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CIRCE (Gr. Kiprcrl)

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 381 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CIRCE (Gr. Kiprcrl) , in See also:Greek See also:legend, a famous sorceress, the daughter of Helios and the ocean nymph Perse. Having murdered her See also:husband, the See also:prince of See also:Colchis, she was expelled by her subjects and placed by her See also:father on the solitary See also:island of Aeaea on the See also:coast of See also:Italy. She was able by means of drugs and incantations to See also:change human beings into the forms of wolves or lions, and with these beings her See also:palace was surrounded. Here she was found by See also:Odysseus and his companions; the latter she changed into See also:swine, but the See also:hero, protected by the See also:herb See also:moly (q.v.), which he had received from See also:Hermes, not only forced her to restore them to their See also:original shape, but also gained her love. For a See also:year he relinquished himself to her endearments, and when he determined to leave, she instructed him how to See also:sail to the See also:land of shades which See also:lay on the See also:verge of the ocean stream, in See also:order to learn his See also:fate from the See also:prophet See also:Teiresias. Upon his return she also gave him directions for avoiding the dangers of the See also:journey See also:home (See also:Homer, Odyssey, x.–xii.; See also:Hyginus, Fab. 125). The See also:Roman poets associated her with the most See also:ancient traditions of See also:Latium, and assigned her a home on the promontory of Circei (See also:Virgil, Aeneid, vii. ro). The metamorphoses of Scylla and of See also:Picus, See also:king of the Ausonians, by Circe, are narrated in See also:Ovid (Metamorphoses, xiv.). The Myth of See also:Kirke, by R. See also:Brown (18&3), in which Circe is explained as a See also:moon-goddess of Babylonian origin, contains an exhaustive See also:summary of facts, although many of the author's speculations maybe proved untenable (See also:review by H.

See also:

Bradley in See also:Academy, See also:January 19, 1884) ; see also J. E. See also:Harrison, Myths of the Odyssey (1882) ; C. Seeliger in W. H. See also:Roscher's Lexikon der Mythologie.

End of Article: CIRCE (Gr. Kiprcrl)

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