Pygmalion was a sculptor in ancient Cyprus who became infatuated with an ivory statue he had carved of the perfect woman. He prayed to Aphrodite/Venus for the statue to be brought to life. Taking pity on Pygmalion, Venus brought the statue to life as a woman named Galatea. They married and had a son named Paphos. The story comes from Ovid's Metamorphoses, one of the most influential works of classical mythology.

1. PYGMALION
AND GALATEA

2. Pygmalion and Galatea
• Pygmalion and Galatea are two characters from
Greco-Roman mythology.
• Publius Ovidius Naso known as Ovid in the English
speaking world, was a Roman poet who lived during
the reign of Augustus.
• Ovid is today best known for the Metamorphoses , a
15-book continuous mythological narrative .
• Comprising fifteen books and over 250 myths , the
poem chronicles the history of the world from its
creation to the deification of Julius Caesar within a
loose mythico-historical framework.

3. • Metamorphoses is Ovid’s magnum opus.
• The Metamorphoses remains one of the
most important sources of classical
mythology.
• The story is part of the tenth book
of Metamorphoses, a long narrative poem
by Ovid about mythological, legendary,
and historical characters and
circumstances that undergo a
transformation. The tale of Pygmalion is
one of the most famous in the fifteen
books that make up Metamorphoses.

4. Style and Verse Format:
Metamorphoses was highly popular
with readers of the Augustan age (27 BC to
AD 14, when Caesar Augustus ruled the
Roman Empire) and became one of the best
read books of the Renaissance, influencing
Shakespeare and other prominent writers.
The themes and motifs are as timely today as
they were 2,000 years ago.

5. Ovid wrote Metamorphoses in
heroic hexameter , the dignified verse
format of ancient epic poetry. Heroic
hexameter consists of unrhymed lines
that each contain six feet. Each foot is
either a dactyl (a stressed syllable
followed by two unstressed syllables) or
a spondee (two stressed syllables). The
number of syllables per line varies
depending on the number of dactyls and
spondees in it. .

6. Setting:
The action is set in ancient Cyprus, an island
nation in the eastern Mediterranean south of Turkey.
Characters:
• Pygmalion: Young sculptor who despises women
but becomes infatuated with an exquisite statue of
his creation.
• Galatea: Figure of a beautiful young woman
sculpted in ivory by Pygmalion. After Pygmalion
passionately desires it, Venus intervenes on his
behalf and animates the statue. Ovid does not give
a name to the new human being, but other
accounts of the Pygmalion myth call her Galatea.

7. • Venus: Roman name for the goddess of love. In
Greek mythology, her name is Aphrodite.
• Paphos: Son of Pygmalion and the "humanized"
statue.

8. Themes :
What readers remember most about this story is that a
statue changes into a human being. But they generally
forget that a profound change takes place in Pygmalion;
it alters his attitude about women—or at least a
particular woman. (It is possible, however, to argue that
Pygmalion's attitude toward women in general remains
the same: They are loathsome because they do not
measure up to his concept of the ideal woman, a
concept that he created in stone and that Venus
incarnated.)