Abstract is: Circe (/ˈsɜːrsiː/; Ancient Greek: Κίρκη, pronounced [kírkɛː]) is an enchantress and a minor goddess in ancient Greek mythology and religion. She is either a daughter of the Titan Helios and the Oceanid nymph Perse or the goddess Hecate and Aeëtes. Circe was renowned for her vast knowledge of potions and herbs. Through the use of these and a magic wand or staff, she would transform her enemies, or those who offended her, into animals. The best known of her legends is told in Homer's Odyssey when Odysseus visits her island of Aeaea on the way back from the Trojan War and she changes most of his crew into swine. He manages to persuade her to return them to human shape, lives with her for a year and has sons by her, including Latinus and Telegonus. Her ability to change others into animals is further highlighted by the story of Picus, an Italian king whom she turns into a woodpecker for resisting her advances. Another story tells of her falling in love with the sea-god Glaucus, who prefers the nymph Scylla to her. In revenge, Circe poisoned the water where her rival bathed and turned her into a dreadful monster. Depictions, even in Classical times, diverged from the detail in Homer's narrative, which was later to be reinterpreted morally as a cautionary story against drunkenness. Early philosophical questions were also raised about whether the change from being a human endowed with reason to being an unreasoning beast might not be preferable after all, and the resulting debate was to have a powerful impact during the Renaissance. Circe was also taken as the archetype of the predatory female. In the eyes of those from a later age, this behaviour made her notorious both as a magician and as a type of sexually-free woman. She has been frequently depicted as such in all the arts from the Renaissance down to modern times. Western paintings established a visual iconography for the figure, but also went for inspiration to other stories concerning Circe that appear in Ovid's Metamorphoses. The episodes of Scylla and Picus added the vice of violent jealousy to her bad qualities and made her a figure of fear as well as of desire.
Greek deity | Q22989102 |
P268 | Bibliothèque nationale de France ID | 123349946 |
P5019 | Brockhaus Enzyklopädie online ID | kirke-griechische-mythologie |
P1871 | CERL Thesaurus ID | cnp00584563 |
P4539 | Collective Biographies of Women ID | 8336 |
P3569 | Cultureel Woordenboek ID | mythologie/kirke |
P6706 | De Agostini ID | Circe |
P8313 | Den Store Danske ID | Kirke |
P8669 | Encyclopaedia Beliana ID | kirke |
P1417 | Encyclopædia Britannica Online ID | topic/Circe-Greek-mythology |
P3219 | Encyclopædia Universalis ID | circe |
P2163 | FAST ID | 861583 |
P646 | Freebase ID | /m/01sq1 |
P7818 | French Vikidia ID | Circé |
P2600 | Geni.com profile ID | 6000000007808242270 |
P5986 | Getty Iconography Authority ID | 901002184 |
P5247 | Giant Bomb ID | 3005-34020 |
P227 | GND ID | 118676202 |
P12385 | Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana ID | circe |
P1296 | Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana ID (former scheme) | 0017832 |
P2924 | Great Russian Encyclopedia Online ID (old version) | 2067141 |
P2272 | Hederich encyclopedia article | Circe |
P1256 | Iconclass notation | 95B(CIRCE) |
P269 | IdRef ID | 032292198 |
P10553 | IxTheo authority ID | 694862002 |
P9918 | Kallías ID | PE00336702 |
P6385 | Krugosvet article | kultura_i_obrazovanie/religiya/KIRKA.html |
P244 | Library of Congress authority ID | n2014036335 |
P9736 | MANTO ID | 8188026 |
P8636 | McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia ID | C/circe |
P12597 | museum-digital person ID | 7595 |
P11946 | Mythoskop ID | w376 |
P8189 | National Library of Israel J9U ID | 987007319027505171 |
P3222 | NE.se ID | kirke |
P691 | NL CR AUT ID | mzk20191053324 |
P7305 | Online PWN Encyclopedia ID | 3922432 |
P9106 | Oxford Classical Dictionary ID | 1587 |
P4212 | PACTOLS thesaurus ID | pcrt5SNw0OLwHE |
P7293 | PLWABN ID | 9810701303205606 |
P3417 | Quora topic ID | Circe-Greek-mythology |
P1422 | Sandrart.net person ID | 1222 |
P4342 | Store norske leksikon ID | Kirke |
