Pygmalion: Love Can Be Hard - Greek Mythology - Extra Mythology

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🏺✨ Step back in time to ancient Greece, where love took a most extraordinary form. In the myth of Pygmalion, the skilled sculptor whose heart yearned for a love beyond the ordinary. From a dreamy vision to a carved masterpiece, Pygmalion's journey is a tale of divine intervention, self-discovery, and the unexpected twists of love. 🌹💔
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Artist: Jordan Martin I Writer: Mathew Brule I Showrunner & Narrator: Matthew Krol I Video Editor: Devon House Creative I Audio Editor: Clean Waves I ♪ Music: "Extra Mythology Theme" by Big Giant Circles
#ExtraMythology #AncientGreece #Mythology

[@extrahistory]

To get your donation matched (up to $100) through December 31st, 2022, go to www.GiveWell.org/ and right before checkout, pick KZbin from the “How did you hear about us” dropdown menu, and enter Extra Credits. Thanks for Watching!

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

These midweek videos are the Best guys! You always make My day 😊😊😊😊❤❤❤❤❤

[@also_arles]

I just want to mention that the theme song for the mythology series is one of my favorites, it's like an out-of-body experience (but in a good way lol) 😮

[@catcat9808]

Am I missing something or is it typo? Because 2022 was last year.

[@rafaelzamudio354]

Pygmalion, the embodiment of "bring your waifu to laifu"

[@WraythSkitzofrenik]

A fan of OSP?

[@TobiasEnder]

Incell to engaged.

[@Alusnovalotus]

-Red

[@gerardootero1149]

I understood that reference.

[@optimus1735]

XD

[@jacobwismer1512]

"He wanted to remain celibate so he swore off female contact" Not the most foolproof defense in Ancient Greece

[@noahjohnson935]

As someone who struggles with social anxiety, I can relate to Pygmalion wanting company and simultaneously to have that company be happy, but simultaneously not being sure how to act. I express similar feelings when I craft chatacters for the short stories I write. Stories a lot of my IRL and Online friends enjoy reading.

[@extrahistory]

Anexity is a beast

[@mahazkei7709]

Indeed it is, ​@@extrahistory. It is a growing force in the world, and I've seen too many succumb to it. I fight it every day, and it only seems to scoff at me. While the Internet has given me greater access to the people I know today that support me, it has further isolated myself and others from the place where we must, in the end, settle the score with that imminent, but ever far away dread.

[@Wolfiyeethegranddukecerberus17]

Same, I try to be around friends and other people as often as possible, but I'm often the most quiet one, besides the odd joke.

[@mungelomwaangasikateyo376]

Shout out to the 69th like😂

[@ecurewitz]

You should head to the Temple of Aphrodite for help

[@abcdef27669]

There is a similar legend in Finland, about the mythical blacksmith Ilmarinen making a woman made of gold, but he was unhappy about her, because she was cold. The moral of the tale is that isn't a good idea to "buy" love with money.

[@emilyrattini8462]

Oh, *that’s* the origin of the Amorphis song

[@fireaza]

If I were a 90s comedian, I'd make a crass joke about a woman made of solid gold being cheaper to date than a real woman

[@Bill_Garthright]

Money can't buy you happiness. But... it _does_ make unhappiness a lot easier to take! :)

[@fireline4765]

I've been to Finland twice and fell in love with it. So it's nice to hear some folklore from "Home"😊

[@ruffusgoodman4137]

The way you described the story I thought the moral to be "Your notion of ideal woman in theory can be very disappointing when it is realized"

[@mattslater167]

Pygmalion: the touching story of the world's first blow-up doll.

[@AnnoyedSonic]

:joy:

[@GabyGibson]

I just had soda go up my nose. Thanks

[@charlotteinnocent8752]

A greek myth with a happy ending? WOOOOOOOW

[@prestonjones1653]

It helps when Zeus is nowhere near the story.

