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Cyrce

by Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti

Much better, and also much nicer than Medea, was Circe. As all the antiquity sorceresses, and unlike the medieval ones, she was beautiful and fascinating and in addition to this she was also eternally young because she was not only a witch but also a goddess; therefore her beauty would never wither and she would always look immersed in the surreal atmosphere that immortality generate. We find her story in the Odyssey tenth canto. It began when Odysseus boat, that for a long time had sailed along the Tyrrenian coast, landed just under the mountain where the enchanting creature lived. The seamen needed to stock up the boat and put aboard everything that would allow them to sail again; then they went ashore and were beginning to climb the mountain when they heard the sweet melody of a woman song and the whirr of the twirling stick that glided in the loom.
Attracted by this the men came near a cavern open in the mountain side. Obviously they didn’t suspect anything and nothing alarmed them. Thus, as soon as under the grotto’s vault they saw such a beautiful and kind woman who was offering them cups full of a fresh and perfumed beverage, all of them were fascinated, and without any suspicion they toasted her with the magic drink, a potion of cheese, barley flour honey and wine, that looked very like the Kykeon, a typical concoction with which the Greek peasants refreshed themselves after a hard day work in the fields, a cold drink looking pleasant, but one that had been mixed with a dire poison, and just after a swallow of the fatal liquid all of them felt down on four feet and became animals
Some time passed, then Odysseus, not seeing his companions back, started to follow them, but, just when he was beginning to climb the mountain, Hermes stopped him. The god told him what came to pass and to allow the hero to confront the witch without meeting any danger, he gave him an antidote. Then, sure of himself, Odysseus knowing what had happened and what to do, went on guided by the harmonious sound of the woman’s song and by the whirr of the twirling stick that glided in the loom When he arrived at the cavern entrance Circe invited him to enter and have a refreshing drink.
Odysseus accepted the offer and looking steadily in her eyes drank all the cup that she gave him, and, of course, didn’t became an animal. This frightened Circe because she immediately realised that at the back of this man, that now with his drawn sword was asking her to answer for what she had done, there must have been the hand of a god.
The witch was scared and afraid, Odysseus menaced her but he was also handsome and well built, so at the same time that she feared him she was desperately attracted by the hero. This times no Rhombos (the love wheel) was needed. It was not necessary, Circe fell in love with Odysseus because he was Odysseus and for her that was enough. Thus not only she got his companions out of the spell, but made them younger, handsomer and stronger. The hero had won the heart of the beautiful sorceress, but also him wasn’t immune from her charm and with her he stood for a long time. Then, as it had to be expected, the longing for Ithaca and Penelopes got the upperhand.
However before leaving as a last favor from his loved one the hero asked her to help him to go down to the death world, and his wish was granted. We read this sad scene in the Odissey. Once that he got in the dead men reign, Odisseus sacrificed an animal and let its black blood flow on the ground until it did form a pool. He stood waiting there. Then from the fog that circled him shadows emerged. Pale phantoms of people he used to know, heroes with whom he had fought, and what was more lacerating, people whom he loved: among the others ashen and transparent came the great Achilles and with him also Ayax still affronted for not having obtained the Pelide’s arms. At last appeared gray and tired his mother to whom he hopelessly held his arms. However when one is alive he can’t stay too much in the dead men’s reign.
Odysseus mounted again on the earth and resumed his sail toward his home. Circe was left alone to sing her melodious songs, gliding the twirling stick in the loom and weaving wonderful tissues. Who knows if, climbing the mountain high on the sea, we can still hear her harmonious melody of love and magic?


BIBLIOGRAPHY
HOMER, Odyssey, 10 canto
A. DELATTE, Le kykevon (1955) p. 27
M. SCHLIMM, Sorceresses in Pandora. Women in Classical Greece, Milano, 1995, pp. 57- 62