Andromeda,
the daughter of the king of Ethiopia, Cepheus, and Cassiopea,
who claimed that her daughter was more beautiful than all the Nereids.
In jealousy Nereids asked Poseidon to
send a monster to waste Cepheus's kingdom. An oracle foretold that the
country would be spared if Andromeda, whose beauty was guilty in their
mischief, were given to the monster. The people of Ethiopia forced Cepheus
to sacrifice his daughter: she was chained to the rock and waited for the
monster to be devoured. There Perseus
saw her. Perseus was coming back from his expedition against the Gorgons,
with the head of Medusa in his bag. With the help of that head he turned
the monster into stone and freed Andromeda. Then he married her and took
with him to Argos.
See: Anton Raphael Mengs. Perseus
and Andromeda.
Peter Paul Rubens Perseus
Liberating Andromeda, Andromeda,
Perseus
and Andromeda.