[@user-sz6ub7sq6x]

@@prestonjones1653or practically any other god

[@ineedhealing2420]

I don't think this is the full story. I thought it ended with Pygmalion no longer liking the woman due to her being, well, real.

[@auroraourania7161]

@@ineedhealing2420 I heard it as due to her starting to talk. That version of the myth better fit to Greek ideas of women, where his issue wasn't sex repulsion, it was not wanting to be around women since he felt they suck (a common view expressed in a lot of ancient greek literature, just look at the oldest version we have of the pandora myth, from Hesiod). That being said, myths varied a ton place to place, and unless the retelling is specifically created to change it for a modern audience that doesn't acknowledge that it's different (you see that a lot in new versions that claim to be the "original" while instilling modern morals), they all are similarly correct.

[@ty_teynium]

"Zeus in complicated relationships" ... yeah, that would be an understatement.

[@marieroberts5664]

I find that the myths you tell are often very different. What I read was that Pygmalion was a famous sculptor, and a very eligible bachelor, but he was so consumed by his work, he refused all offers of marriage. He was also a devotee of Aphrodite and all the girls in town were petitioning the goddess to make the man choose somebody! Finally, the goddess herself told the sculptor that he had to get married, but the man replied that he was working on a statue that would be his masterpiece, a statue of herself, and he swore that as soon as he finished his work, he would have time for a wife. The goddess agreed, and she even posed several times for him, as he made a bunch of little models to get everything right before he started on the full sized project. He worked day and night and finally he was done. But the statue was so beautiful, he could not bear to think of another woman, so when Aphrodite told him it was time, Pygmalion said that he loved only her and her statue, (that he'd named Galatia) so he said that since he could not possibly marry the goddess, he begged her to turn him into a statue. So flattered, she agreed, with a twist. He kissed his creation and the statue came to life in his arms.

[@ftwkh85]

its probably because there are many tellings of the myths and none are more right than another because thats just the nature of oral stories. for instance Ovid makes the gods crueler and more vindictive in his versions of a myth

[@theotherohlourdespadua1131]

To paraphrase Red from OSP: that is the nature of myths, they don't have the story details set in stone and what those details are exactly is subject to the location, culture, and oftentimes POLITICS of the storyteller. Ovid's Medusa is a good example of that: most versions said she is already a monster from the get go but Ovid turned her into a victim of unjust retribution...

[@GrifoStelle]

As the scp wiki puts it. "There is NO cannon"

[@marieroberts5664]

@@GrifoStelle I guess I need to tell myself that more often. There is no canon. There is no canon. There is NO CANON! Mind blown.

[@spookyaliens6286]

I like this version betterbb be honestly, thanks for sharing!

[@brockmckelvey7327]

So You Haven't Read George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion". The play is about how, even if they can talk and act and dress like they're supposed to, people only feel like they belong if they're *treated* like they belong (with respect and dignity)

[@jarekwrzosek2048]

I just had this thought: Wasn't Pretty Woman a loose adaptation of Shaw's "Pygmalion"?

[@brockmckelvey7327]

@@jarekwrzosek2048 Yes it was!

[@germanomagnone]

the myth of Pygmalion strikes me and reminds me a bit of the story of Pinocchio. from ivory to wood and from love to parental love. and to think that with certain websites and video games Pygmalion would have many "colleagues in artificial love".

[@JackWolf1]

It’s fascinating to see how well this myth has held up over time. There are countless people out there that struggle with society, but manage to find solace in an ideal, be it a character in a movie, someone from a video game, or even a VR persona. Moral of the story is, there is always someone out there for you, no matter who you are.

[@Center-For-I.E.D.Mismanagement]

Not if you are Chris-chan.

[@p.s6742]

P.S This is Ovid's telling of Pygmalion's story, as is it said in his work Metamorphosis.

[@Valery0p5]

A Metamorphosis myth with a sympathetic character that ends well? The version I knew was that he was misogynistic to the point of rejecting Galatea when she came to life.

