Circe and Aiaia (1)

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Circe’s island in Odyssey is called Aiaiē nēsos, ‘the Aiaian island’ or ‘the island Aiaia’, and she herself is called ‘Aiaian Circe’ (Od. 10.135-139). The name is related to Aia, which appears in Mimnermus as the land of the Golden Fleece, ‘where the swift Sun’s rays are stored in a golden chamber’, and to Aietes, ‘Man of Aia’, who is the king of that land and Circe’s brother; they are the children of the Sun and of the Oceanid Perse (Mimn. 11.2, 11a). The name Aia and its derivatives in this mythological complex evidently have an intimate connection with the Sun-god and the place of his rising. It seems impossible to separate this from the name of the Babylonian goddess Aya, who is the Sun-god’s wife and a goddess of the dawn, associated with sexual love. There was a Gate of Ištar (and) Aya leading out of the underworld into the light, which was the opening through which the Morning Star and the light of dawn appeared. In the Odyssey it is from the Aiaian island that the hero sails to the land of the dead and returns to it.

Sources (list of abbreviations) (source links will open in a new browser window)
Homer, Odyssey 10.135-139
Mimnermus 11.2
Mimnermus 11a

Bibliography

Amar Annus

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