In Greek mythology and religion, Corcyra or Korkyra is the naiad daughter of the river-god Asopos and the nymph Metope, herself the daughter of the river-god Ladon. She is the personification and tutelary goddess of the ancient Greek city and island of Korkyra, now better known as Corfu.

Family

Korykra was the sister of Pelasgus (Pelagon ), Ismenus, Chalcis, Cleone, Salamis, Sinope, Aegina, Peirene, Thebe, Tanagra, Thespia, Asopis, Ornea, Harpina, Antiope, Nemea and Plataea (Oeroe ).

Mythology

According to myth, Poseidon fell in love with the beautiful nymph Korkyra, kidnapped her and brought her to a hitherto unnamed island (Scheria ) and offered her name to the place: Korkyra or the now-modern Kerkyra (known in English as Corfu, a name that is unrelated by origin). "'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 they had a child Phaeax after whom the inhabitants of the island, Phaiakes, were named; their name was later transliterated in Latinate orthography to Phaeacians.