[@auroraourania7161]

@@Valery0p5 Yeah, I feel like if it is, it's been changed heavily, since the driving (and probably intentional) theme of metamorphosis is that the gods are capricious and harm humans without any regard for our suffering.

[@Mcfunface]

Coincidentally, this is where we get the term used in psychology "The Pygmalion Effect", where the outcome you envision is more likely to come true in reality.

[@sbatou87]

Hopefully, Galatea has more of a personality than "devoted," because we've seen movies, tv shows and books on what happens.

[@stellamarie32]

In the version I heard, he declares her to be perfect; and she then grabs the stone carving tools and says "now, we have a lot of work to do on you".

[@sbatou87]

@@stellamarie32 That... sounds like a horror story.

[@AaronCorr]

I read the title and I can practically hear Red saying "you kids have fun with that" when Galatea awakes

[@PT5-Shorts]

Congratulations on 3 million! That means I am 0.000033% of the subscribers on this channel. For some context, if EH was a country it would be the 138th most populated one! Bigger than Albania, Lithuania, Qatar, or Jamaica! *Not combined*

[@extrahistory]

WOAH! Thanks so much for dropping some amazing facts there!

[@theorangeoof926]

Statistics ftw

[@jamessirot854]

I think I the statue had a name: Galatea.

[@xela144]

I know exactly what thought progress you went here. You went for the Fate GO rendition. At least, that is where I heard the name Galatea my self.

[@jamessirot854]

@@xela144 That’s not where I heard her name. I’ve heard it almost every version I’ve seen. But thanks

[@zodiaczennial3676]

That's odd, I, too, thought her name was Galatea? Huh.

[@Waluth_cat]

galaTEA was british

[@VB_Artluver]

I discovered this channel pretty recently and I gotta say I love these videos! They give me insight on history and mythology that I didn’t know before. Both entertaining and educational. ❤

[@extrahistory]

Awesome! So happy to see some new faces on the channel!

[@rachelbrenner4092]

George Benard Shaw's Pygmalion later was turned into a musical called My Fair Lady, but Shaw's ending was changed which Shaw did not appreciate. The true ending is sung by Higgins a few scenes before the musicals end.

[@ilovemuslimfood666]

For once, we got a Greek myth that ended neither in a tragedy nor with a super crazy twist.

[@Stray7]

Yeah, about that... Like all myths, there's numerous versions of this one, some of which are more fucked up than others. Mythology is complex, and it changes over time. I've heard discourse comparing Pygmalion to modern Incel culture, for instance, and which paints his lust for an unattainable perfect woman in a much less flattering light.

[@erd249]

I remember some years back I found an AI chatbot someone had made that was supposed to be a kind of modernized version of Galatea. It was very well done, the story behind it was that Pygmalion was a scientist and artist who'd created her as part of an art show, but kinda had the whole "my fantasy did not include you talking" thing going on too. He'd died, and now she didn't really know who she was.

[@Spyke114]

Wait, why is it that I remember this tale having an ending of "but now that she was a real person and not just a perfect idealization in his head, Pygmalion grew to dislike his waifu"? Before posting this I looked up more sources to confirm it and even checked the OSP video about it and I couldn't find anything to back up that memory. What?

[@davidwilson6681]

that's a modern morality tale that was grafted on later. A bit like Midas accidentally turning his daughter to gold. Not actually a part of the original myth

[@ashfordwyrd7458]

Galatea (the statue) went on to bear two daughters, Paphous and Metharme.

[@HeraclesN-fp1bw]

Pygmalion’s myth gives new meaning to Romancing the Stone … Statue

[@lucasmiguel1498]

I just love the floating hands of the statue 😂. I knew this myth, but it was nice to hear it with your drawings!

[@cheezemonkeyeater]

0:22 - That's a sexy lamp, that is.

