APOD: Andromeda on the Rocks (2016 Apr 19)

[Chris Peterson]

I have long wondered about this, myself. Never came up with any solid conclusion about her always pasty-white depictions.

Same is true for most European religious art (e.g. white Jesus). Most of those artistic traditions formed during the Renaissance, and the people, their towns, and their clothes look very European, no matter who they are or where they're supposed to be.

It started before the modern Europeans. There is evidence that the ancient Greeks and certainly the Romans, depicted an idealized Andromeda, perhaps based more on the fashions and ideals of their own times. The idea that Perseus flew to Andromeda on a winged horse named Pegasus, seems rather more fanciful. Mythology and realism are not natural bedfellows.

People do tend to frame their myths in their own image (except when it suits them otherwise).