Galatea (mythology) Galatea (mythology) Galatea (; ; "she who is milk-white") is a name popularly applied to the statue carved of ivory by Pygmalion of Cyprus, which then came to life in Greek mythology. In modern English the name usually alludes to that story. Galatea is also the name of Polyphemus's object of desire in Theocritus's "Idylls VI" and "XI" and is linked with Polyphemus again in the myth of Acis and Galatea in Ovid's "Metamorphoses". Though the name "Galatea" has become so firmly associated with Pygmalion's statue as to seem antique, its use in connection with Pygmalion originated with a post-classical
Pygmalion (mythology) It was revived twice, in 1884 and in 1888. In January, 1872, "Ganymede and Galatea" opened at the Gaiety Theatre. This was a comic version of Franz von Suppé's "Die schöne Galathee", coincidentally with Arthur Sullivan's brother, Fred Sullivan, in the cast. In March 1872, William Brough's 1867 play "Pygmalion; or, The Statue Fair" was revived, and in May of that year, a visiting French company produced Victor Massé's "Galathée". In 1883, the musical burlesque "Galatea, or Pygmalion Reversed" was performed at the Gaiety Theatre with a libretto by Henry Pottinger Stephens and W. Webster, and a score composed by