PygmalionGalatea

Pygmalion & Galatea
This story is told by Ovid and the Goddess of love (Venus). It is an excellent example of Ovid’s way of dressing up a Myth. A gifted young sculptor of Cyprus, named Pygmalion, was a women-hater. Distesting the faults beyond measure which nature has given to women, he resolved never to marry. Pygmalion told himself that his art was enough for him. Never the less, the statue he made and devoted all his genius to was a woman. Either he could not dismiss what he so disapproved of from his mind as easily as from his life, or else he was bent on forming a perfect woman and showing men the deficiencies of the kind they were putting up with. Although in most versions of the story Pygmalion is king of Cyprus, the legends do no include his family0 background. Cyprus is an island in the Mediterranean Sea, Southeast of Greece, and for much of ancient history it was populated by Greeks. However, it’s unclear whether the mythical Pygmalion was based on a real person. There could have been a real king Pygmalion at some point in history, but the magical story by which we remember him is a work of fiction. According to legend, Pygmalion found real women rude, sinful, and full of terrible faults. He did not find anything good or pleasant about them. This was partly as a result of his unhappy experience with the Propoetides, a group of women from the city of Amathus on Cyprus. They refused to worship the goddess of love, Aphrodite. Pygmalion created the wonderful statue and produced a most exquisite work of art. But lovely as it was he could not rest content. He kept on working at it and daily under his skillful fingers it grew more beautiful. No women ever born, no statue ever made, could be as good as this one. When nothing could be added to its perfections, a strange fate had befallen its creator.

Hamilton, Edith Mythology. New York, NY: Little, Brown Co., 1942 www. wikipedia/spaces. com www. Mythman.com

Questions to Know
1. What island was Pygmalion the king of???

2. What did Pygmalion hate???