Kētos

Ἐν δεξιᾷ μὲν οὖν εἰσιόντι Ἀργολικῷ μύθῳ ἀναμέμικται πάθος Αἰθιοπικὸν· ὁ Περσεὺς τὸ κῆτος φονεύει καὶ τὴν Ἀνδρομέδαν καθαιρεῖ, καὶ μετὰ μικρὸν γαμήσει καὶ ἄπεισιν αὐτὴν ἄγων πάρεργον τοῦτο τῆς ἐπὶ Γοργόνας πτήσεως. ἐν βραχεῖ δὲ πολλὰ ὁ τεχνίτης ἐμιμήσατο, αἰδῶ παρθένου καὶ φόβον—ἐπισκοπεῖ γὰρ μάχην ἄνωθεν ἐκ τῆς πέτρας—καὶ νεανίου τόλμαν ἐρωτικὴν καὶ θηρίου ὄψιν ἀπρόσμαχον καὶ τὸ μὲν ἔπεισι πεφρικὸς ταῖς ἀκάνθαις καὶ δεδιττόμενον τῷ χάσματι, ὁ Περσεὺς δὲ τῇ λαιᾷ μὲν προδείκνυσι τὴν Γοργόνα, τῇ δεξιᾷ δὲ καθικνεῖται τῷ ξίφει· καὶ τὸ μὲν ὅσον τοῦ κήτους εἶδε τὴν Μέδουσαν, ἤδη λίθος ἐστίν, τὸ δ᾽ ὅσον ἔμψυχον μένει, τῇ ἅρπῃ κόπτεται.
(Lucian, Peri tou Oikou 22)

As you enter you see on the right a romance set in Ethiopia blended with Argive myth. Perseus slaughters the sea monster and takes Andromeda. Shortly he will marry her and take her off. This is a supplementary scene in the depiction of his flight to the Gorgons. The painter has represented a great deal with efficiency, the girl’s shyness and her fear—for she looks down on the battle from the cliff above—and the young man’s daring, driven by desire, and the invincible appearance of the creature. It attacks with its spines bristling and terrifying with its gaping maw. Perseus shows it the Gorgon with his left hand and with the right he hits it with his sword. That part of the sea monster that has seen Medusa is already stone, but that part that remains alive is being hacked at with the sickle. (tr. Daniel Ogden)