Skip to content
Pygmalion, a MythSource painting
Greek

Pygmalion

01Identity

Pygmalion in Greek tradition

Pygmalion was an artist in Cyprus who turned from marriage after seeing the Propoetides' conduct. He carved a figure from snow-white ivory and gave it a beauty, the poem says, that no woman could be born with. Its appearance seemed so lifelike that he fell in love with his own work. He tested its ivory, kissed it, gave it gifts and clothing, and laid it on soft coverings.

At Venus's festival, Pygmalion prayed for a wife like the ivory figure, without daring to ask directly for the figure itself. A sign from the altar encouraged him. When he returned, he kissed the statue and felt it grow warm; the hard ivory softened beneath his hands, and its veins began to throb. The living maiden returned his kisses and opened her eyes to him and the daylight. Venus attended their marriage, and the woman later bore Paphos. Ovid does not give the statue a name, so this page links Pygmalion to the existing statue story without supplying one.

SourceThe Metamorphoses of Ovid, Galatea, the Living Statue, printed pp. 357–359

Top questions

The quick answers

02The myths

The myths of Pygmalion

1 myth, with sources recorded for each.

Pygmalion's Ivory Statue Comes to Life

After the Propoetides' conduct shocks him, Pygmalion chooses to remain unmarried. He carves a woman from pale ivory and gives the figure a beauty beyond the measure of a born person. The maker becomes attached to what his own hands have shaped. He touches it to test the material, kisses it and mistakes the imagined response for a living one.

He brings the figure small gifts, clothes it and sets it on soft coverings as though it could feel. At Venus's festival, Pygmalion stands before the altar and asks for a wife like the ivory figure. He cannot quite ask that the statue itself be made his wife. The flame rises three times, and he takes the sign as encouragement.

Back at home he touches the figure again. The ivory yields beneath his fingers like wax warmed by sunlight. He is unsure whether hope has deceived him until he feels the veins throb under his thumb. The young woman opens her eyes to him and to daylight, and Venus attends their marriage. After nine moons, she bears Paphos. Ovid gives no personal name to the ivory figure; the story follows the transformation and marriage rather than naming her.

Pygmalion's Ivory Statue Comes to Life, a MythSource painting of the scene

4 sources· checked 2026-10-01

  1. 1The Metamorphoses of OvidT1
  2. 2The Metamorphoses of OvidT1
  3. 3The Metamorphoses of OvidT1
  4. 4The Metamorphoses of OvidT1

Also mentioned in

Stories elsewhere on MythSource that mention Pygmalion, each on that figure’s page.