There once lived on the island of Cyprus a fine sculptor, named Pygmalion, who had decided to devote himself entirely to his art because he could not find a woman to match his idea of beauty. Soon a very pure piece of white marble came into his studio and from it he sculpted a beautiful woman—a figure which embodied all that he considered beautiful. Pygmalion was so smitten with his own creation that he prayed to Aphrodite to help him find a woman that would match his sculpture’s beauty. Aphrodite, however, realized that only the statue itself would answer for Pygmalion, and so she breathed into it the life that Pygmalion so fervently sought. Pygmalion called her Galatea and married her, his own creation.