Scylla is a princess of Megara

Megara

Megara is an ancient city in Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens. Megara was one of the four districts of Attica, embodied in the four mythic sons of King...

 in Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

. She is mentioned by Ovid

Ovid

Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...

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As the story goes, Scylla was the daughter of Nisus (Nisos

Nisos

In Greek mythology, Nisos was the King of Megara, and one of the four sons of Pandion II, King of Athens.He was married to Abrota, sister of Megareus, and when she died, Nisos commanded that the Megarian women wear clothes like she had. His daughter Eurynome, with Poseidon, had the famous son...

) the King of Megara, who possessed a single lock of purple hair which granted him invincibility. When Minos

Minos

In Greek mythology, Minos was a king of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa. Every year he made King Aegeus pick seven men and seven women to go to Daedalus' creation, the labyrinth, to be eaten by The Minotaur. After his death, Minos became a judge of the dead in Hades. The Minoan civilization of Crete...

, the King of Crete, invaded Nisus's kingdom, Scylla saw him from the city's battlements and fell in love with him. In order to win Minos's heart, she decided that she would grant him victory in battle by removing the lock from her father's head and presented it to Minos. Disgusted with her lack of filial devotion, he left Megara immediately. Scylla did not give up easily and starting swimming after Minos's boat. She nearly reached him but a sea eagle, into which her father had been metamorphosed after death, drowned her. Scylla was transformed into a seabird (ciris), relentlessly pursued by her father, who was transformed into a sea eagle (haliaeetus).

Scylla's story is a close parallel to that of Comaetho

Comaetho

In Greek mythology, Comaetho is a name that may refer to:*The daughter of Pterelaos and princess of the Taphians. The Taphians were at war with Thebes, led by Amphitryon, whom Comaetho fell in love with. The Taphians remained invincible until Comaetho out of love for Amphitryon cut off her...

, daughter of Pterelaus

Pterelaus

-Son of Lelex:Pterelaus was a son of Lelex, a pre-Hellenic king whose descendants spread across Greece and beyond . Pterelaus ruled the land by the River Achelous, in the region later called Acarnania. Pterelaus had numerous sons who settled the territory in the vicinity of the Achelous, including...

. Similar stories were told of Pisidice

Pisidice

In Greek mythology, Pisidice or Peisidike was one of the following individuals:* A daughter of Pelias, who, together with her sisters, killed their father, as Medea tricked them into believing this was needed to rejuvenate him....

 (princess of Methymna) and of Leucophrye

Leucophrye

In Greek mythology, Leucophrye was the daughter of Mandrolytus, a resident of a city in Asia Minor.Leucippus, son of Xanthius, was chosen by the oracle as leader of a colony of one in ten sent out of Pherae by Admetus...

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Scylla appears in Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...

's mock-heroic

Mock-heroic

Mock-heroic, mock-epic or heroi-comic works are typically satires or parodies that mock common Classical stereotypes of heroes and heroic literature...

 "Rape of the Lock" as part of an extended representation of gallant chatter round a card table in the guise of a heroic battle:

Ah cease, rash youth! desist ere 'tis too late,

Fear the just gods, and think of Scylla's fate!

Chang'd to a bird, and sent to flit in air,

She dearly pays for Nisus' injur'd hair!