Galatea
Galatea was a Nereid loved by the Cyclops Polyphemus — but she loved the mortal Acis.
The Myth of Galatea
Galatea, a Nereid of surpassing beauty, was loved hopelessly by Polyphemus the Cyclops — the same creature Odysseus later blinded on his voyage from Troy to Ithaca. Galatea loved the mortal Acis instead. When Polyphemus discovered them together, he crushed Acis beneath a boulder. Galatea transformed her lover's blood into a river that still flows in Sicily. Poseidon, father of Polyphemus, could not intervene in matters of the heart. The tale contrasted the Cyclops's brute strength with the Nereid's grace, and foreshadowed Polyphemus's later encounter with Odysseus, where cunning defeated violence just as love had defeated jealousy.
Parents
Nereus and Doris
Children
Galas (in some versions)
Symbols
Fun Fact
Her name means "milk-white" — from gala, the root of "galaxy" (Milky Way) and "galactic."
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Thetis
🌿 nymphSea nymph mother of Achilles
Thetis was a sea nymph so powerful that both Zeus and Poseidon desired her — until a prophecy warned her son would surpass his father.
Thetis
🌿 nymphSea nymph whose son's fate drove the Iliad
Thetis was the Nereid whose son was destined to surpass his father — a prophecy so threatening that Zeus and Poseidon married her off to a mortal.
Scylla
🌿 nymphBeautiful nymph transformed into a monster
Scylla was originally a beautiful sea nymph who was transformed into a six-headed monster by the jealous Circe or Amphitrite.
Meliboea
🌿 nymphnature, grief
A nymph (or mortal woman) who survived the massacre of Niobe's children and was preserved by her extreme pallor of terror.
Coronis
🌿 nymphlove, betrayal
A Thessalian nymph or princess beloved by Apollo, whose infidelity led to the birth of Asclepius, god of medicine.
Minthe
🌿 nymphthe underworld, plants
A Naiad nymph of the Underworld river Cocytus who was trampled into the mint plant by a jealous Persephone.
Oenone
🌿 nymphhealing, prophecy
Mountain nymph of Mount Ida who was Paris's first wife before Helen.
Salmacis
🌿 nymphdesire
Water nymph of Caria whose desperate embrace of Hermaphroditus caused the gods to fuse them into a single dual-sexed being.
Eurydice
🌿 nymphWife of Orpheus, lost to the underworld
Eurydice was the nymph whose death drove Orpheus to descend to the underworld — only to lose her at the last moment when he looked back.
Autonoe
🌿 nymphnature, grief
A Nereid and, in separate traditions, a daughter of Cadmus who witnessed the death of her son Actaeon.
Philyra
🌿 nymphhealing, nature
An Oceanid nymph who bore the centaur Chiron after Kronos mated with her in the form of a horse.
Sinope
🌿 nymphcleverness, virginity
A nymph who outwitted Zeus, Apollo, and the river god Halys by making each promise her virginity as a gift before granting her favours — then holding them to it.