The Tale of Pygmalion and Galatea Author: Edith Hamilton Project by: Juliet Ferrell Project due: April 25, 2009

Pygmalion- the main character Venus- Goddess of Passionate Love Characters Pygmalion- the main character Galatea- the lover Venus- Goddess of Passionate Love

Background Knowledge The myth was told by Ovid, and is described as one of his best examples of a “dressed up” myth.

Pygmalion was a very skilled artist who hated women so much he vowed never to marry. He was passionate for art, which led him to make a sculpture of a women who was ideally “perfect”

As soon as she became completely flawless, Pygmalion found himself falling passionately in love with her. He tried to love her as if she were a real human, but she was inanimate and couldn’t respond to his acts of compassion. Pygmalion was so sad that he went to an alter of Venus, the Goddess of Passionate Love.

Venus had helped many sad lovers, but Pygmalion was the first of his type of lover. Pygmalion prayed to Venus and asked to have a wife who was as perfect as his statue, but Venus knew just what he wanted.

The flame at the alter of Venus that Pygmalion was at jumped three times the original height, and Pygmalion thanked Venus because he knew that his prayer had been answered.

When Pygmalion went home, he caressed and loved on his “statue”, and to his surprise, she did the same to him. He named his love Galatea and they had a child named Paphos, in honor of Venus’s favorite city.

Venus the Goddess of Passionate Love Pygmalion and Galatea The City Paphos, the city Pygmalion’s son was named after

Any questions?