there’s no existing greek poet who ever wrote about that origin for her. she was born a gorgon with her two sisters stheno and euryale. perseus’ who was roughly about a teenager when he killed medusa, did so to save his mother because the king of the island they washed up on, wanted his mother, and wanted to rid himself of perseus, so he charged perseus to bring him the head of medusa, a vicious gorgon, in which the king was sure that perseus would be turned into stone like many many others. athena & hermes aided him; athena gave him a shield & hermes gave him his winged sandals. using this mirror athena gave him, he was able to turn the tides on medusa because he could see her reflection without being turned to stone, he then cut her head off.

Introduction:

Perseus by Daniel Ogden is the perfect introduction of Perseus and his surrounding mythology, which includes Andromeda

Primary sources:

Theoi is generally a great website if you wanna research mythology in general:

Topostext is also pretty good, tho it’s super slow for me for some reason:

Fragmentary plays. These sorts of writings are usually behind a subscriptions, these are screenshots I got while subscribed to Loeb Library:

Euripides Andromeda fragments: https://www.tumblr.com/sarafangirlart/778560413612883968/euripides-andromeda-fragments-part-2

Sophocles Andromeda Fragments:

Analysis:

Maritime-Related Cults in the Coastal Cities of Philistia during the Roman Period Legacy and change by Simona Rodan. This book is mainly about ancient Palestine but chapter 2 is about Jaffa, which is actually heavily tied to Andromeda’s myth.

Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources by Timothy Gantz. Again, Andromeda isn’t the main focus but her chapter along with Perseus is insightful.

Brill’s Companion to Euripides, Chapter 41, Affective Attachments in Some Late Tragedies of Euripides by Francis Dunn. This chapter talks about other plays too but has some pretty insightful analysis. It’s the first time I’ve learned that Euripides Andromeda was one of the first ancient Greek plays *ever* to depict two ppl (Perseus and Andromeda) falling in love on stage.

Euripides' Escape-Tragedies: A Study of Helen, Andromeda, and Iphigenia among the Taurians by Matthew Wright. We don’t know much about Euripides Andromeda but it has some parallels to Euripides other non-lost plays, which this book analyzes.

Untangling Blackness in Greek Antiquity by Sarah F. Derbew. This book doesn’t talk much about Andromeda but it’s great for ppl who want to know more about blackness in antiquity.

Retellings (that are actually good):

Andromeda Unfettered by Muriel Stuart

Perseus (1973)

Aphrodite’s Blessings by Clemence McLaren

A surviving fragment of pottery featuring the side profile of Athena.

-there is no shame in being introduced to mytholgy from something like percy jackson, epic the musical or anything like that, but keep in mind that actual myths are going to be VERY different from modern retellings

-the myth of medusa you probably know (her being a victim of poseidon and being cursed by athena) isn't 100% accurate to GREEK mythology (look up ovid)

-there is no version of persephone's abduction in which persephone willingly stays with hades, that's a tumblr invention (look up homeric hymn to demeter)

-as much as i would like it, no, cerberus' name does not mean "spot" (probably a misunderstanding from this wikipedia article)

-zeus isn't the only god who does terrible things to women, your fav male god probably has done the same

-on that note, your fav greek hero has probably done some heinous shit as well

-gods are more complicated than simply being "god of [insert thing]", many titles overlap between gods and some may even change depending on where they were worshipped

-also, apollo and artemis being the gods of the sun and the moon isn't 100% accurate, their main aspects as deities originally were music and the hunt

-titans and gods aren't two wholly different concepts, titan is just the word used to decribe the generation of gods before the olympians

-hector isn't the villain some people make him out to be

-hephaestus WAS married to aphrodite. they divorced. yes, divorce was a thing in ancient greece. hephaestus' wife is aglaia

-ancient greek society didn't have the same concepts of sexuality that we have now, it's incorrect to describe virgin goddesses like artemis and athena as lesbians, BUT it's also not wholly accurate to describe them as aromantic/asexual, it's more complex than that

-you can never fully understand certain myths if you don't understand the societal context in which they were told

-myths have lots and lots of retellings, there isn't one singular "canon", but we can try to distinguish between older and newer versions and bewteen greek and roman versions

-most of what you know about sparta is probably incorrect

-reading/waching retellings is not a substitute to reading the original myths, read the iliad! read the odyssey! i know they may seem intimidating, but they're much more entertaining than you may think

Steve: But don't you hate yourself.

you’re telling me this man who spent two movies tearing apart institutions who jumped on a grenade who crossed time and space for bucky

just… stays in the past?

while bucky is being tortured. while tony grows up alone. while nat survives the red room.

and he’s playing house???

that is not growth. that is character assassination.

Natasha (storming off): I don’t believe you!

Alexei: What did the darling Red Guardian do that was so bad?!

Natasha: You stormed into our bedroom while I was having sex with my husband!!

Alexei: I heard moaning and groaning. Naturally I assumed you were under attack from Hydra agent. Imagine my surprise when Captain America was lying on top of you and not Hydra agent!

Natasha: You can’t be serious!

Alexei: But I must say that’s really America‘s ass!