CIRCE In Roman legend, a witch who, upon being spurned by Pictus, turned him into a woodpecker. In the mythos of the Greeks, she lived on the island of Aeaea, and she turned Odysseus' men into swine, though the hero himself convinced her to restore them to human form. She then afforded Odysseus and his men the hospitality of her island, and when they eventually left, she counselled them on how to pass safely by the deadly Sirens, and evade the monsters Scylla and Charybdis.