"Circe Offering the Cup to Odysseus" (Ulysses) 1891. On his return from the Trojan War, Ulysses sailed to the fantastic island of Aeaea inhabited by Circe, a beautiful and powerful sorceress. The land was crawling with swine, the metamorphosed forms of men seduced by her potent herbal brews. Ulysses lost his entire crew to her charms, but armed with moly, a herb given to him by Hermes, he was able to withstand her spells and force her to release his men from their bestial shape.
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Circe Invidiosa by John William Waterhouse Poster
Circe Invidiosa (1892). Artist: John William Waterhouse (1849-1917). Circe Invidiosa is a vintage Victorian Pre-Raphaelite fine art painting featuring a woman holding a vessel with water spilling out like a waterfall. In Greek mythology, Circe is a minor goddess of magic (nymph, witch, enchantress or sorceress) living on the island of Aeaea, famous for her part in the adventures of Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey.
By most accounts, Circe was the daughter of Helios (or Helius), the god of the sun, and Perse, an Oceanid and the sister of Aeetes, the keeper of the Golden Fleece and of Pasiphaë, the mother of the Minotaur. Other accounts make her the daughter of Hecate.