Γαλατεια
Legends mention two persons of this name, the etymology of which is derived from the Greek words meaning 'the whiteness of milk' (γαλα).
- The first was a daughter of Nereus and a sea-goddess who featured in the popular myths of Sicily. The milk-white maiden Galatea lived in the quiet sea and was loved by Polyphemus, the Sicilian Cyclops with the body of a monster. She did not return his passion, however, and was instead in love with the beautiful Acis, son of the god Pan (or Faunus, in the Latin tradition) and a Nymph. One day when Galatea was lying beside the sea with her lover, Polyphemus saw them. Although Acis tried to flee, the Cyclops threw an enormous boulder at him which crushed him to death. Galatea restored to Acis the nature of his mother the Nymph, and turned him into a stream with sparkling waters.
The birth of three heros is sometimes attributed to the love between Polyphemus and Galatea: Galas (see GALATES), CELTUS, and ILLYRIUS, the eponyms respectively of the Galatians, the Celts and the Illyrians. One version of Galatea's legend may possibly have told of mutual love betweed Polyphemus and the Nereid, but no direct evidence has been preserved.
- The other Galatea was a Cretan girl, the daughter of a certain Eurytius. She was married to Lamprus, a man of a good though poor family, who lived in the city of Phaestus. When Lamprus discovered that his wife was pregnant he told her he wanted only a son; if she gave birth to a girl she would have to expose it. While Lamprus was up on the mountain guarding his flock Galatea gave birth to a girl, but she could not bring herself to expose it. On the advice of soothsayers she dressed the child as a boy and called him Leucippus. In this way she concealed the truth from Lamprus.
However, as time went by, Leucippus became very beautiful, and it became impossible to continue the masquerade. Galatea was stricken with fear, and went to Leto's shrine, where she asked the goddess to change her daughter's sex. Leto let herself be swayed and the young girl became a boy (see IPHIS).
{E2 DICTIONARY OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY}