Omphale- Greek FigureMortal"Queen of Lydia"
Also known as: Ὀμφάλη and Omphalē
Description
Lydian queen who bought Heracles as a slave after the Delphic oracle condemned him for murdering Iphitus. She dressed him in women's clothing and set him to spinning wool. His lion skin went on her shoulders, his club in her hand.
Mythology & Lore
Heracles in Bondage
Omphale ruled Lydia after her husband Tmolus died. Heracles came to her as a slave. He had thrown Iphitus, son of Eurytus, from the walls of Tiryns in a fit of madness. The crime brought a disease upon him. When he consulted the oracle at Delphi, the Pythia commanded that he be sold into slavery for three years, the purchase price paid as blood-money to Iphitus's family. Hermes conducted the sale, and Omphale bought him.
During his servitude, Heracles performed deeds on her behalf. Apollodorus records that he captured the Cercopes, mischievous ape-like thieves, and killed the outlaw Syleus who forced travelers to work his vineyard.
The Role Reversal
Omphale took Heracles's lion skin and club for herself and made him wear women's clothing and spin wool with a distaff.
One night, in Ovid's Fasti, they retired to a grotto sacred to Dionysus and swapped garments for amusement. Faunus wanted Omphale. He crept in through the darkness and felt for silken cloth. What he found was the rough lion skin draped over Heracles. He groped further and climbed onto the bed of the figure in soft garments. Heracles's fist hurled him across the cave.
Omphale and Heracles became lovers during his service. Apollodorus records that she bore him a son, Lamus, ancestor of a Lydian royal line. When the three years ended, Heracles departed a free man.