Cassiopeia

Cassiopeia, a name associated with several figures in Greek mythology, is most famously known as the queen of Aethiopia, the wife of King Cepheus and the mother of Andromeda. In myth, she is portrayed as a figure of exceptional beauty but also of great vanity and pride, and she was placed among the stars as a constellation.

Cassiopeia’s Family

Cassiopeia (Cassiepeia in the Greek spelling) was the wife of Cepheus, king of Aethiopia, and the mother of Andromeda (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.3; Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.735–739). No ancient source names her parents. Apollodorus mentions another Cassiepea, the mother by Zeus of Atymnius, over whom, some said, Minos and Sarpedon quarrelled (Library 3.1.2).

Hubris and Its Consequences

The defining trait of Cassiopeia in Greek mythology was her hubris, or excessive pride. According to Apollodorus, she vied with the Nereids in beauty and boasted that she was better than all of them (Library 2.4.3), and Hyginus likewise says that she boasted that she surpassed the Nereids in beauty (Astronomica 2.10). In another version the boast concerned her daughter: Hyginus (Fabulae 64) says that Cassiope put her daughter’s beauty above that of the Nereids, and in Ovid, Andromeda has to suffer for “her mother’s tongue” (Metamorphoses 4.670–675). The Nereids are the sea nymphs and daughters of the sea god Nereus.

Poseidon's Wrath

The Nereids were angry, and Poseidon, sharing their wrath, sent a flood and a sea monster to invade the land (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.3). In Hyginus’ Fabulae (64), Neptune demanded that Andromeda be given to the sea monster. These calamities threatened the kingdom, leading to desperate measures.

The Sacrifice of Andromeda

The oracle of Ammon predicted deliverance from the calamity if Cassiopeia’s daughter Andromeda were exposed as prey to the monster, and the Ethiopians compelled Cepheus to do it. He bound his daughter to a rock (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.3; Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.670–675). However, her fate took a turn when the hero Perseus arrived on his way back from killing Medusa. He fell in love with her and promised Cepheus that he would kill the monster if he would give him Andromeda as his wife; they swore to these terms, and Perseus killed the monster and freed her (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.3). Phineus, Cepheus’ brother, to whom Andromeda had earlier been betrothed, plotted against Perseus, but Perseus turned him and his fellow conspirators to stone with the Gorgon’s head (Library 2.4.3); in Hyginus (Fabulae 64) it is Cepheus himself, with Agenor, who plots. In Ovid, Cepheus and Cassiope joyfully welcome Perseus as their son-in-law and the savior of their house (Metamorphoses 4.735–739). According to Hyginus, Andromeda followed Perseus, and neither her father nor her mother could persuade her to stay (Astronomica 2.11).

The Celestial Punishment

Despite the resolution of the crisis, Cassiopeia was set among the stars. Hyginus says that she was placed among the stars sitting on a seat, and that because of her impiety she is seen turning upside down with head back as the heavens revolve (Astronomica 2.10). The ancient accounts do not name Poseidon as the one who placed her in the sky. The poet Aratus describes her as Cepheus’ “hapless wife” whose few stars shine in an alternating line like a key, and says that when she sets she plunges headlong like a diver, parted at the knees, “for not scatheless was she to rival Doris and Panope” (Phaenomena 188–196, 654–658). Hyginus adds that Euripides and Sophocles had written about her story (Astronomica 2.10).

The Constellation of Cassiopeia

The constellation of Cassiopeia, visible in the northern sky, is said to represent the queen on her seat. It lies near the circle of the Arctic pole, close to the constellation of her husband Cepheus and of her daughter Andromeda (Hyginus, Astronomica 3.9–10). In the sky, her whole family is together: Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Andromeda and Perseus (Hyginus, Astronomica 1.1).

Cassiopeia Sources

Apollodorus, Library 2.4.3 and 3.1.2; Hyginus, Fabulae 64 and Astronomica 1.1, 2.10–11, 3.9–10; Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.670–675, 4.735–739; Aratus, Phaenomena 188–196, 654–658.

See Also: Cepheus, Poseidon, Andromeda, Nereus, Perseus, Zeus, Medusa