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
Ancient Greek literature the most popular books ever published in the United States". George Bernard Shaw's play "Pygmalion" is a modern, rationalized retelling of the ancient Greek legend of Pygmalion. James Joyce's novel "Ulysses", heralded by critics as one of the greatest works of modern literature, is a retelling of Homer's "Odyssey" set in modern-day Dublin. The mid-twentieth-century British author Mary Renault wrote a number of critically acclaimed novels inspired by ancient Greek literature and mythology, including "The Last of the Wine" and "The King Must Die". Even in works that do not consciously draw on Graeco-Roman literature, authors often employ concepts and