Acis and Galatea: a Graeco-Roman myth

The story of Acis and Galatea, although it purports to be a Greek myth, is not wholly so. The version that is generally known is that told by the Roman poet Ovid in his “Metamorphoses”, although his source is almost certainly a poem attributed to the late Greek poet Theocritus, who lived in the Greek colony of Sicily in the early 3^rd century BC. It is thus probably fair to call it a “Graeco-Roman” myth.

The story

The tale is a version of the love triangle in which two men love the same woman and the outcome is a violent one.

The woman in this case is Galatea, a sea nymph. She is in love with a young shepherd named Acis, but her beauty has not gone unnoticed by Polyphemus, a one-eyed giant and a son of the sea-god Poseidon. This is the same character who appears in Homer’s Odyssey as one of the monsters that Odysseus and his men encounter, although he is drawn in a somewhat different light in the story told by Theocritus and Ovid.

In the Galatea story Polyphemus is portrayed as a stalker who follows Galatea everywhere and does everything he can to ingratiate himself with her, including dressing smartly and trimming his beard. However, nothing he does is likely to persuade Galatea to abandon Acis, whom she sees as a far better prospect.

Polyphemus decides that music is the answer. He makes a set of “pan pipes” with a hundred reeds that can be heard for miles around when he blows it. He composes a love song which he belts out at full volume.

Acis and Galatea, lying in each other’s arms on the sea shore, cannot help but hear the song and the pipes, and they find it all highly amusing. How could the rough giant Polyphemus possibly hope to win the love of a beautiful nymph?

The pair are still laughing to each other when the song stops and they find that Polyphemus is standing over them, roaring with anger at being mocked in this way.

Galatea is able to slip into the sea but Acis is not so lucky. Polyphemus grabs hold of the side of a nearby hill and throws most of it at the shepherd, who is crushed to death.

Galatea is powerless to restore her lover to life, but she has enough magic in her to transform his blood into water that then flows as a river from underneath the rocks thrown down by the giant. Acis arises from the river as a river god who can then always be in contact with Galatea at the point where the river meets the sea.

Origins of the myth

One possible origin of the myth is that it explains the nature of a small river that flows underground on the eastern side of Mount Etna and emerges into the open shortly before reaching the sea. This river is still known as the River Akis.

There are other suggested explanations, such as the story being a political satire aimed at a ruler who had a mistress named Galatea.

There is another variant of the myth, in which Polyphemus wins the hand of Galatea in a sort of “Beauty and the Beast” scenario. She then becomes the mother of three sons who are subsequently the founders of the Gauls, the Celts and the Illyrians.

The myth inspired a large number of artistic and musical works in later centuries, with one of the best known being Handel’s celebrated opera “Acis and Galatea” which reached its final form in 1732. 

© John Welford