In the principal Pylian tradition Periclymenus appears as a son of King Neleus of Pylos (and Chloris) and as one of the Neleidae who defend Pylos against Heracles; in this line he is sometimes described as a grandson or scion of Poseidon, who provides the family with a divine connection. Variant local traditions record (a) a Theban Periclymenus described as the son of Poseidon and a different Chloris (daughter of Tiresias) who defends Thebes in the war of the Seven against Thebes, and (b) an otherwise unrelated name‑bearer listed among suitors of Penelope. The sources do not unify these traditions and treat them as distinct or variant figures sharing the same name.
Surviving accounts do not supply a detailed, stable portrait of Periclymenus as a human beyond his status as a Pylian prince and heroic companion in Argonautic rosters. In narrative episodes he is described using a range of animal forms when shapeshifting in combat or flight; forms attested in the mythographic summaries include lion, snake, bee, and (in a variant summary tradition) an eagle, though which forms occur in which primary texts varies across sources.
The primary supernatural power attributed to Periclymenus in the assembled mythographic sources is shapeshifting: Apollodorus and later summaries state he could change into multiple animals (explicitly lion, snake, bee in some listings) — a power said in summaries to derive from Poseidon. He uses these transformations in combat or to attempt escape (notably during Heracles’ sack of Pylos). Aside from metamorphosis, the tradition presents him as a capable warrior and member of heroic rosters (Argonauts, defenders of cities). Accounts emphasize that despite the divine gift he may be slain by other great heroes (e.g., Heracles).
Weaknesses
- conditionvulnerability to mortal/human champions (slain by Heracles)
Wards
None recorded.
Poseidon
Poseidon is a principal deity of the ancient Greek pantheon, counted among the Twelve Olympians; he presides over the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses and functions as protector of seafarers and guardian of cities and colonies.
Argonauts
A band of human heroes in Greek myth who sailed aboard the ship Argo under Jason to Colchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece. Their identity is defined by membership in the celebrated voyage and by shared heroic lineages; membership lists and details vary by source.
Heracles
Heracles is the greatest hero of Greek myth whose career bridges mortal hero-cult and full divinization. Celebrated for his Twelve Labours, martial prowess, and travels between the mortal world, the underworld, and Olympus, he functioned as a civic patron, ancestor of royal lines (the Heracleidae), and object of cult that treated him both as chthonic hero and as god.
*Péh₂usōn (reconstructed)
Péh₂usōn is a hypothetical Proto‑Indo‑European pastoral guardian reconstructed by comparative scholars from parallels in Greek and Vedic traditions. Proposed as a Graeco‑Aryan ancestor‑figure, the reconstruction describes a protector of flocks, roads, and travellers rather than an attested historical cultic personality.
Aba (disambiguation / name-form)
Aba is a polyvalent name-form attested across many unrelated contexts (place names, personal names, animal names, and brief mythological listings). The provided sources do not support a single, coherent supernatural entity called "Aba" and offer no descriptive or ritual material for such a being.
Abarbarea
Abarbarea is a name attested in classical Greek and Roman sources for freshwater nymphs (naiads). The name appears for at least two individual mythic figures — a naiad wife of Bucolion and a naiad counted among ancestors of the Tyrians — and Hesychius records plural forms that may indicate the name was also used as a class-name (Abarbareai / Abarbalaiai).
Abas
Abas (Ancient Greek: Ἄβας, gen.: Ἄβαντος) is not a single mythic being but a recurring personal name borne by multiple mortals and minor mythic figures in Greek epic and genealogical traditions — kings, founders, seers, warriors, attendants, a centaur, and a youth transformed by a goddess. The name is glossed in the sources as 'guileless' or 'good-hearted' and appears across Argive, Theban, Trojan, Euboean, and other local cycles.
Abderus
Abderus (Ancient Greek: Ἄβδηρος, romanized Ábdēros) is a mortal heroic figure in Greek myth closely associated with Heracles, remembered as the youth left in charge of the Mares of Diomedes who was killed by them. He functions as an eponymous local/divine-hero ancestor for the city of Abdera and received funerary commemoration and athletic agones at his tomb.
