Circe & Calypso

By L.J.

Ancient Greece was filled with monsters and witches and, Circe and Calypso were two of the most menace. Circe and Calypso where both witches and had the same lifestyles, but weren’t all together the same, their family and characteristics were different.  Circe’s parents were Helios (the sun god) and Perse. Calypso was the daughter of Titian Atlas.  Circe was spooky, strange, dark, but charming. Calypso, on the other hand, was not strange, or dark, but beautiful, charming, dazzling, irresistible. They both were also very demanding and got what they wanted.  They both lived alone on there isles (Ogygia and Aeaea). But, unlike their characteristics and families, Circe and Calypso were not all together nice, and in ancient Greek stories their role was to cause trouble. Circe could do magic and took much pride into turns men into animals. As well, she has the power to make any medicine she wanted using herbs. Calypso had a power that pleased her in many was, for she had the power to make mortals do as she pleased. “The Odyssey,” Homer explains how Circe and Calypso both kept Odysseus from being a hero for eight years longer than it should have taken him to get home if he hadn’t run into the witches. Circe kept him on her isle (Aeaea) for one year. Circe turned all of Odysseus’s men into animals. Calypso, kept Odysseus on her isle (Ortygia) for seven years. She made Oddesus do what she wanted, and bribed him. Unlike, the ancient Greeks today we look back on these witches and wonder. People ask why are these two witches woman?  Why are they portrayed as beasts and harmful creatures? Circe and Calypso are both majestic, evil, charming, and interesting their legacy still stays with us today as we read “The Odyssey.”  

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Circe_Offering_the_Cup_to_Odysseus.jpg