Pygmalion

Also known as: Paphian hero · Role: sculptor · First appears: Fable 89

Life events

• Pygmalion rejects marriage and resolves to live in perpetual celibacy.(Fable89)
  • “Pygmalion, shocked by the dissolute lives of the Propœtides, throws off all fondness for the female sex, and resolves on leading a life of perpetual celibacy.”
• Pygmalion carves a lifelike ivory statue of extraordinary beauty.(Fable89)
  • “In the meantime, he ingeniously carved {a statue of} snow-white ivory with wondrous skill; and gave it a beauty with which no woman can be born;”
• Pygmalion falls in love with the statue he created.(Fable89)
  • “and {then} conceived a passion for his own workmanship.”
• Venus animates the ivory statue, transforming it into a living woman.(Fable89 · 📍 Cyprus)
  • With: Venus
  • “The pressed ivory becomes soft, and losing its hardness, yields to the fingers, and gives way”
• Venus attends and effects Pygmalion’s marriage to the formerly lifeless statue.(Fable89 · 📍 Cyprus)
  • With: Venus
  • “The Goddess was present at the marriage which she {thus} effected.”
• Pygmalion and the maiden have a son named Paphos.(Fable89)
  • With: Paphos
  • “And now, the horns of the moon having been nine times gathered into a full orb, she brought forth Paphos;”

Fable 89

• with Venus (Venus responds favorably to Pygmalion's prayer.) “The golden Venus, as she herself was present at her own festival, understood what that prayer meant; and as an omen of the Divinity being favourable, thrice was the flame kindled up, and it sent up a tapering flame into the air.”
• child: Paphos (Paphos is born after Venus effects Pygmalion's marriage.) “The Goddess was present at the marriage which she {thus} effected. And now, the horns of the moon having been nine times gathered into a full orb, she brought forth Paphos; from whom the island derived its name.”
• with Venus (Venus effects Pygmalion's marriage by animating the statue.) “The Goddess was present at the marriage which she {thus} effected.”

⭐ Constellation map → · 📖 Read the original → · 🗂 Character index → · 🕰 Chronicle → · 📍 Places →

Extracted from the original text of The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Made with Rho MD.