Abomination of Desolation
An apocalyptic prophetic phrase originating in the Book of Daniel designating a profaning thing or act that renders the Jerusalem Temple cult desolate; later reused in the Synoptic Gospels as an eschatological sign prompting urgent flight. The term denotes ritual/cultic impurity (Hebrew shiqquts) and is variously interpreted as pagan offerings or altar, a foreign cult statue, or (in some New Testament readings) an acting agent.
Absyrtus
Absyrtus (Ancient Greek: Ἄψυρτος) is a Colchian prince in the Greek Argonautic cycle, son of King Aeëtes and brother or half-brother of Medea. He appears in variant traditions either as a companion taken by Medea during her flight with Jason and murdered/dismembered to delay pursuit, or as a pursuer sent by Aeëtes who is overtaken and slain by Jason; his death functions as a key narrative device in the escape from Colchis.
Acacallis
Acacallis (Ancient Greek: Ἀκακαλλίς; also Acalle) is a mythological princess of Crete in Greek tradition, daughter of King Minos and Pasiphae. She functions primarily as a dynastic and etiological figure: in varying accounts she is mother, by gods such as Hermes (Mercury) or Apollo, of eponymous or founder-figures like Cydon (founder of Cydonia), Miletus, or Lydon/ Lydus.
Acacus
Acacus (Ancient Greek: Ἄκακος) is, in Arcadian Greek tradition, a mortal eponymous founder-king of Acacesium and is remembered as the foster-father who reared the infant Hermes (Mercury) in that local tradition. He is presented in genealogies as a son of Lycaon and functions as a local ancestral/onomastic figure rather than a supernatural spirit.
Academus
Academus (Greek: Akádemos / Hekádemos) is an Attic hero-eponym tied to a sacred grove (Akademeia) on the Cephissus near Athens. In myth he revealed where Helen was hidden to the Dioskouroi, an act said to have saved the city, and the place bearing his name became a long-lived sacred precinct, later the site of Plato's Academy.
Acamas
Acamas (Ancient Greek: Ἀκάμας) is a personal name recurrent in ancient Greek narrative traditions applied to multiple human characters (warriors, princes, suitors), once to a Cyclops, and once as a hound's name. Rather than a single supernatural entity, bearers of the name appear episodically across the Trojan War, Theseid, and Theban cycles as mortal actors whose deeds intersect with gods and fate.
Acantha
Acantha (Ancient Greek: Ἀκάνθα, 'thorn') is a late or secondary mythological figure known from modern retellings as a nymph transformed into the acanthus plant. The tale that she scratched Apollo and was changed into a spiny-leaved plant is not attested in surviving classical corpora and appears to be a modern compilation or invention rather than a firmly documented ancient myth.
Community Record
- [1]Periclymenus — Wikipedia. Wikipedia entry 'Periclymenus' (summary of variant traditions, etymology, shapeshifting gift from Poseidon, death at Pylos)wiki
- [2]Apollodorus, Library — summaries and argonautic lists. Apollodorus (as preserved in mythographic summaries): account of Periclymenus among the sons of Neleus and note that he 'turned himself into a lion, a snake, and a bee, but was slain by Hercules with the other sons of Neleus.'literary
- [3]Theoi.com — Periklymenos (Periclymenus). Theoi.com summary of the mythographic tradition noting Pylian genealogy, Poseidon's role, and shapeshifting formsother
- [4]Argonauts - roster and compendia. Compendia and lists of Argonauts that include Periclymenus among expeditionary heroes in some sourcesother
- [5]And when Periclymenus became a bee and stood upon Heracles' chariot… — blog excerpt. Secondary fragmentary commentary discussing a fragmentary tradition in which Periclymenus becomes a bee and interacts with Heracles' chariot (fragmentary / secondary)other
- [6]Penthilus (son of Periclymenus) — Wikipedia. Genealogical entry noting Periclymenus as father of Penthilus in some traditionswiki