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Circe
In Greek mythology, Circe (; ) is an enchantress, sometimes considered a goddess or a nymph. In most accounts, Circe is described as the daughter of the sun god Helios and the Oceanid Perse (mythology), Perse. 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 (son of Odysseus), 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 prefe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aeaea
Aeaea, Ææa or Eëä ( or ; ) was a mythological island said to be the home of the goddess-sorceress Circe. In Homer's ''Odyssey'', Odysseus tells Alcinous that he stayed here for one year on his way home to Ithaca. Before leaving Aeaea, Odysseus was given instructions by Circe about how to cross the ocean and assisted by the North Wind to reach the underworld: Description Homer describes Aeaea as covered with a mixture of pasture and dense woodland of oak and beech. There were high hills or bluffs from which the sea could be seen encircling the island in all directions. Circe's stone house was located in a "dense forest of trees" "in a place that could be seen from far." Location The somewhat inconsistent geography of Homer's ''Odyssey'' is often considered more mythic than literal, but the geography of the Alexandrian scholar and poet Apollonius of Rhodes is more specific. In his epic ''Argonautica'', he locates the island somewhere south of ''Aethalia'' (Elba), with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Odyssey
The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divided into 24 books. It follows the heroic king of Ithaca, Odysseus, also known by the Latin variant Ulysses, and his homecoming journey after the ten-year long Trojan War. His journey from Troy to Ithaca lasts an additional ten years, during which time he encounters many perils and all of his crewmates are killed. In Odysseus's long absence, he is presumed dead, leaving his wife Penelope and son Telemachus to contend with a group of unruly suitors competing for Penelope's hand in marriage. The ''Odyssey'' was first written down in Homeric Greek around the 8th or 7th century BC; by the mid-6th century BC, it had become part of the Greek literary canon. In antiquity, Homer's authorship was taken as true, but contemporary sch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Odysseus
In Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology, Odysseus ( ; , ), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses ( , ; ), is a legendary Greeks, Greek king of Homeric Ithaca, Ithaca and the hero of Homer's Epic poetry, epic poem, the ''Odyssey''. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's ''Iliad'' and other works in that same epic cycle. As the son of Laertes (father of Odysseus), Laërtes and Anticlea, husband of Penelope, and father of Telemachus, Acusilaus, and Telegonus (son of Odysseus), Telegonus, Odysseus is renowned for his intellectual brilliance, guile, and versatility (''polytropos''), and he is thus known by the epithet Odysseus the Cunning (). He is most famous for his ''nostos'', or "homecoming", which took him ten eventful years after the decade-long Trojan War. Name, etymology, and epithets The form ''Odys(s)eus'' is used starting in the epic period and through the classical period, but various other forms are also found. In vase inscriptions, there are the varian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Circe Offering The Cup To Ulysses
''Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses'' is an oil painting in the Pre-Raphaelite style by John William Waterhouse that was created in 1891. It is now in Gallery Oldham, Oldham, England. Subject The painting depicts a scene from the ''Odyssey''. Circe, a sorceress, offers a cup to Odysseus (commonly Ulysses in English). In the cup is a potion. Circe seeks to bring Ulysses under her spell, as she has done with his crew. Two of Ulysses' crewmen have been transformed into pigs; one can be seen beside Circe's feet on the right, while the other is peering out from behind her throne on the left. Ulysses' reflection can be seen in the mirror which is behind Circe's throne. It reflects the columns of Circe's palace, and Ulysses' ship. Odysseus, intrepid and worried about his sailors, tries to save them and on the way Hermes (the messenger of the immortals) intercepts him and tells him of Circe's intentions, advising him to find a special plant that keeps him away from the effects of Circe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cassiphone
Cassiphone (; ) is a minor figure in Greek mythology, the daughter of the sorceress-goddess Circe and the Trojan War hero Odysseus. Cassiphone and her tale do not appear in the ''Odyssey'', the epic poem that narrates Odysseus' adventures, but rather she is mentioned in passing in the works of the Hellenistic poet Lycophron and the 12th-century Byzantine scholar John Tzetzes. Etymology Cassiphone's name is a compound word, a variant of ''Kasiphone'', that translates to "brother killer", from the words (''kásis'') meaning both "brother" and "sister", and (''phónos'') meaning "murder, manslaughter". Family Cassiphone is the daughter of Odysseus and the witch-goddess Circe whom he met during his ten-year journey back home following the fall and sack of Troy. Although many children are attributed to Odysseus and his various liaisons, Cassiphone is the only female one amongst them. Mythology Cassiphone is alluded to in obscure lines in Hellenistic poet Lycophron's poem ''Ale ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Telemachus
In Greek mythology, Telemachus ( ; ) is the son of Odysseus and Penelope, who are central characters in Homer's ''Odyssey''. When Telemachus reached manhood, he visited Pylos and Sparta in search of his wandering father. On his return to Ithaca, he found that Odysseus had reached home before him. Then father and son slew the suitors who had gathered around Penelope. According to later tradition, Telemachus married Circe after Odysseus's death. The first four books of the ''Odyssey'' focus on Telemachus's journeys in search of news about his father, who has yet to return home from the Trojan War, and are traditionally given the title '' Telemachy''. Etymology Telemachus's name in Greek means "far from battle", or perhaps "fighting from afar", as a bowman does. ''Odyssey'' In Homer's ''Odyssey'', Telemachus, under the instructions of Athena (who accompanies him during the quest), spends the first four books trying to gain knowledge of his father, Odysseus, who left for Troy w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pasiphaë
