Part of a Headstone

myminifactory

Depicted is a powerful scene from an ancient mythological story of a naked princess chained to a rock in chains. The woman portrayed is widely believed to be Andromeda. In Greek mythology, Andromeda was the beautiful daughter of King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia, rulers of the African kingdom of Aethiopia. Her mother Cassiopeia boasted that her daughter was more stunning than the sea nymphs called Nereids, daughters of the sea god Nereus who often accompanied Poseidon. To punish the queen for her arrogance, Poseidon, brother to Zeus and god of the sea, sent a powerful sea monster named Cetus to ravage the coast of Aethiopia including the kingdom of the vain queen. The desperate king consulted the wise Oracle of Apollo, who announced that no respite would be found until the king sacrificed his daughter Andromeda to the monster. Stripped naked and helpless, she was chained to a rock on the rugged coastline. Perseus was returning from having bravely slain the fearsome Gorgon Medusa. After he happened upon the chained Andromeda, he approached Cetus while invisible (for he was wearing Hades's magical helm), and killed the sea monster with ease. He set Andromeda free, and married her in defiance of her previous promise to her uncle Phineus. At the wedding a fierce quarrel took place between the rivals and Phineus was turned to stone by the terrifying sight of the Gorgon's head. Andromeda followed her husband, first to his native island of Serifos, where he rescued his mother Danaë, and then to Tiryns in Argos. Together, they became the ancestors of the powerful family of the Perseidae through their son Perses. Perseus and Andromeda had seven brave sons: Perses, Alcaeus, Heleus, Mestor, Sthenelus, Electryon, and Cynurus as well as two beautiful daughters, Autochthe and Gorgophone. Their descendants ruled Mycenae from Electryon down to Eurystheus, after whom Atreus attained the kingdom, and would also include the great hero Heracles. According to this mythology, Perseus is the ancestor of the mighty Persians. After Andromeda's death, as promised by Euripides in his play Andromeda produced in 412 BCE, the goddess Athena placed her among the stars in the northern sky, near Perseus and Cassiopeia; the constellation Andromeda, so known since ancient times, is named after her.