[@eduardoandressosasegovia9564]

As an statue that was brought to life I can relate a lot to this tale

[@someguywithanarrowtothekne3899]

Pygmalion is the first of example of being hard as rock

[@fireaza]

I've always figured it was near impossible for creators to be attracted to their creation, in a sorta "knowing how the sausage is made" kinda way. Since you made it, you're very aware of all the flaws that you weren't able to perfect. Flaws which an outside observer might not even notice.

[@safaiaryu12]

This is a good point. God, all I can see in my art is the flaws! But I have had one or two pieces that I was truly happy with... as long as I didn't look at them too long after they were finished... because then I definitely would find the flaws again. 🙄

[@kevinhill8193]

Haha! In my *ahem* experience. Lower the detail until you don't recognize it.

[@timmckee6340]

0:25 "Brick, are you just looking at things in the office and saying that you love them?”

[@Kakkarot211]

before your starting pun I had to pause and took guesses at what you'd use. "statuesque beauty" or "put her on a pedestal" came to mind

[@rmt3589]

It was good to see this, and revisit this story again! Pygmalion, and his statue Galatea, are 1/3 of the inspiration for the historic villian in a game I want to make. Pygmalion's namesake is the reason my game's world is the way it is, and the creator of the ancient monster Galatea! I'm deffinately a bit more psyched now to work on CS50 so I can gain the skills to make this! P.S. The other 2/3 are Victor Frankenstein and Jack the Ripper.

[@Bruhmoment135]

Cool

[@fightinjack]

Congrats on the 3 million! So glad to have seen this channel expand for the last couple years. All sorts of new topics I love!

[@thevictorian8920]

I remember hearing a very similar story when I was m h younger. From what I remember, it was about a sculptor who sculpted what he felt was the perfect woman figure. He dressed her up and gave her jewelry, longing for real love. On day, he wished the statue would come to life so he could experience it, and a god (or goddess, don’t remember) heard his wish and granted it. This is where these two stories diverge, however. The sculptor went out with the woman, but she annoyed him, asking only for the most expensive items of highest quality, seemingly not caring what the sculptor’s state was and ignoring what he said. He went home and wished the woman was a statue once again, and when he woke the next day his wish had once again been granted. I don’t know if this was the original story or if I just messed it up in my brain sometime in the past +15 years. I think the lesson was that he severely underestimated how much work it would be to have a wife, but even that doesn’t sound nice towards women. If someone knows where this story came from, let me know. Maybe my brain made it all up for some reason, but I vividly remember sitting down in a circle in class as the teacher told us the story. If it helps, I went to a Catholic elementary school, and that’s where I heard the story

[@Stray7]

That definitely sounds inspired by Pygmalion, at the very least -- I can confirm I've heard something similar to it myself. I've heard a lot of different versions, too, including versions where Galatea (the statue) turns out to be perfectly pleasant, but doesn't actually want to be with Pygmalion -- they aren't a compatible couple. The same myth can be told many different ways and be interpreted differently by different cultural groups.

[@midnightflare9879]

The gods have spoken: Bring Waifu to Laifu!

[@brycevo]

Mans got a waifu statue to love him back

[@angeliquenichelle]

Pygmalion is an Ace King

[@-jeff-]

Well that's one way to carve out a relationship!,😂

[@BallisticDamages]

I'm pretty sure the "love" was still plenty hard at the end of that tale 😂 Trying to resist the urge to make a joke about this being the M rated origin story of pinocchio

[@shirosenshiesq]

Swap out the statue for a well-used anime body pillow (or MLP pony stuffie) and you've basically got the world's first incel.

[@SudhaKiranGsk]

I'm the closet type, so this felt very relatable It's crazy when simple stories like this can provoke deeper emotions and feelings

[@TisiphoneSeraph]

It's odd I've never heard this myth cut off before his eventual rejection of the woman but I'm having trouble bringing that version up now. I also didn't realize it primarily came from Ovid. For some reason I thought it was older. Not sure why though come to think of it.

