On the metamorphoses of Maxwell's equations during the last 150 years — spotlights on the history of classical electrodynamics

We outline Maxwell's five decisive papers on his equations governing electrodynamics (1862-1868). We study the metamorphoses of these equations and find essentially twelve different versions of them. We express our preference for the so-called premetric version of the Maxwell equations, which is particularly useful in understanding the structure of electrodynamics. Some selected applications are discussed.