The famous sculptor Pygmalion was a king of Cyprus (Apollodorus III.14.3) in Greek mythology who created an ivory statue of a woman. It was so perfect and beautiful, he fell in love with it and grew sad because it was not animate.
Aphrodite responded to his prayers that the statue come to life, and so Pygmalion was able to marry his perfect woman. She was later called Galatea.[See Ovid's description of this metamorphosis in Met.10.243ff.]
George Bernard Shaw wrote a play about this sculptor. The name of his play was Pygmalion. When Pygmalion became a very popular musical, it was known as My Fair Lady.
Pygmalion is also the name of the legendary brother of Queen Dido, founder of Carthage. Pygmalion was king of Tyre after he killed Dido's husband. Dido's husband's ghost told her what had happened, so Dido (called Elissa) escaped with a band of followers and her wealth. The story is told in The Aeneid of Vergil Book I.
