Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses by John William Waterhouse (1891).
Following my post on Medea, I thought I'd look at another famous witch in ancient literature: Circe (Κίρκη).
One of Circe's earliest appearances was in Hesiod's Theogony (Θεογονία; c. 700 B.C.) where, in describing the genealogy of the Olympians, he writes that Circe was the daughter of the sun god Helios and Oceanid nymph Perseis, and, with Odysseus, she went on to have Latinus (though in Roman mythology he is said to have been the son of Faunus and Marica), Agrius, and Telegonus (in Roman mythology he was the founder of Tusculum). There are, however, other authors say that Circe was the daughter of Hecate, goddess of witchcraft, necromancy, crossroads, and boundaries, and in the Orphic Argonautica (Ὀρφέως Ἀργοναυτικά; c. 5th - 6th Century A.D.) the author writes that her mother was in fact a different Oceanid, Asterope. Either way, Circe's family was illustrious. Her brothers were Aeëtes (keeper of the Golden Fleece) and Perses of Colchis (later murdered by Circe's niece Medea), and her sister was Pasiphaë, the queen of Crete and the wife of King Minos (according to Pseudo-Apollodorus, Pasiphaë was the mother of the Minotaur).
Circe has gone on to appear in a wealth of works, from James Joyce's Ulysses (Episode 15, in the format of a play and set in a brothel, including hallucinations and dream-visions - I cannot stress enough how painfully difficult I found these 100 odd pages!) to an episode of Disney's Ducktales (Home Sweet Homer, 1987)! In ancient Greek and Roman literature she can be found many times. In the Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes (c. 3rd Century B.C.) for example, she is seen purifying Jason and Medea with the blood of a pig after they murder the Colchian prince Absyrtus and are returning home. In Ovid's Metamorphoses (8 A.D.), one of my favourites, at the end of Book XIII and through Book XIV in the story of Glaucus and Scylla she is mentioned there, too. Ovid writes of how Glaucus pursued Scylla, and how Glaucus told her that Oceanus and Tethys transformed him into a sea god and made him immortal. He then told her how much he loved her, but she ran away and he went to seek help from Circe and told her of his love for Scylla. Jealous, Circe then punished Scylla by turning her into a monster by turning the waters in which she bathed into poison. Scylla would later try and get her revenge by trying to kill Odysseus, who Circe loved, but she failed.
Odysseus in front of Scylla and Charybdis by Henry Fuseli (1794 - 1796).
A little later in Metamorphoses, Macareaus told Aeneas of how when he sailed with Odysseus, they sailed to the island of Circe and that she turned them all into pigs, but Ulysses demanded she turned them back into humans, and, once she did, the two became lovers. He then told a story told to him by a nymph about Picus, the king of Latium (Italy), who was in love with Canens and married her. However Circe fell in love with Picus, and first tried to get his attention by creating the illusion of a boar which would run in his path. Then she bewitched the forest so that he would get lost in it, and when she found him alone in the forest she made her advance, however he rejected her. She then turned him into a woodpecker and Picus' men into monstrous woodland animals. Poor Canens, heartbroken, faded away into nothing. Needless to say when Aeneas left to travel back to Latium he and his men were careful to avoid Circe's island.
The Sorceress by John William Waterhouse (1911-15).
Macareaus' story in Metamorphoses is from the most famous tale about Circe, originating in Homer's Odyssey (Ὀδύσσεια; c. 8th Century B.C.). Homer tells of how suspicion and jealousy ran through the soldiers when they believed Odysseus was given treasures by Aeolus (keeper of the winds) so they tore his bag open and unleashed a storm that drove them back to Aeolus. Aeolus refused to help them and they rowed to Laestrygonians, the land of the giants who killed and ate many of Odysseus' crew. Only Odysseus' ship was left, and it headed to Aeaea, home of Circe, who turned his men into pigs. Hermes protected Odysseus when Circe tried to drug him - she offered him a cup of poison and he took it but then overpowered her and forced her to undo her spell and turn his crew back into human form. For a year they stayed at Aeaea living in luxury until the crew persuaded him to continue the journey back to Ithaca. Circe told him he must travel to Hades, the underworld, to see the blind prophet Tiresias who would tell them the way home. She then instructed him on how to reach Hades. During this time one of Odysseus' soldiers, Elpenor, was killed and he appeared to Odysseus during a ritual and asked him to give him a proper burial. Tiresias then appeared and told him he will return to Ithica, that he must battle with Penelope's suitors, and that he must appease Poseidon (Odysseus also met other souls of the dead in a scene not unlike Dante's Divine Comedy). His task complete, he returned to Circe who then tells him of this difficulties he faces returning home.
Circe is a magnificent character, portrayed often as a dangerous yet beguiling temptress. She was often used as a warning against immoral and seductive women, and even on the dangers of being intoxicated. Today, however, I think we see Circe more as a woman, or minor goddess depending on what you've read, who is very powerful, sexual, and in control of her strength, not merely a cautionary tale for the benefit of men. For this, she fascinates me endlessly.
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