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In Greek mythology, Galatea (/ˌɡæləˈtiːə/; Ancient Greek: Γαλάτεια; "she who is milk-white") was the name of the following figures:

• Galatea, a Nereid who loved the shepherd Acis, and was loved by the cyclops Polyphemus.
• Galatea, the statue of a woman created by Pygmalion and brought to life by Aphrodite.
• Galatea, daughter of Eurytius, son of Sparton. Her husband Lamprus wished to have a son and told her to expose the child if it turned out to be a girl. So when Galatea gave birth to a girl she asked the gods to change her sex, and Leto turned her into a boy (Leucippus)

Notes

1. Galene in the Smith Classics Dictionary Archived 2007-10-13 at the Wayback Machine. The suffix -teia or -theia means "goddess", as in other Nereid names: Amatheia, Psamathe, Leukotheia, Pasitheia, etc. Hesiod has both a Galene ("Calm-Sea") and a Galateia named as Nereids. Galateia as "sea-calm Goddess" seem a likely inference; the reasoning for Galateia as Milky-White comes from the adjectival form of galaktos, galakteia.
2. Hesiod, Theogony 250; Homer, Iliad 18.45; Theocritus 6.6, 11.8; Virgil, Eclogue 9.39; Ovid, Metamorphoses 13.738, 789.
3. Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.243 ff.
4. Antoninus Liberalis, 17 with reference to Nicander

References

• Antoninus Liberalis, The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992). Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• Hesiod, Theogony from The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. ISBN 978-0674995796. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Homer, Homeri Opera in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920. ISBN 978-0198145318. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses. Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.

• Set index articles on Greek mythology
• Women in Greek mythology
• Mythological Cretans