Circe is asteroid #34 and also known as 1965 JL. Circe’s orbit is characterized by a semi-major axis of 2.69 Astronomical Units, an eccentricity of 0.11, a period of revolution of 1 607 days, and an inclination of 5.5 degrees. Circe is of the type C or Ch and was discovered by the French astronomer Jean Chacornac.

Circe is named after Kírkē (Κίρκη) from Greek mythology. Kírkē (Κίρκη) is described a goddess-sorceress and as the bewitching queen of the island of Ææa, that is named Aiaíā (Αἰαία) in Ancient Greek, but is an unknown place. Different places got later identified with Aiaíā (Αἰαία), where Kírkē (Κίρκη) shall have lived, but it most likely isn’t a physical place. Kírkē (Κίρκη) has the habit to turn visitors to her island into animals, that then have to live in a corral surrounding her palace. Kírkē (Κίρκη) is most famous for turning the sailors of Odysseus into pigs. Odysseus felt a strong pull to her island and in spite of the bad treatment didn’t want to leave. This gave rise to the German word becircen (also spelled bezirzen), which denotes an action, which is a mix of to allure and to bewitch. I’m surprised that I can’t find such a word in other languages, although at least Europeans should be familiar enough with Kírkē (Κίρκη). But this seems not to be the case. So I have to go into more details than would have been necessary otherwise. Kírkē (Κίρκη) is a daughter of Hḗlios (Ἥλιος), the god, who is the Sun, and of Pérsē (Πέρση), who is one of the Okeanids, but also the goddess of the New Moon. Pasipháē (Πασιφάη), Aiḗtēs (Αἰήτης), Pérsēs (Πέρσης), and Kalypsṓ (Καλυψώ) were other children of this couple and hence the siblings of Kírkē (Κίρκη). Mḗdeia (Μήδεια) is a daughter of Aiḗtēs (Αἰήτης) and hence the niche of Kírkē (Κίρκη). So the witchcraft is in the family. Kírkē (Κίρκη) has three children and Odysseus is the father of all three of them. Their names are Telegonos, Agrios, and Latinos.

Kírkē (Κίρκη) appears already in tales previous to the Odyssey, notably the tale of the Argonauts, and Kírkē (Κίρκη) still appears in tales posterior to the Odyssey. So she is a kind of Ancient Greek and female version of Merlin from the Arthurian legends, after whom the asteroid Merlin is named. But while the legend of Merlin became bigger and bigger during time, Kírkē (Κίρκη) is a constant and has always been very mighty. The asteroid Circe indicates that a, most likely female, person has a quasi-magical skill to allure other persons into affairs, even in affairs, which they don’t want.