HeraclesOmphale1.0082b

HeraclesOmphale1.0082b_Gegenbaur

Royal Collection Trust
Thorvaldsensmuseum
OGCMA, s.v. "Heracles and Omphale"

Joseph Anton von Gegenbaur, 1800-1876, "Hercules and Omphale", 1830 copy of the same subject by purchased by Prince Albert and hung in the Prince's bathroom at Osborne House. (The 1826 version by Gegenbaur hangs in the Thorvaldsensmuseum, Copenhagen: 1.0082a_Gegenbaur)

The queen of Lydia, Omphale, has purchased Heracles, whose thralldom to her will expiate his murder of Iole's brother Iphitus.

Omphale is perhaps here not the superior but the equal to the seated hero. She does wear the Nemean Lion's skin. He is left holding a little distaff, an implement that allows him to engage in an entirely domestic task of weaving.

OGCMA slides are designed by Roger T. Macfarlane for use in Classical Civilization 241 courses at Brigham Young University.
The present resource contains information assembled for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1300 - 1990's, edited by J. Davidson Reid (Oxford 1994), and it is used with express permission from Oxford University press.
Address concerns or inquiries to macfarlane@byu.edu.