Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Pelias.
The gallery
Pelias Recognizes Jason (fresco, MANN inv. 111436)
Unknown (Roman wall painter), 1st century AD
Pompeian fresco from the House of Jason (IX.5.18), now MANN inv. 111436: King Pelias halts on a temple stair as he sees the one-sandaled youth — the omen that the man who will take his throne has arrived. The usurper of Iolcus is caught at the instant the Argo's voyage is born.
Jason Bringing Pelias the Golden Fleece (Louvre K 127)
The Underworld Painter, c. 340–330 BC
Apulian red-figure calyx krater in the Louvre (K 127): Jason presents the Golden Fleece to Pelias while a winged Nike moves to crown the hero. South Italian vase painting stages the Iolcan king's impossible errand fulfilled — the prize Pelias thought would kill his nephew returned to his court.
The Murder of Pelias by His Daughters
Georges Moreau de Tours, 1878
Academic canvas of Medea's trick: Pelias' daughters, convinced they will rejuvenate their father, cut him down in the cauldron. Moreau de Tours freezes the Iolcan king's end — the revenge Jason's Colchian wife visits on the uncle who stole the throne.
The Sacrifice of King Pelias
Annibale Carracci, late 16th century
Carracci's drawing for the Jason cycle stages Pelias at the sacrificial altar — the king whose death at his daughters' hands closes the Iolcan half of the Argonaut saga. Preparatory work linked to the Palazzo Fava frescoes in Bologna.
The Sacrifice of Pelias
Agostino Carracci, late 16th century
Agostino Carracci's print of Pelias' sacrificial death — the same Medea-engineered murder that empties the throne of Iolcus. Bolognese reception keeps the usurper's end beside Jason's fleece as the moral hinge of the saga.
On screen
Jason and the Argonauts
Don Chaffey
Harryhausen's Pelias is the usurper who sends Jason for the fleece — the uncle whose throne-theft starts the Argo's voyage.
Medea
Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pasolini keeps Pelias in the Iolcan frame: the king Jason must reclaim, before Corinth and Medea's later revenge take the film.