Clay Lane Blog

Heracles and Omphale

As penance for involuntary manslaughter, Heracles was sentenced to slavery under the playful rod of Omphale, Queen of Lydia.

October 8

Heracles and Omphale

I recently added this post, Heracles and Omphale.

E. M. Berens was an American writer who published several books on Greek and Roman mythology, intended for casual readers and particularly for children. In his preface, he declares “that no pains have been spared in order that without passing over details the omission of which would have marred the completeness of the work, not a single passage should be found which could possibly offend the most scrupulous delicacy”. For many of the Greek myths, this is a challenging goal to set, and the story of Heracles and Omphale, the delectable Queen of Lydia, must have given Berens some pause. Happily, he judged the scrupulosity of American boys and girls to be sufficiently resilient to deal with the mental image of Omphale wearing a lionskin and Heracles in a dress.

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