P10883 | The Encyclopedia of Fantasy ID | circe |
P3545 | Theoi Project ID | Titan/Kirke |
P8069 | ToposText person ID | 245 |
P12467 | Trismegistos god ID | 1140 |
P214 | VIAF ID | 206915871 |
309819604 | ||
41148752286241202398 | ||
4157280031403302835 | ||
P12800 | Vikidia article ID | fr:Circé |
P7666 | Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija ID | kirke |
P10832 | WorldCat Entities ID | E39PCjr3k4vGxcm7mjqWFbqBpq |
P9071 | character type | femme fatale | Q222573 |
P40 | child | Latinus | Q779406 |
Auson | Q782308 | ||
Telegonus | Q1333887 | ||
Cassiphone | Q1401858 | ||
Agrius | Q2827213 | ||
Ardeas | Q4787871 | ||
Anteias | Q11905701 | ||
P1343 | described by source | Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary | Q602358 |
Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition | Q867541 | ||
The Nuttall Encyclopædia | Q3181656 | ||
Description of Greece | Q3825645 | ||
The New Student's Reference Work | Q16082057 | ||
Small Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary | Q19180675 | ||
P1889 | different from | Kirke | Q28771850 |
P22 | father | Helios | Q134270 |
Aeëtes | Q241971 | ||
P25 | mother | Hecate | Q131575 |
Perse | Q1333108 | ||
P1559 | name in native language | Κίρκη | |
P106 | occupation | magician | Q148401 |
P1441 | present in work | Odyssey | Q35160 |
P551 | residence | Aeaea | Q403366 |
P21 | sex or gender | female | Q6581072 |
P3373 | sibling | Pasiphaë | Q203236 |
Aeëtes | Q241971 | ||
Perses | Q660924 | ||
Perses | Q2071913 | ||
P26 | spouse | Telemachus | Q192482 |
P910 | topic's main category | Category:Circe | Q111957551 |
P451 | unmarried partner | Odysseus | Q47231 |
P937 | work location | Ancient Greece | Q11772 |
P1049 | worshipped by | Ancient Greek religion | Q855270 |
FileName: Circe Offering the Cup to Odysseus.jpg
Artist: John William Waterhouse
License: Public domain
FileName: Cerrini, Giovanni Domenico - La maga Circe.jpg
Artist: Giovanni Domenico Cerrini
License: Public domain
Description:
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
Artist: Edward Burne-Jones
License: Public domain
FileName: Circe by Wright Barker (1889).jpg
Artist:
License: Public domain
Description: Circe and Odysseus, white-ground lekythos by the Athena Painter, ca. 490–480 BCE. From Eretria. National Archaeological Museum in Athens, 1133. Originally photographed and uploaded by Marsyas, 2005. Colors improved by AishaAbdel, 2017. Detail cropped by GrandEscogriffe, 2021.
Artist: Athena painter
License: Public domain
FileName: Circe Gumery cour Carree Louvre.jpg
Description: Circe (1860), by Charles Gumery (1827–1871). South façade of the Cour Carrée in the Louvre palace, Paris.
Work is copyrighted.
License: CC BY 2.5
Attribution is required.
FileName: Circe Invidiosa - John William Waterhouse.jpg
Description:
Artist: John William Waterhouse
License: Public domain
FileName: Woodcut illustration of Circe and Odysseus with men transformed into animals - Penn Provenance Project.jpg
Description:
Woodcut illustration (leaf [g]1r, f. li) of Circe and Odysseus with men transformed into animals, hand-colored in red, green, yellow and black, from an incunable German translation by Heinrich Steinhöwel of Giovanni Boccaccio's De mulieribus claris, printed by Johannes Zainer at Ulm ca. 1474 (cf. ISTC ib00720000). One of 76 woodcut illustrations (1 on leaf [e]8v dated 1473), each 80 x 110 mm., depicting scenes from the life of the women chronicled (for a full list of subjects, cf. W.L. Schreiber, Handbuch der Holz- und Metallschnitte des XV. Jahrhunderts (Nendeln: Kraus Reprints, 1969), no. 3506). "Pour la première moitie le nom se trouve inscrit à côte de la tête de chaque femme, pour le reste il es ajouté entre les deux réglettes. Il n'y en a que trois, qui n'ont qu'un seul trait carré."--Schreiber.
Established form: Zainer, Johannes, ‡d d. 1541?. Established form: Circe (Greek mythology) Established form: Odysseus (Greek mythology)
Penn Libraries call number: Inc B-720 All images from this book
Penn Libraries catalog recordArtist: kladcat
Work is copyrighted.
License: CC BY 2.0
Attribution is required.
