Andromeda

A Princess in the Greek Sky

Andromeda's story begins with a boast. Her mother, Cassiopeia, claimed that she or, in some versions, her daughter was more beautiful than the Nereids, sea nymphs associated with Poseidon. The insult brought divine punishment. A sea monster was sent against the kingdom, and an oracle declared that Andromeda must be sacrificed to save it. She was chained to a rock beside the sea, where Perseus, returning from killing Medusa, found her. He fought the monster and freed her.

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The characters in the myth can still be found near one another in the night sky. Andromeda's parents, Cassiopeia and Cepheus, have their own constellations, as do Perseus and Cetus, the sea monster.

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Within the constellation Andromeda lies something the ancient Greeks could not have recognized for what it was: the Andromeda Galaxy, visible to the naked eye as a faint patch of light under dark skies. The princess's name passed first to a constellation, then to an entire galaxy.