'Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses' -   John William Waterhouse
 'Circe offering the cup to Ulysses' 
John William Waterhouse

Who knows not Circe,
The daughter of the Sun? whose charmèd cup
Whoever tasted, lost his upright shape,
And downward fell into a groveling swine.

from 'Comus'
John Milton
 

 

'Circe Invidiosa' - John William Waterhouse
'Circe Invidiosa'
John William Waterhouse
'Circe and Scylla' - John Melhuish Strudwick
'Circe and Scylla'
John Melhuish Strudwick
"Young lover, I must weep--such hellish spite
With dry cheek who can tell? While thus my might
Proving upon this element, dismay'd, 
Upon a dead thing's face my hand I laid;
I look'd--'twas Scylla! Cursed, cursed Circe!
O vulture-witch, hast never heard of mercy?
Could not thy harshest vengeance be content,
But thou must nip this tender innocent
Because I lov'd her?--Cold, O cold indeed
Were her fair limbs, and like a common weed
The sea-swell took her hair. Dead as she was
I clung about her waist, nor ceas'd to pass
Fleet as an arrow through unfathom'd brine, 
Until there shone a fabric crystalline,
Ribb'd and inlaid with coral, pebble, and pearl.
Headlong I darted; at one eager swirl
Gain'd its bright portal, enter'd, and behold!
'Twas vast, and desolate, and icy-cold;
And all around--But wherefore this to thee
Who in few minutes more thyself shalt see?--
I left poor Scylla in a niche and fled.
My fever'd parchings up, my scathing dread
Met palsy half way: soon these limbs became 
Gaunt, wither'd, sapless, feeble, cramp'd, and lame.

from 'Endymion'
John Keats

"When they reached Circe's house they found it built of cut stones, on a site that could be seen from far, in the middle of the forest.  There were wild mountain wolves and lions prowling all round it - poor bewitched creatures whom she had tamed by her enchantments and drugged into subjection."

from 'The Odyssey'
Homer

'Circe' - Wright Barker
 'Circe' 
Wright Barker
Circe and her Lovers in a Landscape - Dosso Dossi (Giovanni De'Luteri)
'Circe and her Lovers in a Landscape'
Dosso Dossi (Giovanni De'Luteri)

'Circe'
Dosso Dossi (Giovanni De'Luteri)
Mystics     Nymphs & Satyrs    Faerie    Lady of Shalott    About Lysithea
Love & Tragedy    Sirens    Venus    Ophelia    Cupid & Psyche