Galatea (mythology)

Galatea (/ˌɡæləˈtiːə/; Ancient Greek: Γαλάτεια, romanized: Galáteia, lit. 'she who is milk-white') is the post-antiquity name popularly applied to the statue carved of ivory alabaster by Pygmalion of Cyprus, which then came to life in Greek mythology.

Galatea is also the name of a sea-nymph, one of the fifty Nereids (daughters of Nereus) mentioned by Hesiod and Homer. In Theocritus Idylls VI and XI she is the object of desire of the one-eyed giant Polyphemus and is linked with Polyphemus again in the myth of Acis and Galatea in Ovid's Metamorphoses. She is also mentioned in Virgil's Eclogues and Aeneid.

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