in Greek mythology, a king of Cyprus who fell in love with a statue of the goddess Aphrodite. The Roman poet Ovid, in his Metamorphoses, invented a more sophisticated version: Pygmalion, a sculptor, made an ivory statue representing his ideal of womanhood and then fell in love with his own creation; the goddess Venus brought the statue to life in answer to his prayer.
PYGMALION
Meaning of PYGMALION in English
Britannica English vocabulary. Английский словарь Британика. 2012