Andromedaâs race/ethnicity and why itâs not inaccurate to interpret her as black/African
Now youâve seen how I draw my babygirl as Afro Palestinian Egyptian so you know where I personally stand on the subject. However, my interpretation isnât the only one, ancient authors, from mythographers to historians to poets to playwrights, have proposed various different locations for Andromedaâs homeland, often times contradicting each other, what Iâm trying to do here is correct some misinformation as well as argue that even if Andromeda isnât black/ethiopian, she still wouldnât be considered white or ethnically European.
I would like to reiterate like I did with my Hephaestus/Aphrodite post that Iâm not a mythology or history expert, I just read a lot. So do your own research and come up with your own conclusions.
The etymology of âAethiopiaâ
Aethiopia means "of burned face" which yes is pretty racist be modern standards but basically means that its inhabitants are dark skinned, so even if you go by sources that it isnât in Africa, the inhabitants still wouldnât be white or Greek.
Youâd hear the statement that the Aethiopia in mythology is not the same as Ethiopia the modern country, which is true. Youâd also hear that itâs a completely fictitious location, thatâs only partially true, while Aethiopia existed mainly as a mythological location (mentioned as early as the Iliad) that didnât stop ancient historians, mythographers and poets from placing it in real locations or calling pre-existing nations Aethiopia. Itâs hard to pick which one is more âaccurateâ bc they all contradict each other, not only that, but these writers didnât actually visit these locations and ancient ppl werenât as well versed in geography as we are today so theyâd be weirdly vague or confusing about these locations, I mean just look at an ancient map and youâd see what I mean.
So personally, I think you can go with any version you personally prefer, the options are quite limitless, she could be from the Arab peninsula, the Levant, North Africa, Persia, hell maybe even India if you are like Ovid.
(I just realized that these are the Waterson kids color palette while writing this lmaooooooooo)
Yes Andromeda is descended from Zeus (no family tree can escape that man lol) and sheâs also the great granddaughter of Poseidon, which adds a whole new layer to the fact he tried to kill her.
Now for a bit of history: The Trojan war (which didnât happen irl obviously) was dated as taking place in the 12th or 13th century BCE by some ancient writers, that war happens a few generations after Perseusâs story, which means that Egypt was in the New Kingdom era, also called the Egyptian Empire, when Nubians (who would be considered black by todayâs standards) were a very important part of society, even becoming Pharaohs. Ancient Egypt was a lot more diverse than modern ppl give it credit for, there were multiple ethnic groups living there. Not to mention that you canât get more Egyptian than being descended from the god of the Nile River lol
Libya is (obviously) the personification of the region of Libya, not the modern country Libya, but the general area in North Africa west of Egypt. The name Libya comes from the Libu, a berber tribe. So once again, even if Andromeda wasnât black, even if you interpreted that her kingdom is placed in Asia, sheâd still be of African decent.
Cassiopeia is a tricky one, her origins are obscure, sheâs called a nymph by Nonnus, while Stephanus of Byzantium (a very late source) states sheâs from Ioppa and that the city takes its name from her. However, Ioppa/Jaffa was identified as Andromedaâs home much earlier in Periplus attributed to Scylax, which was composed in the late fourth century bc.
You can make Andromeda black itâs ok. Ancient writers couldnât agree on her countryâs location but we can still speculate. Anyways ummm⌠I think thatâs it? Maybe Iâll add to this if I find or remember more interesting information.