Aeaea
Aeaea was the mythical island home of Circe, the divine sorceress who transformed Odysseus's men into swine and became his lover for a year.
The Story of Aeaea
After escaping the Laestrygonians, Odysseus landed on Aeaea. Circe, daughter of Helios, dwelt there in a stone palace surrounded by docile wolves and lions — men she had enchanted. She turned Odysseus's advance party into pigs. Protected by the herb moly given by Hermes, Odysseus resisted her magic. He stayed a year as her lover before his crew demanded they continue homeward. Circe directed him to the land of the dead to consult Tiresias.
Symbols
Fun Fact
Ancient Romans identified Aeaea with Cape Circeo on the Italian coast — still called Monte Circeo today.
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Aeaea
🏛 placemagic, transformation
The mythical island home of the enchantress Circe, where Odysseus's men were transformed into swine and the hero spent a year of enchanted captivity.
Circe
⚡ godsorcery
Daughter of Helios and powerful sorceress who transformed Odysseus's men into pigs on the island of Aeaea.
Circe
⚡ godSorceress goddess of transformation
A powerful sorceress who lived on the island of Aeaea. Circe transformed Odysseus's men into swine and later became his lover and advisor.
Lemnos
🏛 placeIsland of Hephaestus
Lemnos was a volcanic island in the northern Aegean sacred to Hephaestus, where the god of the forge landed after Zeus hurled him from Olympus.
Ithaca
🏛 placeIsland kingdom of Odysseus
A small, rocky island in the Ionian Sea that was the homeland of Odysseus. His desperate longing to return to Ithaca drove his ten-year journey after the Trojan War.
Ogygia
🏛 placeIsland prison of Calypso
Ogygia was the remote island where the nymph Calypso detained Odysseus for seven years, offering him immortality if he would stay as her consort.
Scyros
🏛 placegeography
An Aegean island where Achilles was hidden disguised as a girl, and where Theseus died in exile.
Colchis
🏛 placeLand of the Golden Fleece
Colchis was a kingdom at the eastern edge of the Greek world, on the shore of the Black Sea in modern Georgia, famous as the destination of Jason and the Argonauts.
Crete
🏛 placeIsland of the Minotaur and Minoan civilisation
Crete was the largest Greek island and the seat of the Minoan civilisation, home to King Minos, the labyrinth, and the bull-cult that produced some of mythology's most famous stories.
Samothrace
🏛 placeIsland of the Kabeiroi Mysteries
Samothrace was a mountainous island in the northern Aegean, home to a mystery cult second only to Eleusis.
Scheria
🏛 placeLand of the Phaeacians
Scheria was the island of the Phaeacians, a seafaring people beloved by the gods, where the shipwrecked Odysseus was welcomed by King Alcinous and Princess Nausicaa.
Delos
🏛 placeBirthplace of Apollo and Artemis
Delos was a tiny island in the Cyclades, sacred as the birthplace of the twin gods Apollo and Artemis — one of the holiest sites in the ancient Greek world.