The beautiful Andromeda was princess of Aethiopia, daughter of king Cepheus and queen Cassiopeia. Andromeda's beauty was such that her mother once boasted that Andromeda was more beautiful than the Nereids, the sea-nypmphs that accompanied the god Poseidon. As punishment, Poseidon sent the monstorus Cetus to ravage the coast of Aethiopia. The desperate King consulted an oracle who said that the only way to stop the depradations was to sacrifice Andromeda to the monster. Accordingly she was stripped and chained to a rock, but saved from death by Perseus who was returning from his adventure with the gorgon Medusa (watch this space for that scene!).
I've taken a few liberties with this scene; in the original story, Perseus manages to sneak up on Cetus unseen as he wears Hades' helm which renders him invisible. Here I've given him a splendid golden helm but felt it would look a little odd haveing a riderless Pegasus! I've also followed later versions of the story including Pegasus, rather than having Persus flying with Hermes' winged sandals. Lasty, I've preserved Andromeda's modesty to a greater degree than the original tale!
There is no detailed account as to what Cetus actually looked like. Most Greek sources have it as serpentine fish, while modern versions (Clash of the Titans et al) dispense with Cetus altogether and have some sort of kraken. I have chosen something in between. « Less