In Greek mythology, Pasiphaë (; , derived from πᾶσι (dative plural) "for all" and φάος/φῶς ''phaos/phos'' "light") was a queen of Crete. The daughter of Helios and the Oceanid nymph Perse (mythology), Perse, Pasiphaë is notable as the mother of the Minotaur. Her husband, Minos, failed to sacrifice the Cretan Bull to Poseidon as he had promised. Poseidon then cursed Pasiphaë to fall in love with the bull. Athens, Athenian inventor Daedalus built a hollow cow for her to hide in so she could mate with the bull, which resulted in her conceiving the Minotaur. Family Parentage Pasiphaë was the daughter of List of solar deities, god of the Sun, Helios,Antoninus Liberalis41/ref> and the Oceanid nymph Perse (mythology), Perse. She was thus the sister of Aeëtes, Circe and Perses of Colchis. In some accounts, Pasiphaë's mother was identified as the island-nymph Crete (mythology), Crete herself. Like her doublet Europa (consort of Zeus), Europa, the consort of Zeus, h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helios
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Helios (; ; Homeric Greek: ) is the god who personification, personifies the Sun. His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyperion ("the one above") and Phaethon ("the shining"). Helios is often depicted in art with a radiant crown and driving a horse-drawn chariot through the sky. He was a guardian of oaths and also the god of sight. Though Helios was a relatively minor deity in Classical Greece, his worship grew more prominent in late antiquity thanks to his identification with several major solar divinities of the Roman period, particularly Apollo and Sol (Roman mythology), Sol. The Roman Emperor Julian (emperor), Julian made Helios the central divinity of his short-lived revival of Religion in ancient Rome, traditional Roman religious practices in the 4th century AD. Helios figures prominently in several works of Greek mythology, poetry, and literature, in which he is often described ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scylla
In Greek mythology, Scylla ( ; , ) is a legendary, man-eating monster that lives on one side of a narrow channel of water, opposite her counterpart, the sea-swallowing monster Charybdis. The two sides of the strait are within an arrow's range of each other—so close that sailors attempting to avoid the whirlpools of Charybdis would pass dangerously close to Scylla and vice versa. Scylla is first attested in Homer's ''Odyssey'', where Odysseus and his crew encounter her and Charybdis on their travels. Later myth provides an origin story as a beautiful nymph who gets turned into a monster. Book Three of Virgil's ''Aeneid'' associates the strait where Scylla dwells with the Strait of Messina between Calabria, a region of Southern Italy, and Sicily. The coastal town of Scilla in Calabria takes its name from the mythological figure of Scylla and it is said to be the home of the nymph. The idiom " between Scylla and Charybdis" has come to mean being forced to choose between two sim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Perse (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Perse () is one of the 3,000 Oceanids, water-nymph daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. Her name was also spelled as Persa, Perseide, Persea or Perseis (, '). Perse married Helios, the god of the sun, and bore him several children, most notably the sorceress-goddess Circe. Mythology Perse was one of the wives of the sun god, Helios. According to Homer and Hesiod, with Helios she had Circe and Aeëtes, with later authors also mentioning their children Pasiphaë, Perses, Aloeus,Tzetzes ad Lycophron174 and even Calypso, who is however more commonly the daughter of Atlas. It is not clear why Perse bore Helios, the source of all light, such dark and mysterious children. When Aphrodite cursed Helios to fall in love with the mortal princess Leucothoe, he is said to have forgotten about Perse. She seems to have been linked to witchcraft and knowledge of herbs and potions, much like her daughters Circe and Pasiphaë. She might have also been assoc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Telegonus (son Of Odysseus)
In Greek mythology, Telegonus (; Ancient Greek: Τηλέγονος means "born afar") was the youngest son of Circe and Odysseus and thus, brother to Agrius and Latinus or Nausithous and Nausinous, and Cassiphone. In some accounts, he was called the son of the nymph Calypso and Odysseus instead. Mythology When Telegonus had grown to manhood, his mother Circe sent him in search of Odysseus, who by this time had finally returned to Ithaca from the Trojan War. Shipwrecked on Ithaca by a storm, Telegonus believed mistakenly that he had made landfall on Corcyra (Corfu) and, assailed by hunger, began plundering the island. Odysseus and his oldest son, Telemachus, defended their city and, in the ensuing melée, Telegonus accidentally killed his father with a lance tipped with the venomous spine of a stingray. Telemachus married Telegonus' mother, the enchantress Circe, while Telegonus took to wife Odysseus' widow Penelope. By Penelope, he was the father of Italus who, according to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Picus
Picus was a figure in Roman mythology, the first king of Latium. He was the son of Saturn (mythology), Saturn, also known as Stercutus. He was the founder of the first Latin tribe and settlement, Laurentum, located a few miles to the Southeast of the site of the later city of Rome. He was known for his skill at augury and horsemanship. Mythology According to Festus (historian), Festus he got his name as a consequence of the fact that he used to rely on a woodpecker for the purpose of divination. Picus was also described to be quite handsome, sought after by nymphs and naiads. The witch Circe attempted to seduce him with her charms and herbs while he was on a hunting trip, but he savagely rejected her. She turned him into a woodpecker for scorning her love. When his comrades accused Circe of her crime and demanded Picus' release, she turned them too into a variety of beasts. Picus' wife (to whom he was wholly devoted) was Canens (mythology), Canens, a nymph. After Picus' transfo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
