Kirke's island of Aiaia was located in the farthest west, on the boundary between the sea and the river Okeanos which encircled the earth. Her island was contrasted with Aia, the land of the far east, home of Kirke's brother Aeetes.
CIRCE (Kirkê), a mythical sorceress, whom Homer calls a fair-locked goddess, a daughter of Helios by the Oceanid Perse, and a sister of Aeëtes. She lived in the island of Aeaea; and when Odysseus on his wanderings came to her island, Circe, after having changed several of his companions into pigs, became so much attached to the unfortunate hero, that he was induced to remain a whole year with her. At length, when he wished to leave her, she prevailed upon him to descend into the lower world to consult the seer Teiresias. After his return from thence, she explained to him the dangers which he would yet have to encounter, and then dismissed him. Her descent is differently described by the poets, for some call her a daughter of Hyperion .
