Source Verification: Circe and the Swine

Every claim below is either what a named ancient source attests, in its own line or section, or a point where the sources themselves disagree.

What the Sources Attest

Why did Circe turn men into swine?

Homer gives no motive. In the Odyssey Circe simply mixes a drugged drink for the crewmen who enter her house and turns them into swine with her wand. The text does say what the drug is for: she added it to the food so that the men would utterly forget their native land. Eurylochus later guesses she would change them into swine, wolves or lions to guard her house, but that is his fear, not Circe's own explanation.

Source: Homer, Odyssey 10.234-243

What did Circe do to Odysseus's men?

She welcomed Eurylochus's twenty-two men into her house, gave them a drink of cheese, barley meal, honey and Pramnian wine laced with drugs, then struck each with a wand and penned them in sties. They had the heads, voices and bristles of swine but kept their human minds. Circe fed them acorns. Eurylochus, who stayed outside, escaped to warn Odysseus.

Source: Homer, Odyssey 10.224-243

What is moly in the Odyssey?

Moly is the herb Hermes gave Odysseus to protect him from Circe's drugs. Homer describes it as black at the root with a flower like milk, and says the gods call it moly and that it is hard for mortal men to dig. Homer does not say what the plant really is. Frazer's note on the Perseus text of Apollodorus reports that Theophrastus described a moly like Allium nigrum, a wild garlic, growing in Arcadia.

Source: Homer, Odyssey 10.302-306

How did Odysseus free his men from Circe?

He drank her potion, protected by the moly, and drew his sword when her wand failed to change him. Circe then invited him to her bed. Odysseus made her swear a great oath not to harm him and refused to eat until his men were free. She anointed them with another charm and they became men again, younger and taller than before.

Source: Homer, Odyssey 10.310-399

How long did Odysseus stay with Circe?

A full year. Homer says the crew feasted on meat and wine for a year, until the seasons had turned and the men urged Odysseus to remember his native land. Circe then told him he had to travel to the house of Hades to consult Tiresias before he could go home.

Source: Homer, Odyssey 10.466-495

Where Accounts Differ

no-motive-for-circes-hostility
swine-only-or-many-animals
order-of-oath-and-rescue
telegonus-son-of-circe
macareus-as-narrator

Homer gives no reason for Circe's hostility to the crew. Her drug is said to make the men forget their native land (Odyssey 10.236), and Eurylochus guesses that she keeps men as guards (10.432-434). Neither is a stated motive. This page reports that gap rather than filling it.
The victims' shapes differ. In Homer the men become swine and keep their minds (Odyssey 10.239-240); the wolves and lions around her house are bewitched with her drugs (10.212-213). Apollodorus, Epitome 7.15, says she made some of the men wolves, some swine, some asses and some lions. Ovid, Metamorphoses 14.242-14.307, has Macareus describe the bristles, the loss of speech and the snout, and gives Circe's animals as wolves, bears and lionesses.
The order of oath and rescue differs. In Homer Odysseus makes Circe swear the oath before he goes to her bed, then refuses food until his men are freed (Odyssey 10.343-385). Apollodorus, Epitome 7.16, says she appeased his wrath and restored his comrades, and only then did he take an oath and share her bed. Ovid's Macareus has the oath and the bed first, and Odysseus demanding his men's bodies as a marriage gift.
Apollodorus, Epitome 7.16, says a son, Telegonus, was born of Odysseus and Circe. The Aeaea episode in Odyssey 10.133-574 names no child of the year on Aeaea.
Ovid gives the narration to Macareus, a former companion of Ulysses now with Aeneas's crew, who tells it as a warning to the Trojans and says he was among the men transformed (Metamorphoses 14.242-14.307). In Homer, Odysseus tells the story himself and Macareus is not named in the Aeaea episode.

Sources

Primary sources

Homer, Odyssey 10.133-139
Homer, Odyssey 10.144-202
Homer, Odyssey 10.203-209
Homer, Odyssey 10.210-223
Homer, Odyssey 10.224-236
Homer, Odyssey 10.237-243
Homer, Odyssey 10.244-260
Homer, Odyssey 10.261-273
Homer, Odyssey 10.274-306
Homer, Odyssey 10.302-306
Homer, Odyssey 10.310-399
Homer, Odyssey 10.428-445
Homer, Odyssey 10.449-475
Homer, Odyssey 10.487-540
Homer, Odyssey 10.552-560
Homer, Odyssey 12.1-150
Apollodorus, Epitome 7.14-7.16
Ovid, Metamorphoses 14.242-14.307