(), a mythical sorceress, whom Homer calls a
fair-locked goddess, a daughter of Helios by the oceanid Perse, and a sister of Aeetes. (Od. 10.135.) She lived in the island of Aeaea; and when Odysseus
on his wanderings came to her island, Circe, after having changed several of his companions
into pigs, became so much attached to the unfortunate hero, that he was induced to remain a
whole year with her. At length, when he wished to leave her, she prevailed upon him to descend
into the lower world to consult the seer Teiresias. After his return from thence, she
explained to him the dangers which he would yet have to encounter, and then dismissed him.
(Od. lib. x.--xii.; comp. Hyg. Fab. 125.)
Her descent is differently described by the poets, for some call her a daughter of Hyperion
and Aerope (Orph. Argon. 1215), and others a daughter of Aeetes and
Hecate. (Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. 3.200.) According to Hesiod (Hes. Th. 1011) she became by Odysseus the mother of Agrius. The
Latin poets too make great use of the story of Circe, the sorceress, who metamorphosed Scylla
and Picus, king of the Ausonians. (Ov. Met. 14.9, &c.)