Pygmalion

Pygmalion (pigmāl'yun) [key]. 1. In Greek mythology, king of Cyprus. He fell in love with a beautiful statue of a woman. When he prayed to Aphrodite for a wife like it, the goddess brought the statue to life and Pygmalion married her. In one version of the legend, the statue becomes Aphrodite; another states that Pygmalion sculpted the statue himself and that after coming to life it was called Galatea. 2. In Vergil's Aeneid, king of Tyre. He was the brother of Dido and killed her husband, Sychaeus, to get his riches.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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