This legend takes place in the city of Paphos, on the island of Cyprus, which is also where the goddess Venus is rumored to be at following her birth at sea. In this legend Pygmalion is a talented, but lonely sculptor who has no wife for he feels women in his town are "wicked." Pygmalion begins to treat one of his ivory statues as if it his wife, and going as far as creating clothing and a bed for this statue due to how infatuated he became with his creation. Pygmalion even became affectionate with his statue due to how in love he became with it as he even began to kiss and caress the statue due to whatever connection it was that he felt with this ivory statue. When the festival of Venus arrives on the island, Pygmalion went to the ceremonial fire and after giving an offering wished for a woman "like his ivory girl," despite knowing the statue was what he truly desired. Because Venus favored Pygmalion, the fired flared up thrice and with that Venus granted Pygmalion his wish. When Pygmalion went home he gave his statue a kiss and noticed that the statue felt alive, he began to check her vitals and confirmed his theory that his statue had come to life as a real woman. Pygmalion could not believe it as his prayer had been answered, for he now had his perfect girl that he had made of ivory, Pygmalion gave thanks to the goddess Venus and she attended the eventual wedding of Pygmalion and his girl of ivory. Lastly, the two had a son following this, who was named Paphos "from whom the island takes its name."
 |
| Pygmalion and his eventual wife Galatea (The Ivory Statue) |
No comments:
Post a Comment