard%3D6 10.302&ndash;306]</ref>

=== Homer's ''Odyssey'' ===
[[File:Circe-Frederick Stuart Church-1910.9.4 1a Smithsonian American Art Museum.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.05|[[Frederick Stuart Church|Frederick S. Church]]'s ''Circe'' (1910)]]

In Homer's ''Odyssey'', an 8th-century BC sequel to his [[Trojan War]] epic ''[[Iliad]]'', Circe is initially described as a beautiful goddess living in a palace isolated in the midst of a dense wood on her island of Aeaea. Around her home prowl strangely docile lions and wolves. She lures any who land on the island to her home with her lovely singing while weaving on an enormous loom, but later drugs them so that they change shape.<ref>Homer, ''Odyssey'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Od.+10.212&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136 10.212ff].</ref> One of her Homeric epithets is ''polypharmakos'', "knowing many drugs or charms".<ref>[[LSJ]] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dpolufa%2Frmakos s. v. πολυ-φάρμα^κος]; [[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'', [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0012.tlg002.perseus-grc1:10.261-10.301 10.276].</ref>

Circe invites the hero Odysseus' crew to a feast of familiar food, a pottage of cheese and meal, sweetened with honey and laced with wine, but also mixed with one of her magical potions that turns them into swine. Only [[Eurylochus (mythology)|Eurylochus]], who suspects treachery, does not go in. He escapes to warn Odysseus and the others who have remained with the ship. Before Odysseus reaches Circe's palace, [[Hermes]], the messenger god sent by the goddess of wisdom [[Athena]], intercepts him and reveals how he might defeat Circe in order to free his crew from their enchantment. Hermes provides Odysseus with [[moly (herb)|moly]] to protect him from Circe's magic. He also tells Odysseus that he must then draw his sword and act as if he were going to attack her. From there, as Hermes foretold, Circe would ask Odysseus to bed, but Hermes advises caution, for the treacherous goddess could still "unman" him unless he has her swear by the names of the gods that she will not take any further action against him. Following this advice, Odysseus is able to free his men.

After they have all remained on the island for a year, Circe advises Odysseus that he must first visit the [[Underworld]], something a mortal has never yet done,<ref>Homer, ''Odyssey'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D10%3Acard%3D475 10.475—541].</ref> in order to gain knowledge about how to appease the gods, return home safely and recover his kingdom. Circe also advises him on how this might be achieved and furnishes him with the protections he will need and the means to communicate with the dead. On his return, she further advises him about two possible routes home, warning him, however, that both carry great danger.

=== Post-Odyssey ===
Towards the end of Hesiod's ''[[Theogony]]'' (c. 700 BC), it is stated that Circe bore Odysseus three sons: Agrius (otherwise unknown); [[Latinus]]; and [[Telegonus (son of Odysseus)|Telegonus]], who ruled over the Tyrsenoi, that is the [[Etruscans]]. The ''[[Telegony]]'', an epic now lost, relates the later history of the last of these. Circe eventually informed her son who his absent father was and, when he set out to find Odysseus, gave him a poisoned spear. When Telegonus arrived in Ithaca, Odysseus was away in [[Thesprotia]], fighting the Brygi. Telegonus began to ravage the island; Odysseus came to defend his land. With the weapon Circe gave him, Telegonus killed his father unknowingly. Telegonus then brought back his father's corpse to Aeaea, together with [[Penelope]] and Odysseus' son by her, [[Telemachus]]. After burying Odysseus, Circe made the other three immortal.

Circe married Telemachus, and Telegonus married Penelope<ref>[[Cinaethon of Sparta]], ''[[Telegony]]'' [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/348/348-h/348-h.htm#chap80 summary]</ref> by the advice of Athena.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#127 127]</ref> According to an alternative version depicted in [[Lycophron]]'s 3rd-century BC poem ''Alexandra'' (and [[John Tzetzes]]' [[scholia]] on it), Circe used magical herbs to bring Odysseus back to life after he had been killed by Telegonus. Odysseus then gave Telemachus to Circe's daughter [[Cassiphone]] in marriage. Sometime later, Telemachus had a quarrel with his mother-in-law and killed her; Cassiphone then killed Telemachus to avenge her mother's death. On hearing of this, Odysseus died of grief.

[[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] (1.72.5) cites [[Xenagoras (historian)|Xenagoras]], the 2nd-century BC historian, as claiming that Odysseus and Circe had three different sons: [[Rhomos]], [[Anteias]], and [[Ardeias]], who respectively founded three cities called by their names: [[Rome]], [[Antium]], and [[Ardea, Lazio|Ardea]]. In the later 5th-century CE epic ''[[Dionysiaca]]'', its author [[Nonnus]] mentions Phaunus, Circe's son by the sea god [[Poseidon]].<ref>Timothy Peter Wiseman, ''Remus: A Roman Myth'', Cambridge University 1995, [https://books.google.com/books?id=7LPNHRUlWacC&pg=PA47 pp. 47–48].</ref><ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' 13.328 ff.</ref>

=== Other works ===
Three ancient plays about Circe have been lost: the work of the tragedian [[Aeschylus]] and of the 4th-century BC comic dramatists [[Ephippus of Athens]] and [[Anaxilas (comic poet)|Anaxilas]]. The first told the story of Odysseus' encounter with Circe. Vase paintings from the period suggest that Odysseus' half-transformed animal-men formed the chorus in place of the usual [[Satyr]]s. Fragments of Anaxilas also mention the transformation and one of the characters complains of the impossibility of scratching his face now that he is a pig.<ref>John E. Thorburn, ''FOF Companion to Classical Drama'', New York 2005, [https://books.google.com/books?id=k3NnUyqzRNYC&pg=PA138 p. 138]</ref>

The theme of Circe turning men into a variety of animals was elaborated by later writers. In his episodic work ''The Sorrows of Love'' (first century BC), [[Parthenius of Nicaea]] interpolated another episode into the time that Odysseus was staying with Circe. Pestered by the amorous attentions of King [[Calchus]] the [[Daunians|Daunian]], the sorceress invited him to a drugged dinner that turned him into a pig and then shut him up in her sties. He was only released when his army came searching for him on the condition that he would never set foot on her island again.<ref>[[Parthenius of Nicaea|Parthenius]], [https://topostext.org/work/550#12 12]</ref>

Among [[Latin]] treatments, [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'' relates how Aeneas skirts the Italian island where Circe dwells and hears the cries of her many male victims, who now number more than the pigs of earlier accounts: ''The roars of lions that refuse the chain, / The grunts of bristled boars, and groans of bears, / And herds of howling wolves that stun the sailors' ears.''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://classics.mit.edu/Virgil/aeneid.7.vii.html|title=Dryden's translation|publisher=Classics.mit.edu|access-date=2014-03-19}}</ref> In Ovid's 1st-century poem ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', the fourth episode covers Circe's encounter with Ulysses (the Roman name of Odysseus), whereas book 14 covers the stories of Picus and Glaucus.

[[Plutarch]] took up the theme in a lively dialogue that was later to have several imitators. Contained in his 1st-century ''[[Moralia]]'' is the Gryllus episode in which Circe allows Odysseus to interview a fellow Greek turned into a pig. After his interlocutor informs Odysseus that his present existence is preferable to the human, they engage in a philosophical dialogue in which every human value is questioned and beasts are proved to be of superior wisdom and virtue.<ref>Vol. XII of the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1957, at the [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Gryllus*.html Chicago University website].</ref>