killed his father by smashing his boat and blessed his mother, who built him an altar. Glaucos displays even more “godly” behavior in the coming days: he guffaws like Circe’s uncles, polishes off his drink in golden goblets, and rescues entire ships. He also asks about Scylla, an alluring yet malicious nymph who seems to have caught his eye. 

Circe notices Scylla more and more; where Glaucos is, Scylla is also. She lingers around Circe as well, purposefully flaunting her jewels before revealing that they are gifts from Glaucos, who has asked her to marry him.

On the brink of tears, Circe flees. She bursts into her father’s hall and asserts her desire to marry Glaucos. He laughs, telling her that Glaucos does not choose her. She storms Glaucos’s palace, waits for him, and begs him to reconsider, telling him that Scylla is filled with malice and does not truly love him. Circe professes her love, which prompts Glaucos to send her back to her quarters.

Circe is beside herself with grief. She sets off for the woods at dusk, filled with hurt over Glaucos and hate for Scylla. She gathers the potent flowers of “true being” and pours their sap into Scylla’s bath.

Chapter 6

At dusk of the following day, Circe’s aunt Selene is narrating the story of how she witnessed Scylla transform into a gray-skinned creature with twelve legs and six heads that howled like a pack of rabid dogs before diving into the depths. 

While her cousins gasp in horror, Circe is amazed by her sudden power. However, the disappearance of Scylla does not eliminate Circe’s problem. After the revelation, Glaucos turns to Helios for counsel on whom to bed instead. Over time, he beds countless nymphs, “siring children with green hair and tails,” without once ever considering Circe. Circe comes to the conclusion that there will never be a union between them. She goes to her father and declares that it was she who turned Scylla into a monster. She confesses to using pharmaka on Glaucos to turn him into a god, and on Scylla to turn her into a monster. Expecting punishment, Circe is surprised when Helios finds this preposterous, for he and Zeus have taken care of the flowers and made sure they were emptied of their power. Circe proudly refutes this, describing how she went about it and defending the power of the herbs—and in turn, her own power in using them. 

Helios’s patience runs out. He rages, scorning Circe for her insolence and calling her the “worst of [his] children, faded and broken, whom [he] cannot pay a husband to take.” Circe, body burnt by his wrath, is forced to beg for his forgiveness. Circe hobbles to the woods, where she partially recovers, and sees the hill with the flowers. She grabs a handful—thinking to ingest them herself—but loses her resolve for fear of what her true self might be.

Aeëtes returns upon hearing of Circe’s use of pharmaka. When Helios again discredits this power, Aeëtes claims to also have the ability to harness the power of pharmakeia, employing herbs to bring about changes that exceed the laws of divinity.

To demonstrate, he heals Circe’s burns. Circe is surprised by Helios’s silence. To further prove his power, Aeëtes declares his willingness to give Zeus a much more formidable demonstration; and it is now that Circe realizes that Helios is, in fact, afraid. Circe learns that she, along with her other siblings, is a pharmakis—a witch.

Helios meets with Zeus to discuss this matter, and Circe and Aeëtes are barred from leaving the halls until their father returns. Aeëtes, meanwhile, tells Circe stories about the many things he’s conjured in his kingdom, emphasizing that sorcery cannot be taught, only personally discovered.

Helios returns, relaying that he and Zeus have agreed that the matter poses no threat so long as Perses resides far beyond their boundaries, Pasiphaë remains married to a son of Zeus, and Aeëtes agrees to be kept under watch in his kingdom. Circe, however, must be banished to a deserted island, never to return, on account of having confessed to using pharmaka destructively on her own kind.