Ovid also wrote advice to women on how to be more seductive, and his advice to dark-skinned women was based on Andromeda's legend: 'White suits dark girls you looked so attractive in white Andromeda, when you walked upon Seriphos.' White doves often choose mates of different hue and the parrot loves the black turtle dove.' And though I'm not pure white, Cepheus's dark Andromeda charmed Perseus with her native colour. The ancient Roman poet Ovid wrote of Andromeda's hue centuries before Petrarch, who would have come across the following description when he translated Ovid's work: 'I may be short, but I have a name that resounds worldwide and this I take as my measure. He wrote that he wanted to know 'how it was in Ethiopia the dark-skinned maiden Andromeda attracted him with her fine eyes and hair.' Petrarch, writing in the fourteenth century, described Andromeda as the 'virgine bruna', and was not alone in commenting on the colour of her skin. Perhaps the stories of these rulers fed the imaginations of the early recorders of Greek mythology, who were undoubtedly intrigued by the mystery of the exotic south.Īrthur Hill (c.1829–1894) Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & MuseumĪncient writers, all of whom preceded the artists who interpreted Andromeda as they saw fit, asserted that the princess was black. ![]() Likely, these writers would have been aware of the multiple dynastic rulers that the area produced over time. ![]() The lands of ancient Nubia were trading centres, so it's not surprising that the ancient Greeks would have been familiar with it. Kush was a part of ancient Nubia located in what is now known as the northern part of Sudan.Īssuming the word 'Ethiopia' is derived from Greek for 'burnt face' (which is not accepted by all Ethiopians today – some believe it to be from the name Itiyopp'is, son of the Biblical Cush), it could today be considered a racial slur, and perhaps is the most telling aspect of the Andromeda identity crisis. 'Ethiopia' was more of a standard term used by the Greeks to refer to the appearance of the people from the Kingdom of Kush and the surrounding area. John Bell (1811–1895) Ironbridge Gorge Museum TrustĪncient Ethiopia (sometimes spelt Aethiopia) was not the place we think of today – the modern country was known in English as Abyssinia until the 1940s.
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