[@luckyassassin1]

The myth i heard was that aphrodite brought the statue to life to punish Pygmalion for falling for an inanimate woman because he didn't want sex and then he ran away when she came to life and wanted to have sex.

[@baronghede2365]

My favorite Greek mythology story, Blessed be.

[@bornanime3255]

Bro's life sized anime figurine came to life that's crazy😭 Honestly, wish that were me ngl

[@Elard404]

Very cool video, I've been reading Mythos by Steven Fry and this feels very like it. One little detail which is not a big deal cause it was clearly meant as a joke; Cupid is the Roman version of Ares' and Aphrotide's child Eros. (But I think you guys chose it because Cupid is a household name while Eros isn't. Other than that, awesome video.

[@pandaroselight1839]

Congratulations on getting 3 million subscribers me and my Dad loved watching your channel I also love this story you picked out I watched the story of Pygmalion so many times I got to say and when you think about it more true love does exist keep up the good work😊❤❤😊

[@KujoTV]

That's a HUGE piece of ivory!

[@theorangeoof926]

Replace this with an anime body pillow and you have something resembling contemporary times.

[@bobs_toys]

It's times like this, I like to ask myself "what would Krieger do?"

[@theadventurer2628]

"At any moment the gods will strike you, and to who or what, may baffle you" me looking at Asterion, aka the minotour, and giving his mom the side eye

[@feitocomfruta]

And to think, the modern version of Pygmalion is a play that is the basis for the musical My Fair Lady.

[@DisKKJ]

Definetly one of greek myths of all time. Never knew about this one.

[@89Pingu]

Ivory? How do you carve a full statue from ivory? Did you guys maybe mean marble? Like in every other reading of this. And that the woman just had ivory complexion...

[@Stand_By_For_Mind_Control]

Big f'n elephants lol.

[@chedelirio6984]

Ovid's Metaporphoses says ivory -- which would mean a sculpture clad in ivory -- a technique often used for classical temple sculptures. So the misrepresentation is the implication of a carving of a big block when it was more like the plates that form the Statue of Liberty.

[@kylemarthaller3920]

The first wifu in human history

[@raymk]

Breaking news: It's been reported the follower number of Aphrodite has gone up, and some anime fans starts building temples of the goddess.

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

LOVE YOUR CONTENT GUYS! CONGRATS ON THE 3 MILLÓN 😊😊😊❤❤❤❤❤

[@extrahistory]

Thank you!

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

@@extrahistory always

[@rcrimson5048]

And once again Extra History teach me the true history of a character I have only seen in the Fate franchise 😂

[@KartingLegends]

1:32 yeah boi let’s g- NOPE NEVERMIND

[@daniellanctot6548]

*_Ok... The double entendre in the tile CAN'T be a coincidence, Right?_* 🤦‍♂😅 *_... And I guess this was the inspiration to the 1987 movie Mannequin!_*

[@taimunozhan]

Big moth energy at 0:23

[@ironwolf5802]

Part of me wants to make so many jokes but finding it hart to chose whitch one. At least a sweet ending and probably a vary interesting conversion of how they got together.

[@AnimeShinigami13]

WOW a greek myth i've never heard before!!! bravo!!! that's not easy!!!!

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Amazing video as always guys! Love mythology! Hope you all had an amazing Christmas! 🤗🤗🤗❤️❤️❤️🎁🎁🎁🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

[@koljaleffek7290]

great title. love the word play

[@KartingLegends]

Congrats for 3 million! I always love watching you videos. They are more entertaining then just remembering numbers and dates

[@laynemartin7914]

Pygmalion being the epitome of sexually repulsed ace... lmao, but it makes him more sympathetic than the antipatriarchy version where he just got rejected and so built his perfect woman instead

[@augustomoreira7441]

the first weeb

[@Ett.Gammalt.Bergtroll]

A thousand years later we now have RealDolls.

