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Korkyra (mythology)

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Corcyra
Corcyra (or Hera) on the relief of the Corcyra-Athens alliance, 375 BC, Acropolis Museum
AbodeCorfu
Genealogy
Parents
ConsortPoseidon
ChildrenPhaeax

In Greek mythology and religion, Corcyra (/kɔːrˈsaɪərə/) or Korkyra (/kɔːrˈkaɪərə/; Ancient Greek: Κόρκυρα, romanizedKórkura) is the naiad daughter of the river-god Asopos[1] and the nymph Metope, herself the daughter of the river-god Ladon.[2] She is the personification and tutelary goddess of the ancient Greek city and island of Korkyra, now better known as Corfu.

Family

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Korykra was the sister of Pelasgus (Pelagon[3]), Ismenus, Chalcis, Cleone, Salamis, Sinope, Aegina, Peirene, Thebe, Tanagra, Thespia, Asopis, Ornea,[4] Harpina,[5] Antiope,[6] Nemea[7] and Plataea[8] (Oeroe[9]).

Mythology

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According to myth, Poseidon fell in love with the beautiful nymph Korkyra, kidnapped her and brought her to a hitherto unnamed island (Scheria[10]) 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."[11]

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.[12]

Notes

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  1. ^ Bacchylides, fr. 9; Corinna, fr. 654 (trans. Campbell); Apollonius Rhodius, 4.568; Pausanias, 2.5.2 & 5.22.6
  2. ^ Diodorus Siculus, 4.72.1
  3. ^ Apollodorus, 3.12.6
  4. ^ Diodorus Siculus, 4.72.1
  5. ^ Diodorus Siculus, 4.73.1; Pausanias, 5.22.6
  6. ^ Pausanias, 2.6.1 & 2.6.4
  7. ^ Pausanias, 2.15.3 & 5.22.6
  8. ^ Pausanias, 9.1.1–2 & 9.3.1
  9. ^ Pausanias, 9.4.4
  10. ^ Pausanias, 2.5.2
  11. ^ Apollonius of Rhodes, 4.566–571
  12. ^ Bacchylides, fr. 9; Corinna, fr. 654 (trans. Campbell); Diodorus Siculus, 4.72.3; Pausanias, 5.22.6

References

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