Aeaea, Ææa or Eëä (/iːˈiːə/ ee-EE-ə or /əˈiːə/ ə-EE-ə; Ancient Greek: Αἰαία, romanized: Aiaíā [ai̯.ǎi̯.aː]) was a mythological island said to be the home of the goddess-sorceress Circe.
"Circe would fain have held me back in her halls, the guileful lady of Aeaea, yearning that I should be her husband". (Homer, Odyssey, Book IX.32; trans. A.T. Murray; Loeb Classical Library 1919).
In Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus tells Alcinous that he stayed here for one year on his way home to Ithaca. Before leaving Aeaea, Odysseus was given instructions by Circe about how to cross the ocean[1] and assisted by the North Wind to reach the underworld:
When your ship has traversed the stream of Oceanus, you will reach the fertile shore of Persephone's country with its groves of tall poplars and willows that shed their fruit untimely; here beach your ship upon the shore of Oceanus, and go straight on to the dark abode of Hades.
- ^ Homer. Odyssey. 10.503 – via Tufts U. (perseus.tufts.edu).
- ^ "Book X. Æolus, the LÆstrygones, Circe". Odyssey. Retrieved Oct 4, 2022 – via Wikisource.