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
Greek mythology in popular culture to name its equipment such as the Nike missile project and the Navy having over a dozen ships named from Greek mythology. Greek mythology has been the source for names for a number of ships in the British navy as well as the Australian Royal Navy which has also named a training facility in Victoria called HMAS Cerebus. The Canadair CP-107 Argus of the Royal Canadian Air Force is named in honor of both the hundred eyed Argus Panoptes the "all seeing" and Odysseus' dog Argus who was the only one who identified Odysseus upon his return home. Many celestial