In Greek mythology, Corcyra (also Korkyra; Ancient Greek: Κόρκυρα) is a naiad, the daughter of the river-god Asopus and the nymph Metope, herself the daughter of the river-god Ladon. She personifies and serves as the tutelary goddess of the ancient Greek city and island of Korkyra, now known as Corfu. Poseidon fell in love with her, carried her off, and gave the island her name; by him she bore Phaeax, after whom the island's inhabitants, the Phaeacians, were named.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Corcyra (mythology)" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Overview
In Greek mythology and religion, Corcyra (also Korkyra; Ancient Greek: Κόρκυρα, romanized as Kórkura) is the naiad daughter of the river-god Asopus and the nymph Metope, herself the daughter of the river-god Ladon.
She personifies and serves as the tutelary goddess of the ancient Greek city and island of Korkyra, now known as Corfu.
II.Family
Corcyra was the sister of Pelasgus (Pelagon), Ismenus, Chalcis, Cleone, Salamis, Sinope, Aegina, Peirene, Thebe, Tanagra, Thespia, Asopis, Ornea, Harpina, Antiope, Nemea, and Plataea (Oeroe).
III.Mythology
According to myth, Poseidon fell in love with the beautiful nymph Corcyra, kidnapped her, and brought her to a previously unnamed island (Scheria), giving the place her name: Korkyra, the modern Kerkyra (known in English as Corfu, a name unrelated by origin).
An ancient text recounts: "Next after them they came to Corcyra, where Poseidon settled the daughter of Asopus, fair-haired Corcyra, far from the land of Phlious, whence he had carried her off through love; and sailors beholding it from the sea, all black with its sombre woods, call it Corcyra the Black."
Together Poseidon and Corcyra had a child named Phaeax, after whom the island's inhabitants, the Phaiakes, were named; their name was later transliterated in Latin as Phaeacians.