Pygmalion

Pygmalion is a Greek name. Pygmalion—or Pygmaion according to Hesychios of Alexandra—is probably a Cypriot form of Adonis, a Levantine vegetation-god.

It may refer to:

• Pygmalion (mythology), in ancient Greek mythology, a sculptor who fell in love with his statue
• Pygmalion of Tyre, a King of Tyre
  • also a character in Virgil's masterpiece, the Aeneid

In the arts, the mythical character is depicted or is alluded to in (listed in roughly chronological order) the following:

• Pigmalion (opera), a 1748 opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau
• Pygmalion (1762 play), a short play by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• Pygmalion (opera), a late 18th century duodrama opera by Georg Anton Benda
• Il Pigmalione, an 1816 opera by Gaetano Donizetti
• Pygmalion and Galatea, an 1871 play by W. S. Gilbert
• Galatea, or Pygmalion Reversed a musical comedy composed by Meyer Lutz
• Pygmalion (play), a 1912 play by George Bernard Shaw
• Pygmalion, a 1938 movie based on the play by George Bernard Shaw
• My Fair Lady a 1956 musical and a 1964 movie by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe based on Shaw's play
• Pygmalion (album), by Slowdive

In psychology:

• The pygmalion effect, a concept in psychology describing the behavior of individuals as people expect them to behave
• Pygmalionism or agalmatophilia, an erotic attraction to statues or immobility