Andromeda was the daughter of an Ethiopian king in Greek mythology who; as divine punishment for her mother's bragging; the Boast of Cassiopeia; was chained to a rock as a sacrifice to a sea monster aroused by the queen's hubris. She was saved from death by Perseus; her future husband. Her name is the Latinized form of the Greek ??d???da (Androm閐a) or ??d???d? (Androm閐e): 'ruler of men'.

The subject has been popular in art since classical times; it is one of several Greek myths of a Greek hero's rescue of the intended victim of an archaic sacred marriage; giving rise to the 'princess and dragon' motif. From the Renaissance; interest revived in the original story; typically as derived from Ovid's account.