Unchanged by any teller — how the centuries since have seen Periclymenus.
The gallery
Heracles Kills Periclymenus in the Form of an Eagle
Isaac Briot (after Ovid), 17th century
Isaac Briot's engraving for an Ovidian Metamorphoses cycle shows Heracles striking down Periclymenus as the Neleid shape-shifter takes eagle form at the sack of Pylos. Poseidon's gift of metamorphosis cannot save Neleus' son when Heracles hunts the Pylian house.
Ship of Periclymenus
Unknown (after Remigio Cantagallina / Giulio Parigi), 1608
A Cooper Hewitt print from the 1608 Medici wedding naval pageant: the allegorical Ship of Periclymenus sails among mythic vessels staged for Cosimo II. Florentine festival culture gives the shape-shifting Argonaut a floating emblem beside the Argo's other names.
In play
Argonautica
Apollonius of Rhodes
Apollonius names Periclymenus son of Neleus among the Argonauts — Poseidon granted him every shape, a gift that later fails against Heracles at Pylos.
Periclymenus
Shape-shifting son of Neleus — Argonaut and victim of Heracles' sack of Pylos, not the Theban namesake.
Neleus
Periclymenus' father — king of Pylos whose house Heracles destroys, leaving Nestor as the surviving Neleid.
Bibliotheca
Apollodorus
Apollodorus records Poseidon's gift of metamorphosis and Heracles' killing of Periclymenus among Neleus' sons at Pylos.