Galatea, statue brought to life (Greek mythology)

Galatea (; Ancient Greek: Γαλάτεια; "she who is milk-white") is the post-antiquity name popularly applied to the statue carved of ivory alabaster by Pygmalion of Cyprus, which then came to life in Greek mythology. Galatea is also the name of a sea-nymph, one of the fifty Nereids (daughters of Nereus) mentioned by Hesiod and Homer. In Theocritus Idylls VI and XI she is the object of desire of the one-eyed giant Polyphemus and is linked with Polyphemus again in the myth of Acis and Galatea in Ovid's Metamorphoses. She is also mentioned in Virgil's Eclogues and Aeneid.