Andromeda

In Greek mythology, Andromeda was the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia, the rulers of Aethiopia. After her mother boasted that she was more beautiful than the Nereids, the god Poseidon (who the Nereids served as handmaidens) was so offended that he sent the sea monster Cetus to ravage the coast of Africa until her father chained her naked to a rock so that the monster might slay her and satisfy the god’s vanity.

Luckily for Andromeda, the hero Perseus just happened to be heading home after having killed the gorgon Medusa and noticed a naked girl chained to a rock. Even for someone who killed gorgons, it’s not every day you see a naked princess chained to a rock, and so he stopped to investigate. One thing led to another, and soon Cetus was dead and Perseus was proposing marriage. Being that her family had chained her to a rock to be eaten by a sea monster, Andromeda was no longer willing to marry her original betrothed. Which was her uncle Phineus.

Anyway, one thing led to another, Phineus and a bunch of his buddies crashed the wedding, Perseus turned them all to stone, and Perseus and Andromeda went to save Perseus’ mother Danae and settled in Tiryns, a city in Argos, where they became the founders of a dynasty that would include such famous and powerful descendants as Heracles. (Incidentally, Perseus was the son of Zeus, as was Heracles, meaning that Zeus came back and slept with his own great grand-daughter.) The name Andromeda comes from the Greek words for ‘ruler of men’ denoting her royal lineage and her position as the founder of a dynasty.

What? Everyone’s talking about Andromeda today, I figured I would too.