A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

Smith, William

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. William Smith, LLD, ed. 1890

(Ὀμφάλη), a daughter of the Lydian king Jardanus, and wife of Tmolus, after whose death she undertook the government herself. When Heracles, in consequence of the murder of Iphitus, was ill of a serious disease, and received the oracle that he could not be released unless he served some one for wages for the space of three years, Hermes, accordingly, sold Heracles to Omphale, by whom he became the father of several children. (Apollod. 1.9.19, 2.6.3, 7.8; Soph. Trach. 253; Dionys. A. R. 1.28; Lucian, Dial. Deor. 13.2; comp. HERACLES.)

[L.S]