[@pimhakkens1415]

hallo i saw this vidoe early so i have to chance to say i love al ur video's and channel

[@extrahistory]

[@canniballer69]

looks like that statue wasn’t the only thing that was hard 💀

[@maugos]

Goodness, this statue sounds like quite the fair lady.

[@carsonpiano1]

Quality content

[@mathieuleader8601]

I always remember when Jennifer Anniston starred as Galatea in Hercules the Animated Series retelling of Pygmalion

[@postapocalypticnewsradio]

PANR has tuned in.

[@extrahistory]

Happy Holidays PANR!

[@postapocalypticnewsradio]

@extrahistory happy holidays, my friend.

[@BodybuildingNews]

We’re going to be writing legends like this about people dating chatGPT

[@Rehteal]

Wait, you can chisel statues out of giant blocks of *ivory*?

[@andrewklang809]

It was the olden days.

[@tashacooper1753]

Love the anchor man reference

[@MarynaraSauc3_]

Nice to know the story that named the effect my life is ruled by

[@jamie6698]

This is a much more favorable story of Pygmalion than I heard. In the myth I first learned, he simply found all women to be beneath him in some way and, in his arrogance, he created Galatea as the perfect woman worthy of him.

[@CrystalRiverLight]

The first person who feel in love with a objective 😢

[@EyalBrown]

Surely it was marble rather than ivory, right?

[@mageofdoomsie1598]

The rendition of this story that this video uses says that the statue was carved from ivory, which is definitely odd but apparently there is some truth to it

[@tommydoweiko999]

This is a bit random but I thought you would be moving all this content to another channel? I love it and everything this is just a question

[@penwrythe]

6:02 Very objectum vibes ❤

[@williamStonehill7382]

Oh this is a good one... making a statue to come to life, with afrodiry

[@imjessietr29]

Dude invented the sex doll.

[@LaceNWhisky]

Today his statue girlfriend would be a Replika AI.

[@timsullivan4566]

Pygmalion in love...? ...aw, pShaw! 🤭

[@sourabhmayekar3354]

Nice

[@martinellis38]

Ivory? Did I mishear? Did they make blocks out of that much elephant tusks? I understand there would be far less compulsion to save elephants but surely ivory sculptures would be smaller?

[@chancekahle2214]

They had to have meant marble.

[@stevecooper7883]

Ivory in color I'm sure they meant to write.

[@martinellis38]

I hope so

[@andrewklang809]

"Doubt took hold." Orpheus: First time?

[@BDeerhead]

I give this title a Mineta giving a mildly enthusiastic thumbs up / 10.

[@mirjanbouma]

"Cupid" my dudes. *Eye twitching*

[@French_officer_of_1e_Regiment_]

I heard another version of the myth Pygmalion was a greek sculptor wich lived on a city with alot of biutefull women, but he said thay they were "not perfect" and so he built a statue the best and perfect woman And he got struck by love, living with her, sleeping ther and have romance with her He was sad thoug, becouse she wasn't real and sl asked aphrodite, the goddes of love to make the statue real. He then went back home, went to the statue he kissed her, and slowly the statue became human, wich pygmalion then married and togheter had a child in wich would grow up and found a city in the name of Aphrodite

[@kaltaron1284]

AFAIK the randomness of Greek gods is in good parts to warn people of what the Greeks considered the worst character flaw. Hubris.

[@hunterblacc4336]

Wow that's the most tame Aphrodite has ever been

[@ty_teynium]

This is a bit more disturbing than I thought. I hadn't realized Pygmalion was never a sculptor or artist of the sort.

[@hoodbaxter]

He reminds me of that one weird kid who is in love with a body pillow

[@UncleLumbago1899]

Basically Pygmalion praying so his waifu will be brought to laifu

[@dracone4370]

Chinese/Lunar New Year is this coming February 10; I look forward to what you can come up with that time, especially since it is 4 days before Valentine's Day.