Andromeda
Related: Saint George fighting the dragon - damsel in distress - mythology
Andromeda and the Nereids (1840) - Théodore Chassériau
Paul Gustave Doré (1832-1883) painted Andromeda exposed to the sea-monster. (1869?)
The legend says that a proud Queen named Cassiopeia angered the sea god, Poseidon by claiming that she (or her daughter, Andromeda - the stories vary), was more beautiful than the Nereids nymphs. To punish Cassiopeia for her pride, Poseidon sent a sea monster to flood the coast and attack her land. Cassiopeia's husband, Cepheus, asked the Oracle how to stop the monster and was told that the only way was to offer Andromeda as a sacrifice. And so Andromeda was tied to a rock on the shore and left to be eaten by the monster. However, the hero Perseus just happened to be passing on the winged horse, Pegasus. At first he thought that Andromeda was a statue - she stood so still and her skin was so white. However he soon realised what was happening. Perseus swooped down, killed the sea monster and rescued Andromeda. The legend then says that Andromeda and her hero fell in love and were married.
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In Greek mythology, Andromeda ("ruler of men") was the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia, king and queen of the Ethiopians.
Cassiopeia, having boasted herself equal in beauty to the Nereids, drew down the vengeance of Poseidon, who sent an inundation on the land and a sea-monster, which destroyed man and beast. The oracle of Ammon having announced that no relief would be found until the king exposed his daughter Andromeda to the monster, she was fastened to a rock on the shore.
Perseus, returning from having slain the Gorgon, found Andromeda, slew the monster, set her free, and married her in spite of Phineus, to whom she had before been promised. At the wedding a quarrel took place between the rivals, and Phineus was turned to stone by the sight of the Gorgon's head (Ovid, Metamorphoses v. 1).
Andromeda followed her husband to Tiryns in Argos, and became the ancestress of the family of the Perseidae through Perseus' and Andromeda's son, Perses. Perseus and Andromeda had six sons (Perseides): Perses, Alcaeus, Heleus, Mestor, Sthenelus, and Electryon, and one daughter, Gorgophone. Their descendants ruled Mycenae from Electryon down to Eurystheus, after whom Atreus got the kingdom, and include the great hero Heracles.
After her death she was placed by Athena amongst the constellations in the northern sky, near Perseus and Cassiopeia. Sophocles and Euripides (and in more modern times Corneille) made the story the subject of tragedies, and its incidents were represented in numerous ancient works of art. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andromeda_%28mythology%29 [May 2005]
see also: http://www.abaxjp.com/andrmd/andrmd.html - damsel in distress
Perseus Frees Andromeda (c. 1515) - Piero di Cosimo (1462 - 1521)
Perseus Frees Andromeda (c. 1515) - Piero di Cosimo (1462 - 1521)
Perseus
Perseus, was the son of Danae, the only child of Acrisius king of Argos. Disappointed by his lack of male heirs, he asked an oracle if this would change. The oracle told him that one day he would be killed by his daughter's child. She was childless and, meaning to keep her so, he shut her up in a brazen chamber. But Zeus came to her in the form of rain, and impregnated her. Soon after, their child Perseus was born. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseus_%28mythology%29 [May 2005]
Piero di Cosimo
Piero di Cosimo (also known as Piero di Lorenzo) (1462-1521) was an Italian painter. The son of a Florentine goldsmith, he apprenticed under Cosimo Rosseli, whom he assisted in the decoration of the Sistine Chapel. He was noted for his rather eccentric personality and unorthodox interpretations of mythological subjects. He also wrote a relatively famous treatise on geometry. Piero's students included Andrea del Sarto. He was found dead at the foot of a flight of stairs. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piero_di_Cosimo [May 2005]
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