Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Doris.
The gallery
The sea-god Nereus seated on a shell with his daughters
Philips Galle, 1586
Philips Galle's engraving visualises the Nereid brood born to Nereus and Doris: the Old Man of the Sea enthroned on a great shell while his daughters crowd behind him. Doris herself is rarely depicted alone in Western art; Renaissance print series like this one made the couple's progeny the visible face of the genealogy Hesiod and Apollodorus spell out in catalogue form.
Nereus, Doris, and Oceanus on the Pergamon Altar
Unknown (Pergamene sculptors), c. 180–160 BC
West frieze of the Great Altar of Pergamon (Pergamonmuseum, Berlin): Doris fights beside her husband Nereus and her father Oceanus against the Giants in the Gigantomachy. The Oceanid who mothers the Nereids appears here as a warrior consort — one of the few monumental ancient portraits that name her in the cosmomachy rather than only in a genealogical list.
Doris in the Sea Thiasos (Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus)
Unknown, 2nd half of the 2nd century BC
Relief detail from the so-called Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus (Glyptothek Munich, inv. 239): Doris, mother of the bride Amphitrite, carries two torches to light the marine wedding procession of Poseidon and Amphitrite. The Roman-era sea thiasos makes the Oceanid visible as matron of the Nereid line — torch-bearer for her daughter's marriage to the sea-king.