Circe

Circe, in Greek mythology, a sorceress, the daughter of the sun god Helios and the sea nymph Perse. She lived on the island of Aeaea, near the west coast of Italy.

With potions and incantations Circe was able to turn people into beasts. Her victims retained their reason, however, and knew what had happened to them. In the course of his wanderings, the Greek hero Odysseus visited her island with his companions, whom she turned into swine. On his way to find help for his men, Odysseus met the god Hermes, from whom he received an herb that made him immune to Circe's enchantments. He forced her to restore his companions to human form, and in amazement that anyone could resist her spell, Circe fell in love with Odysseus. He and his friends stayed with her for a year. When they finally determined to leave, she told Odysseus how to find the spirit of the Theban seer Tiresias in the underworld in order to learn from him how to conduct safely the homeward voyage.

"Circe," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001 http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2000 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.