Circe the Enchantress
Odysseus Stop 4 of 8
In brief
- On the island of Aeaea, the sorceress Circe turned half of Odysseus's men into pigs with an enchanted potion.
- Protected by a magical herb given to him by the god Hermes, Odysseus resisted her spell and forced her to restore his men.
- Circe became his host and lover for a full year, and before he left, she gave him the crucial instructions he would need to survive the rest of his voyage.
Odysseus's ship came ashore on the island of Aeaea, home to the sorceress Circe, daughter of the sun god Helios. He sent half his remaining crew to scout the island, led by his most trusted officer, Eurylochus, who found Circe's palace surrounded by wolves and lions strangely tame and unafraid.
Circe welcomed the men warmly and offered them a feast laced with a potion that transformed every man who ate it into a pig, trapping them in a sty while retaining their human minds, fully aware of what they had become. Only Eurylochus, suspicious enough to hold back, escaped to warn Odysseus.
Odysseus set out alone to confront the witch, but the god Hermes intercepted him on the road and gave him a magical herb called moly, which rendered Circe's potion powerless against him. When she tried her transformation on Odysseus and failed, astonished, she recognized him as the one man prophesied to resist her, and yielded, restoring his men to human form.
Circe hosted Odysseus and his crew for a full year of feasting and comfort, and Odysseus became her lover during that time. When at last his men urged him to continue home, Circe let him go, but not before giving him the vital warnings and instructions that would guide him through the far greater dangers still ahead: the Sirens' song, the strait of Scylla and Charybdis, and the sacred cattle of the sun.
