White marble, 1st cent. A.D.
Pompeii, House of the Gilded Cupids
Soprintendenza Archeologica di Pompei, inv. 53851

The knotted leontè (the skin of the Nemean lion slain by Heracles) identifies the figure as Omphale, the queen of Lydia at whose court Hercules served and by whom he had children, thus founding the dynasty of local kings. Portrayed mainly in paintings of the Hellenistic Age, Omphale is represented more rarely in sculpture.