Galatea’s Family Tree

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Family

• Doris(parent),Nereus(parent),Amphitrite(sibling),Psamathe(sibling),Thetis(sibling)— Marriage

  Nereus and the Oceanid Doris produced fifty daughters, the Nereids. Among them, Thetis became Achilles's mother, Amphitrite married Poseidon as queen of the sea, Galatea was courted by the Cyclops Polyphemus, and Psamathe bore Phocus to Aeacus.

• Polyphemus(spouse),Galates(child)— Consort · Miraculous

  Galatea yielded to the Cyclops Polyphemus and bore him a son Galates, eponymous ancestor of the Galatians, according to Appian and Timaeus.

  ⚠ Ovid's Metamorphoses presents a contrasting tradition where Galatea rejected Polyphemus entirely and loved the youth Acis, whom Polyphemus killed in jealousy.

Enemy of

• Polyphemus

  The Cyclops Polyphemus became infatuated with the Nereid Galatea, but she rejected his monstrous advances. In Ovid's Metamorphoses, Polyphemus crushed her lover Acis with a boulder in a jealous rage.

Created

• Acis

  After Polyphemus crushed Acis with a boulder, Galatea transformed his blood into the river Acis (modern Jaci) flowing from beneath Mount Etna, granting him immortality as a river god.

Member of

• Nereids

  The Nereids were fifty sea nymphs born to the Old Man of the Sea Nereus and the Oceanid Doris, dwelling in their father's golden palace beneath the Aegean and attending Poseidon's marine court.

Associated with

• Acis

  In Ovid's Metamorphoses, the shepherd Acis and the Nereid Galatea were lovers on the coast of Sicily. Their idyll was shattered when the jealous Cyclops Polyphemus killed Acis.

• Sicily

  The love triangle of Galatea, Acis, and Polyphemus unfolded on the coast of Sicily near Mount Etna, where the Cyclops tended his flocks and sang his lovesick songs to the Nereid.