Omphale

In Greek mythology, Omphale (Ancient Greek: Ὀμφάλη) was queen of the kingdom of Lydia in Asia Minor. Diodorus Siculus provides the first appearance of the Omphale theme in literature, though Aeschylus was aware of the episode. The Greeks did not recognize her as a goddess: the undisputed etymological connection with omphalos, the world-navel, has never been made clear. In her best-known myth, she is the mistress of the hero Heracles during a year of required servitude.

Quotes

• Mutines:
  When force fails
  To find man's weakness, trust a woman's fraud.
  This trap has caught the lion in the toils.
  Malcus:
  Ha! ha! The Lydian toils of Hercules
  Reserve for rougher labours scant to spare!
  Omphale's distaff left the hero lax.
  • John Nichol, Hannibal (1873), III, x