Q106900803 | Circe |
Q19368733 | Circe |
Q20441658 | Circe |
Q21190870 | Circe |
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Q20473598 | Circe and Ulysses |
Q107540008 | Circe begging Ulysses for mercy after he has resisted her drugged cup |
Q29651516 | Circé |
Q79399417 | Hermes Rescues Odysseus from Circe |
Q107540210 | Odysseus threatening Circe |
Q26656264 | Statue of Circe at West End of Central Garden |
Q73838035 | The Parting of Ulysses |
Q27980517 | Ulysses and Circe |
Q20433041 | Ulysses and Circe |
Q105435033 | Ulysses arrives at the Palace of Circé |
Q20178069 | Ulysses at the Palace of Circe |
Q114770686 | Ulysses' companions changed into swine by Circe, the enchantress |
Q61986499 | Circé |
Q19368735 | Circé |
Q99386158 | Ulysse démasquant Circé |
Q120257763 | Circe |
Q84677062 | 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Circe |
Q106574475 | Circe |
Q29279001 | Circe and the Companions of Ulysses |
Q5121366 | Circe in popular culture |
Q122047326 | Kirke |
Q122126092 | Kirke |
Q124010671 | The New Student's Reference Work/Circe |
Q120257763 | Circe |
Q24741316 | МЭСБЕ / Цирцея |
Q66310015 | РСКД / Circe |
Q24513280 | ЭСБЕ / Цирцея |
Q124684429 | Judith Yarnall | field of work | P101 |
Q3613053 | Hals | employer | P108 |
Q3545348 | Circe | based on | P144 |
Q192482 | Telemachus | spouse | P26 |
Q539582 | Juliette Mayniel | notable role | P10606 |
Q5121365 | Circe in the arts | facet of | P1269 |
Q28771850 | Kirke | different from | P1889 |
Q111957551 | Category:Circe | category's main topic | P301 |
Q47231 | Odysseus | unmarried partner | P451 |
Q58182071 | Xayide | inspired by | P941 |
Kirke | wikipedia | |
Arabic (ar / Q13955) | كيركي | wikipedia |
ast | Circe | wikipedia |
ba | Кирка (мифология) | wikipedia |
bcl | Circe | wikipedia |
Цирцея | wikipedia | |
bn | সার্সি | wikipedia |
br | Kirke | wikipedia |
Catalan (ca / Q7026) | Circe | wikipedia |
co | Circi | wikipedia |
Kirké | wikipedia | |
cy | Circe | wikipedia |
Kirke (græsk mytologi) | wikipedia | |
Kirke | wikipedia | |
Κίρκη | wikipedia | |
Circe | wikipedia | |
en-simple | Circe | wikipedia |
Esperanto (eo / Q143) | Circo | wikipedia |
Circe | wikipedia | |
Kirke | wikipedia | |
Basque language (eu / Q8752) | Zirtze | wikipedia |
Persian (fa / Q9168) | کیرکه | wikipedia |
Kirke | wikipedia | |
Circé | wikipedia | |
ga | Circé | wikipedia |
gl | Circe | wikipedia |
קירקה | wikipedia | |
hi | सर्सी | wikipedia |
Kirka | wikipedia | |
Kirké | wikipedia | |
Կիրկե | wikipedia | |
Kirke | wikipedia | |
ie | Circe | wikipedia |
Circe | wikipedia | |
キルケー | wikipedia | |
კირკე | wikipedia | |
키르케 | wikipedia | |
ku | Kîrkê | wikipedia |
Circe | wikipedia | |
Kirkė | wikipedia | |
lzh | 喀耳刻 | wikipedia |
mk | Кирка | wikipedia |
ml | സെർസി | wikipedia |
nb | Kirke (gresk mytologi) | wikipedia |
Circe (mythologie) | wikipedia | |
pa | ਕਿਰਕੀ | wikipedia |
Kirke (mitologia) | wikipedia | |
Circe | wikipedia | |
Circe | wikipedia | |
Кирка (мифология) | wikipedia | |
Serbo-Croatian (sh / Q9301) | Kirka | wikipedia |
Kirké | wikipedia | |
Kirka | wikipedia | |
Кирка | wikipedia | |
Kirke | wikipedia | |
Kirke | wikipedia | |
Кірка | wikipedia | |
Urdu (ur / Q1617) | سرسی | wikipedia |
yue | 色琦 | wikipedia |
喀耳刻 | wikipedia | |
Circe | wikiquote | |
Circé | wikiquote | |
Circe | wikiquote |
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