HeraclesOmphale1.0049

HeraclesOmphale1.0049_Garzi

The figurative emasculation of Hercules and the empowerment of Omphale is depicted in the various objects. The traditional depiction emphasizes Heracles' spinning of wool; here, though, Garzi has allowed him to set aside his impliments in favor of the tamborine. With it he is enchanting one serving girl, who strokes the Nemean Lion's skin in her mistress' lap, and drawn the attention of other girls nearby. Notably, as tradition dictates, Omphale strokes Heracles' mighty club as she is carried away in apparently erotic fantasy.

The scandalous role-reversal is also treated thus in Ovid's Ars Amatoria 2.217-24: "That hero who outlasted his step-mother's putting monsters in his way and gained heaven, which he earlier held on his own shoulders; people believe that he joined Ionian girls, that he grasped the distaff and carded slubby wool. / The hero of Tiryns obeyed the command of his mistress! Come, consider whether you wouldn't also endure what Heracles endured!" (RTM trans.)