PYGMALION AND

GALATEA

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.

• 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.

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.

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. . 

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.

• Venus: Roman name for the goddess of love. In

Greek mythology, her name is Aphrodite. • Paphos: Son of Pygmalion and the "humanized"

statue.

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.)