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Aiaia
Aeaea

The island of Kirke (Circe).

Aiaia

 The island of Aiaia was the home of the dread goddess Kirke (Circe), a sorceress of the highest order. Her skill with drugs and potions could only be compared to that of the goddess Hekate.

  Kirke lived on the island of Aiaia with Naiad Nymphs as her helpers. Her palace was set in a tranquil forest populated with docile animals that would otherwise be fierce if they had not been drugged into submission. There is the strong possibility that the animals on Aiaia were once human beings who had been changed into beasts to suit Kirke's whims.

 The only detailed descriptions of Kirke and her island were provided by Homer in the Odyssey and Apollonius of Rhodes in the Argonautika.

 The location of Kirke's island prompted heated debates amongst the classical Greek and Roman authors. One group insisted the island was imaginary but there were others who trusted Homer's geographic knowledge and placed Aiaia off the coast of Italy.

 The geographer Strabo put forth an interesting idea when he suggested the mountain Kirkaion (Circaeum) on the coast of Italy might have once been an island in prehistoric times. He cited that there was abundant medicinal plants growing around the mountain, which would have been consistent with Kirke's association with drugs. Furthermore, in Strabo's time the mountain was surrounded by swamps, indicating it might have an island at the time of the Quest for the Golden Fleece and Odysseus's visit to the island.

 We have two documented encounters between humans and Kirke but there were undoubtedly other hapless men and women who were stranded on Kirke's island, but their stories were lost along with their humanity when they were given Kirke's drugs. Odysseus and Ieson (Jason) survived Kirke's hospitality only because they had the protection of an Immortal who was more powerful than Kirke ... Hermes and Hera, respectively.

  Odysseus and his crew were lost at sea and became stranded in Aiaia after the conclusion of the Trojan War. Kirke transformed several crewmembers into swine before Odysseus realized what was happening. At the insistence of the god Hermes, Odysseus ingested a plant native to Aiaia called 'moly' to counteract the Kirke's drugs.

 Ieson (Jason) and the Argonauts sought Kirke's assistance in removing 'blood guilt' after Ieson and Medeia murdered Medeia's brother. Kirke was Medeia's aunt. Kirke gave what assistance she could and did not bewitch or drug any of the Argonauts.

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