Galatea

Galatea, a name meaning ‘she who is milk white’. She is the glorious and comely daughter of ‘The Old Man of the Sea’ Nereus and the Oceanid Doris - a sea-nymph anciently attested in the work of both Homer and Hesiod; she is described as the fairest and most beloved of the 50 Nereids. Galatea lived in the sea, and caught the attention of the Sicilian cyclops Polyphemus. There is a shrine dedicated to Galatea on Mount Etna.

Long after Acis had died, Galatea yielded to Polyphemus’ embraces. They had a son, Galas, who became the ancestor of the Gauls. Galatea, together with Doto and Panope, had escorted her sister Thetis out of the sea to her wedding with Peleus. Galatea and her sisters aid Thetis when she cries out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles at the slaying of his friend Patroclus.