Cepheus

King of Ethiopia, husband of Cassiopeia and father of Andromeda. When his wife's boast against the Nereids brought down Poseidon's sea-monster and the oracle of Ammon demanded his daughter's life, it was Cepheus who chained her at the water's edge (Apollodorus *Bibliotheca* 2.4.3; Hyginus *Fabulae* 64; Astronomica 2.9). He survived the ordeal and lived to see Andromeda married to Perseus, but at the wedding feast his brother Phineus — to whom Andromeda had previously been betrothed — attempted to kill Perseus, and was petrified with his faction. Cepheus ascended the sky with his wife and daughter as the neighbouring constellations Cepheus, Cassiopeia, and Andromeda (Aratus *Phaenomena* 179–204; Eratosthenes *Catasterisms* 15–17; Hyginus *Astron.* 2.9–11).

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