You know the scene. It’s one of those vivid hallucinations from freshman English that stays with you forever. A bunch of grizzled, salt-crusted Greek sailors, fresh off a war and starving for a home-cooked meal, stumble upon a stone house in a clearing. They think they’ve found a sanctuary. Instead, they find a woman with a wand.
When people ask what does Circe do to Odysseus’ men, the short answer is always "she turns them into pigs." But honestly? That’s just the surface level. The transformation is way more psychological, and frankly, more disturbing than just a simple magic trick. It wasn't just about the snout and the curly tail; it was about the total erasure of their human dignity.
The setup on Aeaea
Odysseus and his crew were exhausted. They had just escaped the Laestrygonians—giant cannibals who smashed most of their fleet with boulders. Out of twelve ships, only one remained. They landed on Aeaea, the island of Circe, a daughter of Helios.
Odysseus, being the cautious (or some might say paranoid) leader he was, sent a scouting party of twenty-two men led by Eurylochus. They heard a woman singing inside a beautiful house, surrounded by wolves and lions that acted like tame dogs. That should have been a red flag. Huge red flag. If a lion is wagging its tail like a Golden Retriever, you should probably turn around.
But the men were hungry. They were desperate for a bit of warmth and a seat that wasn't a wooden bench on a galley. Circe invited them in. All of them went, except for Eurylochus, who stayed outside because he "suspected a trap." Smart man.
The meal that changed everything
Inside the halls of Circe, the goddess prepared a feast. She gave them a mixture of Pramnian wine, barley meal, cheese, and pale honey. It sounds like a decent Greek charcuterie board.
However, she added "vile drugs" to the brew.
Homer is specific here. These drugs weren't meant to kill. They were meant to make the men "utterly forget their native land." This is the real horror of the Odyssey. For a Greek hero, home (nostos) is everything. If you forget your home, you lose your identity. You lose your reason for existing.
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Then came the wand.
After they drank the mixture, Circe struck them with her wand. In an instant, they took on the forms of swine. They had the heads, the grunts, the bristles, and the bodies of pigs. But—and this is the part that makes your skin crawl—their minds remained exactly as they were before.
What does Circe do to Odysseus’ men beyond the physical?
Think about that for a second. You have the brain of a human warrior, the memories of the Trojan War, the longing for your wife and kids, but you are trapped in the body of a farm animal. You are shoving your face into acorns and mast because that’s what your new body craves.
Homer describes them weeping.
Pigs can't really weep, but these men did. Circe drove them into pens and threw them "the fruit of the cornel-tree and mast and acorns." It was a complete humiliation of the warrior class. These were men who had sacked Troy, the greatest city in the world, and now they were fighting over nuts in the mud.
Why pigs?
Scholars like Martha Nussbaum have often pointed out that the choice of a pig isn't accidental. In the ancient world, and honestly today too, pigs were symbols of gluttony and base desire. By turning them into pigs, Circe was essentially manifesting their internal state. They had entered her home and behaved like animals—drinking deeply, eating greedily—so she simply made the outside match the inside.
It’s a bit of a "you are what you eat" situation, but taken to a divine, terrifying extreme.
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The role of Hermes and the Moly
When Eurylochus ran back to the ship to tell Odysseus that the men had vanished, Odysseus didn't hesitate. He grabbed his silver-studded sword and his bow. On his way to Circe’s house, he met a young man who turned out to be the god Hermes in disguise.
Hermes gave him a crash course in divine chemistry. He handed Odysseus a herb called "Moly."
"The root was black, while the flower was white as milk; the gods call it Moly, and it is hard for mortal men to dig up, but the gods can do all things."
This plant was Odysseus’ insurance policy. When he reached Circe and drank her drugged wine, the Moly protected his mind. When she tapped him with her wand and told him to "Go to the pigsty," he didn't transform. Instead, he drew his sword and rushed her as if he meant to kill her.
This flipped the power dynamic. Circe, realizing she had met her match, immediately shifted from predator to host—and eventually, to lover.
The restoration of the crew
Odysseus refused to eat or drink until his men were freed. This is one of the few moments where Odysseus shows genuine, selfless leadership. Circe agreed. She went to the pigsty, smeared a "different charm" on each of them, and the bristles fell away.
But here’s a detail most people miss: they didn't just go back to normal.
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Homer says that after the transformation back to human form, the men were "younger than they were before, and much handsomer and taller to look upon."
It’s an odd twist. What Circe did to Odysseus’ men ended up being a weird kind of "rejuvenation therapy." They recognized Odysseus, they cried with joy, and the whole house rang with "a wondrous sound."
Living with the Goddess
The story doesn't end with the pigs. After the men were restored, they didn't just hop back on the ship and leave. They stayed on Aeaea for an entire year.
What did Circe do to them during that time? She fed them. She gave them wine and meat. She let them rest. In a way, she provided the "forgetfulness" they originally feared, but through luxury rather than magic. It took the crew finally pulling Odysseus aside and saying, "Hey, remember Ithaca? We should probably go home," to get the journey started again.
Why this story still resonates
The transformation of the men into pigs isn't just a fairy tale. It’s a warning about the loss of the "self."
In the Bronze Age, your status was your skin. To be stripped of your human form was to be stripped of your rights, your history, and your soul. Circe represents the dangers of "The Other"—the powerful, independent woman who could unman the Greek hero not with a sword, but with a drink and a change of perspective.
Common misconceptions
- Did she turn them into other animals? In the Odyssey, the crewmen were pigs. However, the animals surrounding her house (lions and wolves) were likely other travelers who weren't lucky enough to have an Odysseus to save them.
- Was it permanent? No, but it would have been if Odysseus hadn't intervened.
- Was Circe evil? Not exactly. In the Greek worldview, she was a goddess acting according to her nature. By the end of the story, she becomes one of Odysseus' most helpful allies, giving him the directions to the Underworld and advice on how to pass the Sirens.
Actionable insights for the modern reader
If you're studying the Odyssey or just curious about the mythology, keep these points in mind to understand the depth of the Circe episode:
- Look for the "Moly" in your own life. The herb represents the knowledge or "antidote" needed to resist losing oneself to base desires or toxic environments.
- Observe the hospitality (Xenia). The Circe story is a perversion of the Greek law of hospitality. Instead of protecting her guests, she consumes their identity.
- Note the transformation back. The fact that the men returned better than before suggests that enduring hardship—or even a temporary loss of self—can lead to growth, provided you have a leader or a purpose to pull you back.
- Compare with the Lotus Eaters. Both Circe and the Lotus Eaters offer forgetfulness. One does it through a plant, the other through a drug/wand. It reinforces the theme that for Odysseus, the greatest enemy isn't death, but the forgetting of home.
To truly grasp what Circe did to Odysseus' men, you have to look past the snout. She didn't just change their shapes; she challenged their humanity. If you're looking to dive deeper into the Homeric world, your next step should be looking at the Sirens or Scylla and Charybdis, where the stakes shift from the loss of "identity" to the literal loss of life.