According to Ovid’s Metamorphoses, chapter 4, verses 665-739, Ethiopia was visited by a dreadful ocean monster that could only be pacified if the king’s daughter was sacrificed. So she was chained to a rock on the coast and would have died if the demigod Perseus had not chanced to pass and fall madly in love with her. One of Perseus’ great earlier achievements was to cut off the head of the Medusa, who was so ugly that anyone who looked at her was turned into stone. When her head was cut off, the winged horse Pegasus was born of the Medusa’s blood, and this is the very horse Perseus uses to carry off Andromeda. If we look carefully, we can also just distinguish the Medusa’s head in Perseus’ left hand. It is this head, which retained its destructive power even after being cut off, with which Perseus has subdued the monster. The boy is naturally Cupid, who has played a part in the dramatic train of events.
